Re: What do I need to respond when someone says How are you doing??

Mike Lyle wrote:
"Evan Kirshenbaum" <kirshenbaum@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slap90ew.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Don Phillipson" <d.phillipsonSPAMBLOCK@xxxxxx> writes:
[...]
US "How are you doing?" = British "How do you do?" Both are
conventional greetings,

Really? In the US, "How do you do?" is the typical formulaic
response upon being introduced to someone by a third party. It's
akin to "Pleased to meet you".

not real questions, despite their having the appearance of an
interrogation.
[...]

That's all but world-wide. Most people only ever say "How do you
do?" to a given other person once in their lives, if ever; and the
proper response is simply "How do you do?"

BUT, there seem to be a couple of places in England where "How do
you do?" still means "How are you?" and you may hear it many times
from the same person. I think it's a northernism. I've heard it
expressed as "How do?" Cowboy-speak, of course, allegedly
pronounces it "Howdy?" (Is that question-mark correct?)

I think that form is really "how d'ye", short for "howdy-do?". Evan
says rightly that there is no question mark, and also no interrogative
contour there (pace Minnie Pearl); but, if I understand the term
rightly, there is no i.c. in "How do you do?" either, since both
phrases start with an interrogative particle.


.

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