Actually fr! Studied a year there and I had no driver license back then… Which was fuckin painful as there was little to no other infrastructure! It was also fun to start uni with a 2 hour consultation about school shootings…
But the worst thing? They fucken start every conversation with a ‘how are you’ and look at you like you are boinkers if you say anything aside from ‘good’! Well I am not fuckin good at most times…
Lived in multiple eu countries as a contrast and its incomparably worse, while there is an amount of money I would go back temporarily but I would never settle down there
Wait, so y’all don’t have to lie and tell people you’re doing good? This is an American thing?
Hell that’s regional even in the US. Most social interactions in the PNW used “What’s up!” in whatever variation to mean “Hi!” and “How’s it going/are you doing?” meant "Tell new how you’re feeling or how your day/task is progressing“. Honest answers were quite normal. The only people who were bothered were the bourgie types, and fuck 'em in any case.
We also just didn’t talk to unfamiliar people outside of social spaces if it could be helped.
Why would you do that ngl. If someone asks how I am, of course I tell the truth. If they don’t want to know, they shouldn’t have asked.
You’ll be at work, walking the opposite direction as a co-worker who you are seeing for the first time that day. “How are you?” You can’t stop to talk, so you only have time for a 1-3 word answer max.
“Not that great tbh, what about you?”
I’ve even seen it a lot that people don’t even reply to “how are you”, they just start talking about something else. So weird…
I have a coworker who greets me with “Hi, what’s up? How’s it going?” and then just continue walking without expecting an answer. It’s such a pet peeve of mine, lol. We’re not Americans, we live in Europe, and this person is definitely an exception, but it still catches me off guard every single time.
You see, “how are you?” Isn’t a genuine quotation, it’s just a way of saying “hello” and feigning interest in someone’s well-being. In all actual fact, nobody gives a shit.
Just say “fine” and move on.
I say “doing alright, how about you”l and that usually covers it
So you have to answer it? To what sort of languical constructs are you expected to answer?
You don’t have to. It’s socially accepted and preferred if you do, but I have, and have had done to me, simply ignoring the question and moving the conversation forward to the point.
I live in Canada, we follow a lot of the same here, I try to be more genuine than the average and give a nonspecific but truthful response. Anything from “I’m having a day”, to “it could be worse”, or “not the worst” kind of deal. Basically setting a low bar for how I’m doing and saying I’m somewhere above that.
You don’t have to reply with “fine”, but it’s one of the fastest ways to end the greeting part of the conversation and move on to more important topics.
If you think the USA’s domestic policy is terrible and social murder, wait till you find out about its foreign policies. They do social murder too, but regular murder, mass murder, and terrorism sponsored by the richest nation are also on the table.
So this is Christmas
Camera slowly pans across various shots of Americans
And what have you done?
1 800 number comes up on the screen for donations
We are so fucked.
got license to complain then
If enough locals had their way, we would return to an independent republic
Nothing like the entitled Americans complaining while talking on their $1000 iPhones and their designer jeans about living in America. Having a President like Trump must make things so hard for you.
sigh. why have a reddit alternative if its just the same as reddit.
