My classic example being the "Do you want the last ....?" question, which actually means "I want the last .... ?". Why don't we just say what we mean?
This has been bugging me a bit lately with people who use phrases like "How ya doin'?" and "Alright" as a brief greeting.
Normally this happens in a situation where, by the time you've said "Fine thanks, how are you?", the person you've just passed in the corridor is too far away for a proper conversation to begin. But if I just say "Fine thanks", I feel that I've not taken an interest in how the other person is doing. They've asked me, it would be polite to ask them back?
Answering "Alright?" with "Alright?" doesn't seem to make much sense. But if we're treating the initial "Alright?" as a greeting then I guess that's...for want of a better word...alright?
I prefer to use peoples' names. "Hello" by itself doesn't work for me. But "Hi James" or "Morning Paul" has a higher value - it implies that you know something about them, even if it's just their name. It shows that I know who they are! And it encourages me to learn people's names.
OK, OK, maybe I just think too much. But I think this is important. We can take a little piece of communication and use it for something more useful. What if I don't just know someone's name, but I know that they're little baby girl is in hospital. Then my "Hi James" can become compassionate: "Hey James, how's your girl?". Then suddenly we're having a real conversation.
That would be more than alright with me!
A post about English! Love it... Personally, I think you're onto a losing battle. I think its the recipricol exchange of utterances, not ACTUALLY what is said, that makes communication important at this level of greeting aquaintances on your way past. Take the Yorkshire "Now then?", followed by the stunningly brilliant response: "Now then". Those two words "now" and "then" cover all events past, present, future in both question and answer form. Its quite genius in its comprehensiveness. Brazilians do the same when they say "e, ai?" (pron. ee, eye-ee?. It means "And, there?" and it roughly corresponds to "Now then". I see your point about being more specific but I feel there's a tide of historically determined grunted greetings working against you...
ReplyDeleteOne of me Leeds colleagues uses "Now then" and I love it! I don't think I mind that or "Alright". These are accepted greeting and I'll happily reply with my own.
ReplyDeleteIt's the longer, greeting-type questions that follow the greetings themselves that confuse me.
Friend: Alright
Ross: Alright
[I'm happy up to here]
Friend: "How you doing?"
[OK, now I don't know what to say]
Ross: "I'm fine"
[Friend is now 20 feet away]
Perhaps I'll respond "e, ai?" and see if that really confuses THEM? ;-)