Re: "How are you", in different languages?

Since it's been brought up, I've decided that my revolutionaries' culture
and language is most suited towards greetings that are direct, to-the-point,
and have some sort of basis in the fact that the entire language was created
as a tactical tool.  Therefore, the typical statement of greeting will be
literally "state your (physical) position," which will be taken to mean
"where do you stand" (could be interpreted either politically or
geographically)  Originally the answer was supposed to be something like
"near the hill with the giant rotted out oak tree that such-and-such famous
guy took in a famous battle three hundred years ago" (of course the hill
will have a rather shorter name), but the answer will have evolved to
something politically correct (like "with the people!" or "against tyranny
and oppression")  A sarcastic answer in civilized discussion would be to
give your physical location ("three meters to the west of Jon"); at various
points in history that sort of answer (outside a tactical situation) would
be taken to mean that your loyalties are not, in fact, with the people (or
against tyranny and oppression), but most of the time, it's just a snotty
way of responding.  I'm thinking of creating a prefix, now out of use, that
designated when a noun or adjective was meant to refer to a physical object
(which could be useful if the language was meant for tactical use, but had
come into general use where people also talk about things that aren't quite
so... solid), and which has only been retained for a handful of words,
including "position," but doesn't really carry any special meaning for most
people.

Makes me think there can be a paired dismissal/good-bye:  "where are you
going?" and "into the glorious future" would be good standard phrases.  "To
the bathroom" would carry the same snotty/potentially traiterous
connotations that "three meters to the west of Jon" has in the greeting
scenario.  The tricky part would come in an actual tactical situation, where
it's still rather more helpful knowing that your friend is going to
such-and-such location in order to spy on the enemy, than knowing that he
doesn't like seeing widows and orphans beaten up on the streets by corrupt
officials.  Therefore, soldiers and military types recently returned from an
extended period of action might be seen as rude or (ironically) disloyal,
based on their suddenly inappropriate responses...

Sarah Marie Parker-Allen
lloannna@surfside.net
http://www.geocities.com/lloannna.geo
http://lloannna.blogspot.com

"I will not turn into a snake. It never helps." -- Rules for the Evil
Overlord

---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by SURFSIDE INTERNET]