Me too vs You too

Question

I've read the relevant forum topics and I know that we can't say "me too" as an answer to "Nice to meet you!" but can we say "me too" as an answer to "Glad to meet you!"?

This is especially confusing for me because I've read on the Net that "Nice to meet you" is short for "It is nice to meet you". "You too" is a short way of saying "It is nice to meet you too". "I'm glad to meet you" should be responded with "me too" because it is a short way of saying "Me too, I'm glad to meet you". However, it does imply a slight confusion so it might be better to say it in full: "I'm glad to meet you too".

Is there a clear-cut answer to this?

And are the following expressions more appropriate and common than "you too?"

• My pleasure.
• The pleasure is mine.
• Likewise.
• Same here.

Answer 1

I feel you are slightly overthinking this.

It doesn't really matter if someone says "nice to meet you" or "glad to meet you" (or "good..." or "great...".) the response "you too" would be fine.

If I was overthinking this, "you too" doesn't actually make sense for "glad to meet you". But I don't really care about logic here, I'm just responding politely to a greeting. The "meaning" of the words used isn't actually very important. It is the feelings that are implied.

So you could respond as "same here" or "likewise" There is an issue of formality. In a more formal context, (such as a job interview) it might be better to use the full "It's nice to meet you too" formula.

But in most contexts, provided you smile, the actual words don't really matter very much.