Polite greetings are among the most basic,yet essential, forms of communication in any language. In some areas it'scommon for people to greet even strangers as they pass on the street. Knowinghow to use causual greetings, and how to respond to them, opens the door tofriendly conversation。
SAYING HELLO:
A simple hello is often said with of thefollowing greetings:
Hi: the most common, casual way to sayhello
Hey: slang greeting, orginally a regionalexpression from the South but now widely used. Hey is a general word to start asentence, to get someone's attention, and as a response to many differentstatements and situations. Tone and intonation often reveal the meaning of theword。
Hi (or Hey) there: casual variations of Hior Hey。
After intial "Hi!" peoplegenerally ask "How are you?" or they use one of the following casualexpressions (typical responses are shown to the right of the expression)：
Possible Reply
How are youdoing? Prettygood. How are you?
How's itgoin? Great, How'bout you?
How's things? Things are good, thanks. What about you?
How arethings? Not bad. And you?
WHAT'S GOING ON? AND RELATED IDIOMS
The expressions in the following list mean Whatare you doing? or What's happening here? But often they're used as aform of Hello! or general greeting. They are usually answered with anegative expression like Not much or Nothing much. In casualsituationas, and particularly with young people, these greetings can simplymean Hi. Typical responses are shown to the right of the expression。
Possible Reply
What'sup? Not much. What's up with you?
S'up? (short for what'sup) Hey。
What'snew? Nothing much, and you?
What are you upto? Nottoo much. How 'bout you?
What'shappening? Nothing really. What are you doing?
What's going on? Justhanging out。
In addition to the typical responses of Notmuch and Nothing much, people sometimes answer these greetings with Sameold thing or Same old same old, generally meaning that life is thesame and nothing new is happening。
