Timeline for Do you really answer “How do you do?” with “How do you do?”
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
25 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 29, 2014 at 17:09 | answer | added | user14065 | timeline score: -1 | |
| Jul 27, 2014 at 19:45 | history | edited | Damkerng T. |
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| Mar 26, 2013 at 9:47 | comment | added | Tobias Kienzler | @BillFranke That's really a weird conception of respect. I mean there should be respect in a professional relationship, but that's something different than a friendship, which is what I mostly take as criterion for Du/Sie in meat world. Funny that the internet works so different - though I also dislike non-personified websites that use Du or only my first name even though I barely use them... | |
| Mar 26, 2013 at 9:38 | comment | added | user264 | @TobiasK: When I was lad, customers were always "Mr/Mrs/Miss" regardless of age: people were more formal. I don't know about using "Du" in German (I studied German for 4 years but didn't speak it in Germany), but in France, French speakers used "tu" with strangers their own age 40 years ago & "vous" with elders & superiors. In the US, people now think "respect" means treating strangers as equals & not using verboten epithets: I'm not a backslapping egalitarian. I expect to be called by my user name, not "Mr", on the Internet: that's normal in cyberspace. We're all virtual beings here | |
| Mar 26, 2013 at 8:54 | vote | accept | Sudhir | ||
| Mar 26, 2013 at 7:41 | comment | added | Tobias Kienzler | Mr. @BillFranke I'm not sure whether for using the first name the same rules apply as for the German Du (the "thou" compared to "thee"), but if so it would be very impolite to do so - it's up to a) the customer (or boss) b) the older person or c) to the woman to offer this privilege. It's getting complicated if the customer is twenty years younger than the female employer... That's not to say that some companies actually order their employers to disregard all this respect since using "Du" is supposed to imply trust and sell more... | |
| Mar 26, 2013 at 4:57 | comment | added | user264 | @Michael Edenfield: I'm 70 years old, working class, & a graduate of a snooty Ivy League university, so I know what the traditional polite response is (I learned it in university if not before from scenes in snooty movies), but it ain't common among Americans these days, not in a country where receptionists & others I've never met insist on presumptuously calling me "Bill" instead of "Mr Franke" on our first encounter. They think it's friendly, but I think it's rude &, dare I use the word here?, uppity. BTW, what do you mean by the ambiguous "legitimate response"? | |
| Mar 26, 2013 at 4:37 | comment | added | KutuluMike | @BillFranke Traditionally the proper, polite response this kind of greeting was not to answer the question but simply greet back; but you're right that modern etiquette has largely moved on, particularly in the US, and giving a legitimate response would not be considered all that remarkable. | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 19:51 | comment | added | Denise Skidmore | Also note the contraction in south western American English: "Howdy", which is never treated as a question, always treated exactly as "Hello". | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 19:50 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackEnglishLL/status/316275844953817088 | ||
| Mar 25, 2013 at 19:19 | comment | added | Sahil | Nobody says that in India too! :-) | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 19:10 | comment | added | mowwwalker | You might get stuck in an infinite loop like that. | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 18:57 | answer | added | Denise Skidmore | timeline score: 13 | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 17:42 | answer | added | Kaz | timeline score: 4 | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 14:57 | comment | added | redolent | Where I'm from, if you're not careful about your tone, people might think you're asking them "How do you do this?" | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 14:25 | comment | added | Jameo | I commonly respond to questions like "Hey, whats up?" with "Hey, hows it going?". Both parties understand its just a way to say hello. It would be just as normal to answer it by saying "Doing well, and you?" | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 14:12 | comment | added | EnglishLearner | Here's how I would answer the greeting. "I'm doing well. Thank you." | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 13:37 | answer | added | Matt | timeline score: 58 | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 11:46 | history | edited | avpaderno | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 25, 2013 at 10:51 | comment | added | user230 | I'm in the U.S., and I can't remember the last time I heard that exact phrase--and I've never in my life responded to it by repeating the question. | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 10:16 | history | edited | Sudhir | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 25, 2013 at 10:15 | answer | added | Barrie England | timeline score: 5 | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 10:13 | comment | added | user264 | It's not common except in textbooks and Oscar Wilde plays. When being polite & textbookish, American-speakers would probably say something like "Fine, thank you. And you?" | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 10:12 | answer | added | J.R.♦ | timeline score: 20 | |
| Mar 25, 2013 at 10:01 | history | asked | Sudhir | CC BY-SA 3.0 |