“On the right side of the dirt.”
The dirt is always browner over there
Yup.
Fun fact: in America asking “how’s it going?” is just a greeting, nobody really cares
Won’t stop us from having a conversation or even just bitching about something that is randomly bothering us.
depends on the part of America. in some rural areas no but in the city absolutely
I always respond thoughtfully to people I don’t like. Then I ask how they are and watch them squirm.
be advised: this will not work with the majority of neurodivergent people
It me!
Which is also probably why I give this answer. Because it irks me to some degree that we just throwaway important questions like another human’s well-being.
If someone responds without being tripped up, I sorta know they’re my kind of person.oh same haha, if someone asks me a question they’re getting the answer, i don’t care that they expected a “i’m fine”
I just realized that I contradicted myself. I said that I use this with folks I don’t like, and then that when I use it, if someone responds well, that I know they’re my kinda people.
I don’t exclusively use it with folks I don’t like! I also throw it out playfully. It’s validating when folks respond in-kind.
Brits ofen say “You alright?” As a substitute for “Hi.”
Pretty jarring when you’re not used to it. Id think “God, I must look like shit if they’re genuinely checking on my welfare!”
Yeah Tom Scott did one of his linguistics videos about that, he had a word for it but some questions aren’t really questions they’re basically just rituals, though rephrased a different way makes them genuine questions, and when you have major dialects of the “same” language like British and American English, we use different ones. “Are you alright?” is basically a noise of greeting in Britain and an expression of genuine concern in America, while “How are you?” is the reverse.
Chinese version 你吃了吗 or variations on that, although it’s not used so much anymore. Literally means “have you eaten”, except it doesn’t really require an answer. I imagine it came up in that video, but it’s a good one.
Literally means “have you eaten”, except it doesn’t really require an answer.
Grandmothers in every culture
When I moved to London, I remember the old lady at the laundromat addressing me as “love”
I was like: “Damn, over here my charm even works with old ladies”
As it turns out, calling somebody “love” it’s just a way of addressing people in some English regions.
In the opposite direction, when I moved to England it took me a while to get used to compliment “inflation” over there.
For example when somebody’s opinion on something is:
- “interesting”, it means it’s shit
- “ok”, means it’s bad or mediocre
- “good” and “great”, means it’s average
- “wonderful” and “amazing”, means it’s good
I once asked one of the natives how did they transmit the message that they trully believes something was a 10/10 and was explained that’s done by going into details on how something is so great.
Meanwhile Germany:
- “interesting” means it’s shit
- “it goes” means it’s bad or mediocre
- “ok” means it’s average
- “can’t complain” means it’s fairly good
- “very good” means it’s great
- “really not bad” means surprisingly great
swandiving into a woodchipper. Love it
“Too blessed to be depressed” - they’re a Christian fundamentalist who is depressed but trying to convince themselves otherwise. You should run.
One time I was in a really run-down thrift store looking for anything neat that stood out. A random guy asked how I was doing and y’know, I tried to be genuine enough, but in return he gave what is now one of my favorite replies:
“Too blessed t’be stressed!”
The delivery of it was like he actually meant it. Like he was just enjoying his day lookin’ at stuff and nothing could bother him.
It’s a good outlook, y’know… especially because at the time I was in a miserable job and often used the “Been better” and “I’m here.” Responses because I just didn’t have much else in me.
I love stories like this because it makes me reflect on random people I’ve seen who have stuck in my memory for years who probably never noticed me. Makes me wonder if anyone remembers me for something random like this
Makes me wonder if anyone remembers me for something random like this.
In a wild turn of events, I was going through my replies and remembered you from a future comment, for kindly encouraging me when I described my ADHD struggle with keeping my comments brief online!
So, I guarantee I’m not the only one who remembers you for a good word. :)
My high-school friend group adopted “it goes” from our French class (“Comment ça va?” “Ça va!”, roughly meaning “How goes it?” “It goes!” being the common neutral greeting taught in French classes) and I slightly resent it being described negatively here.
Even better is, we casually drop the “Comment” and add the accent of a question instead, so it can go like : “Ça va?” “Ça va.”
Note that in French we can make the meaning of it vary from roughly ‘not great’ to ‘good’ just by how enthusiastic we are. It’s really only when we want to express radical emotions that we might stop using it.
(Although someone depressed might not want to express their distress and use it like the expressions in this meme…)
Where does “Good enough” fit on the scale? Asking for a friend…
“Good enough” is “My head is barely above water and I’m wondering if it’s worth the effort”
Good enough= My day is shit, My week is shit, My life has been shit, but it’s not as shit as other people so I don’t have the right.
It’s the suffix that hits hardest:
… it’s not as shit as other people so I don’t have the right.
~at least that’s what my friend that I’m asking for definitely said~
My favorite to use: “not gonna lie to you.”
My coworker once when I asked him a hard question: “Don’t make me lie to you.”
I still think of that a lot and try to work it in when someone asks me an impossible question.
when someone asks me an impossible question.
I think that response actually works for the loaded question:
“Have you stopped beating your wife?“
I usually just go with “sheeeeeeeeeeiiiiiit”
Implying that you… sometimes do!? :-P
Implying that if you said “i’m (fine/ok/alright/good/etc)” would be a lie.
Since it is super easy, barely an inconvenience, I am going to share this link from where my statement came from:-)
(I wish Lemmy would show preview pics of YouTube videos to let people have a glimpse of what they are in for, but hopefully my hints were enough here:-)
Oh! Thank you for the context!
(off-topic: I LOVE this cat)
Not off topic at all - when he showed up, the topic became all about him, in true business cat style - he will not allow it any other way!!! 😹
When it comes to how I’m feeling? Sure, often even
I feel like the one going on about defcon does not know defcon 5 is actually pretty chill
Should’ve gone the Kanye route and said defcon 3
*death con 3
DefCon Stages:
5 - “I’m here, ain’t I?”
4 - “ain’t dead yet.”
3 - “it is what it is”
2 - “I’m not gonna lie to you”
1 - “…don’t worry about it”It’s been a rough week at work, and being in an environment where we are all on call and numerous people are subbing for others who are having life get in the way, a lot of people are working late and taking weekend shifts that they would have otherwise had off.
One of my college friends works with me, and I know his responses to these questions pretty well, and boy howdy have I seen him go through all of these responses in order as things got worse and worse while the director pops in and out of call to check on us and get updates on the situation.
Considering we would have had the weekend off and both of us stayed very late, things are going pretty OK, all things considered. Can’t complain too much if I’m still truckin’
You want to make them stop and process, answer it with “I can still walk, how about you?”
