The whole conversation of "hey! How ya doing?" - "not bad, yourself?" - "pretty good" has always driven me crazy. It is so entirely pointless and I think it just detracts from the meaning of the question.
It caught me off guard as a Brit living in the US that people would say "Hi, how are you?" and just walk past as I opened my mouth to reply. After a while I figured out that this was just a formulaic greeting and not something to be offended by, but it was weird at first. Also "What's up?" - I had to teach myself not to attempt an answer.
Yeah but you Brits also have a rhetorical greeting that catches many Americans the same way. We normally only use that phrase if there is something obviously wrong with someone or if they have just fallen down. Worked with a guy from London who said that a lot. "You alright?" "Well i didn't get much sleep last night but other than that I feel OK. Why? Do I look bad or something?" "Huh?"You alright?
I have discovered through hard experience how challenging these small linguistic differences can be in relationships. I have a habit of saying "alright?" and it probably comes over as needlessly worrity (though a North American probably wouldn't use that word). I think it may be irritating to people. Another one that really caught me out for a long time was that I'd say something like "Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?" and my Canadian partner would reply, "I don't care." For years I thought "OK, but why do you have to be so rude about it? Why not just pretend to care?" Eventually we had a discussion about it. Turns out that "I don't care" is simply Canadian for the British "I don't mind" and it is not rude in Canadian English. Whereas we Brits only say "I don't care" when we mean a dismissive tone (when we are just not bothered we say "I don't mind"). That's what I'm told anyway. Oh, a question: does anyone know whether in Canadian English it soundsracist or not racist to call Indian people "East Indian"? To my British ears "East Indian" sounds weird, because we call people from India "Indian". But I have heard Canadians use the phrase "East Indian" and I think "that sounds a bit racisty but I'm not sure." For a long time I thought they were referring to people from the east of India.
That is hilarious. It's the same in America. I don't care=I have no preference. Many Americans will often use "East Indian" but I personally say "Indian National" when I want to specify a person from India. There are still too many people here who refer to the native populations as Indians to eliminate any ambiguity without specification. To my ear East Indian doesn't sound as racist as it does geographically ignorant. But it is much better than the tasteless joke where one refers to an Indian and then as an aside says "dot not feather" or vice versa.Another one that really caught me out for a long time was that I'd say something like "Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?" and my Canadian partner would reply, "I don't care." For years I thought "OK, but why do you have to be so rude about it?
Oh, a question: does anyone know whether in Canadian English it soundsracist or not racist to call Indian people "East Indian"?
Yep. I'm American, and in my (American) workplace, it's just usually polite to acknowledge someone's existence, and the "how are you doing" phrase just seems to be the go-to acknowledgement for the time being. Now that I think about it, I'm the only one who'll ever say things like "Ehh, I'm OK, just working like mad on such-and-such project," or "Pshh, I'm on nights this week. Sucks." I guess that's just what I wish they'd tell me. I like to know what everyone specializes in and what they're up to. Plus, when I need help, I can rotate between them and I don't have to bother just one co-worker all the time. At least more people here have "Cheers!" in their signature these days...