Published on 12, July, 2020
What do you think about the "How are you?" question?
I, personally, do not like this question and I have never liked it.
I do not know what to answer.
Also, a lot of the time, I think it is expected just to give a positive answer, but I often feel awful to say "Fine!" simply to be polite if I am not fine.
For me, it's just a meaningless exchange. Like mentioning the weather. Purely phatic. Even if my intonation in response might suggest the opposite of 'Fine', or - as I more usually say - 'Okay', it's almost as if the other person decides 'Uh-oh... don't take this any further.' And so they don't. Maybe that's because I rarely get beyond a phatic level of exchange with people.