Jun 17, 2009
“How are ya?” doesn’t mean, “How are you?” It means Hello, and that’s OK.
Almost everyone uses questions as greetings without caring about the answers.
If this bothers you, you’ve been hoodwinked by the etymological fallacy.
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Interesting. I guess if the meaning of a morphological unit or a word can change, it makes sense for a syntactical unit to change its meaning. I’m just wondering where the line is (if, indeed, there is one). What are we to make of Jesus’ call to let our ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ be ‘no’? In what sense can we say that it makes sense? I guess the question is where the basis of meaning is. It’s probably not too good for me to be thinking this much at 11.30pm!
Jesus’ call to let our ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ is more about honesty than about language. Don’t use language games to avoid doing what you say you will do.
actually, for me, it’s the “what’s up?” that means “hello.” when i say “how are ya doing?” i actually want to know.
except, of course, while i’m at work. at starbucks. they pay us to be nice to you, don’t be fooled.
Have you had the customer who when you ask “How are ya doing?” Actually tells you their life story of how their daughter is blah blah blah, I love connecting, but when I am handing off your drink, and am now five drinks behind with a line in the drive through…. I don’t want to hear about your puppy or anything.
:)
I sometimes answer, “I’m not good.” Then smile as I walk by after hearing the person who asked say, “That’s good.”
Wow. Obama would love you for SCOTUS.
It’s rude to answer “Yes” to the question “Do you know what time it is?” That’s because that question has a pragmatic function beyond its bare semantics. Despite the words, the actual meaning is, “What is the time?”
This fact is not moral or immoral. It’s just one of the ways that language works.
It’s rude to answer “Yes” (unless it’s perceived as a joke) because it’s a willful refusal to receive the message being sent.
Similarly, if you know that “Howzit going?” is intended as a friendly, innocuous greeting, not a question to be taken literally, it’s pragmatically inappropriate to answer it otherwise.
AMEN! I spent two years trying to explain this to MKs. Where was your brevity when I needed it?!! :D
I’m a linguist, and this fact has irked me for YEARS. I have heard countless sermons berating people for asking “how are you” when they don’t “really mean it,” when really the entire hour long lecture just makes the pastor look like he doesn’t even understand the basics of human communication.
I was thinking of this exactly, Amber
Me too.
So, when someone says, “How are you?” can I answer, “Hello”? Or is that considered rude?
As a fairly–actually very–literal person, I find this form of greeting most difficult.
I always want to ask them back, but by the time I say “I’m doing well”, they’re too far away for it to go smoothly. That’s why I opt for a “hello”, ignoring the question and responding only to the greeting.
When we lived in Syria they have a similar greeting -What is your news? I always thought I was suppose to give a little update. It was very stressful when you would see someone you know on the street and were trying to come up with an update in very limited arabic! Finally a friend told me I could just say praise God, which means I’m fine. Boy was I relieved.
. (period for my last entry)
Also, fellow preachers, take note. Watch your use of greek for this very reason.
Y’gotta be careful with this one, though. Last week we met up with some friends because of the tragic death of one of my husband’s childhood buddies. I automatically said, “Hey, how are you?”
One guy stared at me and then said: “I’m pretty sh***y, actually.”
I felt like the biggest idiot.
Which is to say, context is important.
I agree with Laura. I tend to be literal in word usage (which slips into being an irritant others, I’m quite sure). I often have to check myself to avoid getting irritated with the free use of rhetorical questions in conversation.
The one that bugs me the most is right after I have (1) burned my fingers in the oven, (2)fallen very hard on the ice, or (3) banged my head on the corner of a drawer that was left open….and hubby says, “Are you all right?”
Uh….sure. I’m fine.
Just realized that as I waxed expansive about my irritation in previous post that I demonstrated that I actually DON’T check myself very well–probably. Fooey.
Near New Orleans and South MS where I live they ask “Where ya at” basically saying hey, how you doing. Just another way of saying hello.
In England the greeting is “You all right?” It took me aback a bit.
so, if someone says “how are you” for “hello”, what are they supposed to say for “how are you”? and how is the person on the receiving end supposed to know whether the person really wants to know how they are?
Context of the relationship (does or should this person care), context of the situation (is this person on their way somewhere), and tone (do they sound intentional or is it said ‘automatically’. Also, if they do really want to know, they can ask again or be specific. Sometimes people don’t even realize they ‘asked’ the first time.
Even if we all agree that “How are you?” means “Hello” and respond accordingly, you must admit that it’s illogical and inefficient. Right?
Inefficient, perhaps. Illogical, no. Languages morph all the time and clusters of words can form new meanings. ‘Goodbye’, for example, is a contraction of ‘God be with ye’, but it no longer carries the same meaning.
Is that where it came from? I thought it came from a wish to have a “good” “bye” (as in “by the bye.) And it IS illogical to ask a question without expecting an answer… even if everyone does it consistently.
Yep, seems you’re right about “goodbye.” http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=good-bye Just goes to show that I need a lot more etymological awareness.
Tim,
It seems the reply feature has a limit.
It is not illogical if the question that has linguistically transformed into a statement. I will grant you that it appears illogical to those whose dialect has not undergone such a transformation.
You mean like mine? :) Good point, though. Makes sense.
Another thought: people also say “I’ll call you later” when they have no intention of calling later. It just means “goodbye.” LOL!
Also: LOL almost never means “laughing out loud”.
I mean, people at my office use IM internally a lot, and I don’t think it’s happened a single time that someone has responded LOL to something I wrote and had actually produced a single sound.
“Mildly amusing” is more like it.
(sorry for the longwindedness)
Thanks for the Wikipedia link. But I don’t think the etymological fallacy applies to this situation. Phrases don’t have etymology; words do. (Though the 1st commenter noted that there could be a similar transformational process at work here.) But the words ‘how’ ‘are’ and ‘you’ do have specific meanings that do not encompass the meaning ‘hello.’
The Wikipedia article pointed out that the fallacy is when people think that etymology reveals the REAL meaning of a word instead of the HISTORY of the word’s meaning. However, just because etymology doesn’t describe a word’s real meaning, that doesn’t mean that a word DOESN’T HAVE a real meaning. Otherwise how could we communicate?
Definitions are derived from usage–that much is plain–and they change over time. But we should give usage at least some level of awareness and supervision to keep definitions and syntactical constructions logical. Otherwise you end up with situations like comment #17. We have lexicographers and dictionaries so that we can all agree on our usage. The fact that you had to write this post means that we’re not all agreed on this.
That said, understanding the intended meaning is the most important part of communication. I’ll try to interpret phrases like “How are you?” in the way that they are intended. But I hope that the rest of you would show some sensitivity to the likes of Laura and myself who are genuinely confused when people ask us a question and then don’t expect an answer.
It would be a rhetorical question? If you don’t really need an answer?
I agree, but sometimes I sincerely want an answer.
In Prague, where I’m going to live, Americans are thought insincere because we say “How’s it going” or the like, but don’t care about the answer. On friend there asked a Czech coworker that question and she gave him a shocking and explicit reply. He learned to just say “Hello.”
Through learning German and traveling … we learned that, in Germany, the question “How is it going?” means “hello” but in Austria (same language) it is considered too personal and rude … you barely know the person, why would you ask something so personal? Instead you would merely say the typical “Gruss Gott” or others.
same in hungary. you only ask, “how are you” if you really want an answer otherwise it is quite a personal question. they would rather say, “jo napot”(good day).
[...] entry all day. Also, it’s a good lesson in concise writing, which is important to any author. This entry is about using “how are you” as a greeting. Check it out, the comments as well (some [...]
I cannot believe I just read that entire Wiki.
Hint:
When in Baltimore, and you hear the greeting “howyoudoin?”, don’t answer. Just respond “howyoudoin”. You’ll appear to be a local.