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What to reply when they say "How are u"?
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01-20-2008, 11:36 AM
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#1 (permalink) | ||||||||
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New Member
Posts: 10
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Baden-Baden, Germany
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What to reply when they say "How are u"?
Well this might not be worth thinking about when you live in the States.
But for visitors from abroad this can be of some importance: whenever I go shopping in the USA I'm not sure what to answer when I enter a store and the salesclerk welcomes me with "How are you", "How do you do" etc. Shall I a) reply "thanks fine" b) reply "how are you" ? c) relpy "Hi !" or d) ignore him ? I know that he or she does'nt really now how I feel or if I had a good day so far. It's just a phrase. But which phrase is the right one to reply? In German the shop assistants mostly say "Guten Tag" which is something like "Hello" - so you'd peply "Guten Tag" or "Hallo" ...funny how things differ ! |
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01-20-2008, 07:24 PM
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#2 (permalink) | ||||||||
CUSA Moderator
Posts: 10,571
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: ...just over the edge
Age: 55
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you can say smile and say "thank you for asking" and avoid it all together
 or "fair to partly cloudy" or "I'll be fine if you tell/show me where (whatever you're there to see) is" or "just in a hurry" and run along the possibilities are endless lol
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01-20-2008, 07:40 PM
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#3 (permalink) | ||||||||
Cute is what I aim for
Posts: 375
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Jacksonville
Age: 18
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You could (or maybe I should say I would
A) O.K. I guess B) fine I guess C) I'm good I guess or D) Do I look like I'm in the friken mood!?!
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XOXOXOXOCutiepantz_roseXOXOXO  ChatsUSA's most loved 
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01-21-2008, 01:40 AM
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#6 (permalink) | ||||||||
CUSA Moderator
Posts: 4,491
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Belgium
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The best thing to reply would be "Hi, how are you?" or "Hi. Great, thank you, how are you?", I think. I've been in the US a couple of times too and the first time I was thinking, when someone asked me how my day had been: "Huh? Do I know you?" because in Belgium you just say "hi" like in Germany. When you ask someone here how he's doing, it means you want a decent answer to it and you will NEVER ask it to someone you don't know, because it would be experienced as rude.
I don't worry too much about it, as long as we're polite, right? And welcome to ChatsUSA!
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01-21-2008, 06:18 AM
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#7 (permalink) | ||||||||
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New Member
Posts: 10
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Baden-Baden, Germany
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Thanx !
Thank you for your help.
 It'll make me feel a little less confused when I'm visiting the States next time in May. I don't think that people in Germany (or Belgium) are less polite than in the USA. But as Kay stated, "How are You" is a question that we would usually ask someone we know. |
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01-22-2008, 07:48 AM
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#9 (permalink) | ||||||||
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New Member
Posts: 10
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Baden-Baden, Germany
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cutiepantz_rose
Is the place formal?
They would say "hello, have a nice day", but they don't want you to come too close. In America, that's my impression, you come into conversation with strangers much easier. I remember sitting in a cafe in NYC talking with some folks from the nearby US-Branch of the Deutsche Bank. Same thing wouldn't happen so easy when I would be sitting at the Opernplatz in Frankfurt. |
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