Walk into any shop, bar or restaurant; board any train, plane or bus in Australia or New Zealand & you wont be greeted with 'hello' or 'how can I help you?', but 'how ya doin'?'.
Now maybe I'm a very restrained English person, but I struggle with this. In my opinion 'how ya doin'?' is a question that can be asked between people who know each other, or at a push between people who plan to know each other & is a genuine question requiring a genuine response. But in this situation the question is more of a greeting & seems not to actually require an informative answer.
When I first arrived in Australia I would, when asked, actually tell people how I was doing, e.g. 'cold', 'tired', 'cool'. But, despite these just being one word answers I soon realised from peoples surprised expressions that this was too much information. Local expressions didn't seem to go down too well either (awesome - oz; sweet - nz) but a traditional English 'fine' seems too reserved.
So suggestions please on how to answer this personal question in an appropriately enthusiastic yet uninformative way!
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2 comments:
Say - 'how ya doin' back??? It took me ages to get used to the idea of saying 'Alright?' as a substitute for 'hello' back in my early senior school days, and again in the US, where they'd say 'What's up?' - and I'd respond with, 'er, nothing, why, are my flies undone or something?'. The 'howsitgoin' effect does it exist in England. It's just that we do reply... however, it's not (or shouldn't be) an honest reply. So you get things like: How's it goin? Yeah, good, you? Yeah I'm good, so how are you then? er, actually I've just crashed my car and realised the insurance has expired... If you know what I mean??? In fact, that's another one - but I won't get into it now.
this is really deep stuff man, post 24-hour training journeying, navel gazing insight and social comment – loving it! Anyway, the answer is blindingly simple and you had it very early on in your Oz odyssey - numbnuts!
One could fall readily into the age-old trap of trying to ‘fit in', be someone they are not or as you are still doing pass through an ever-so-slightly 'flummoxed' phase - on the other hand, one could (and in my opinion should) approach every 'meet and greet' with just the one thing fixed in their mind - I am who the fuk I am - and, if you accept this, then your early protocols of Brit-type responses can be seen to have been spot on!
In fact, one might argue that, following your brit responses, the resulting confusion on the indigenous 'greeting' faces makes such an approach so much more satisfying and is obviously a worthy end in of itself. Ultimately, the first few words outta our mouths (and other bits and pieces, heals in your case) lay down who we are and where we are from (in the widest sense) - so I think its vital you 'keep it real' - don’t dance to others’ greeting tunes; no, hum along to your own familiar ones – less confusion and a dam site more fun all round I’d say.
dt
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