Question

November 21 is World Hello Day. At school, we learned that “How do you do?” and “How are you?” are standard ways to say hello when meeting others. But do you know how to reply to them? Nowadays, do native speakers seldom use them today?

As we learned, “How do you do?” is for greeting someone we meet for the f 1. time. And it can be answered with the same “How do you do?”. “How are you?” is often used to greet someone we k 2. well. It usually follows with an answer of “I’m good, and you?” or “I’m fine, and you?”.

But English is a casual (隨意的) language. The formal “How do you do?” is rarely said by native speakers. It is considered old-fashioned. Yet they greet each other in m 3. other ways.

You may hear a conversation b 4. British people: “You all right?” “Yeah, you?” “I’m good. Any plans for the weekend?” or “How’s it going?” “Yea, fine, and you?”. These ways of greeting are p 5. for young people to say hello to friends.

Americans like saying, “What’s up?” or “What’s good?” to friends. Don’t be confused (混淆的). It doesn’t m 6. “What’s wrong?”. It is just one way of saying hello. And people usually give answers like “Not much” or “Nothing”. “Hey, man” is also popular. But it is only used among men. What do w 7. say? You guessed it. They often say “Hey, girl.”

If you meet an Australian, you may h 8. “G’day, mate”. It means “Good day”. You can reply with the same “G’day”.

However, there is no rule to say hello to each other. If you can’t r 9. all of the above, just say “How are you?”. This is the most c 10. and standard way for people of all ages. You can reply with “pretty good”, “same as usual” or “I’m hanging in there.”

Answer 1