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

Interesting.  You have a population of relatively sarcastic people, I think.
^_^  And they enjoy contracting things.

Random note -- the expectation of "I'm fine" as an answer doesn't hold quite
so well across the US.  Here in CA people say "how are you," and the
expectation seems to be that you will say (without any special inflection or
whatever) "how are you."  It's like an anti-abbreviation, they've decided to
make "hi" three syllables again but it doesn't mean anything new.

On an even more random note -- most people don't listen to pleasantries,
anyway.  As any of you who have been on Disney's Star Tours attraction will
no doubt remember, you never actually make it to your destination (the moon
of Endor), and instead invariably return back to the base, where you
disembark and find yourself in a Star Wars themed store.  Today I was
working in that store, and decided to start greeting guests (as a themed
joke) with "How was your trip to Endor?" and "Did you make it to Endor?" and
similar sorts of things; what you'd expect from a person standing in the
terminal as you exited a tour bus from an exotic destination.  I didn't get
a single "huh" or "what" or "but we didn't GET to Endor."  Several people
muttered "fine," "how are you," and other meaningless phrases, but the
majority answered with "oh, it was great," "we had a terrific time," etc.
They clearly did not hear the part about Endor.  When I asked "so you really
made it to Endor?" in a mildly incredulous tone of voice (because, honestly,
I've ridden that thing hundreds of times since 1987, and you NEVER get to
Endor), and they'd say, "yup," as though I'd asked if it was raining.  I'm
not prepared to believe that they mistook the Death Star blowing up for
landing on a forest moon and playing with fuzzy dwarves, and therefore must
assume that they weren't actually listening.  I've seen this with my parents
(you know, telling them you've done something eight or nine times, and then
they pop up and say "so when are you going to do [the thing you've told them
you finished already]") but never strangers.  And certainly never so many.
A bit alarming, really; the only ones who paid attention to what I was
actually saying were the kids (some of them got a good laugh out of their
parents attesting to the joys of frolicking amongst the Ewoks -- hey, it was
a 7 hour shift, I had to do SOMETHING with my time).

It's either that, or subtle humor has been raised to a new level overnight
in CA culture.  And given that it's mostly folks from the coasts that come
up with things like "hey, let's tell 40 women that this dumb construction
worker is a millionaire and see to what lengths they'll go to fight it out
for his attentions" I sort of doubt that that's the case.

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

> -----Original Message-----
> Behalf Of E. Notagain
>
> I'm very disorganized -- don't mind me...
>
> A few things, first: who here creates dialects, contractions,
> and "uneducated speech" for their conlangs?
>
> Second: What, in your language (conlang and natlang), is the closest
> translation to the English "How are you" (conversation starter and
> greeting)?
>
> Examples --
>
> English (Midwestern): "How are you?" (implying "How are you doing?") is
> generally expected to be answered with "Good" or "Fine"; it
> shocks people a
> little if you answer with something like "How am I what?" or
> "Living" (both
> are my favourites).
>
> Meisteik (my first conlang): Closest phrase is "How do you live?" is
> generally answered with "Of course/Obviously" -- the entire
> phrase implies,
> in the native language, "Are you doing well?" "Of course I am."
> An answer used only among friends is "And can you see?", meant to
> imply "Well, I'm standing here, aren't I?!"
> A witty response, taking the phrase literally, is "I breathe and eat".
>
---
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