My foreman would always say "Love my job" in a happy tone after anything bad happened on a job site. The happier the tone, the worse it was
then comes the singing.
"Dear God, he's doing H.M.S. Pintafore. We have to leave. Now!"
Fun fact: in America asking "how's it going?" is just a greeting, nobody really cares
Brits ofen say "You alright?" As a substitute for "Hi."
Pretty jarring when you're not used to it. Id think "God, I must look like shit if they're genuinely checking on my welfare!"
Yeah Tom Scott did one of his linguistics videos about that, he had a word for it but some questions aren't really questions they're basically just rituals, though rephrased a different way makes them genuine questions, and when you have major dialects of the "same" language like British and American English, we use different ones. "Are you alright?" is basically a noise of greeting in Britain and an expression of genuine concern in America, while "How are you?" is the reverse.
Chinese version 你吃了吗 or variations on that, although it's not used so much anymore. Literally means "have you eaten", except it doesn't really require an answer. I imagine it came up in that video, but it's a good one.
Won't stop us from having a conversation or even just bitching about something that is randomly bothering us.
I always respond thoughtfully to people I don’t like. Then I ask how they are and watch them squirm.
be advised: this will not work with the majority of neurodivergent people
It me!
Which is also probably why I give this answer. Because it irks me to some degree that we just throwaway important questions like another human’s well-being.
If someone responds without being tripped up, I sorta know they’re my kind of person.
I feel like the one going on about defcon does not know defcon 5 is actually pretty chill
"I'm doin." -I am not doing well and I don't want to talk about it. But I'm also too exhausted and shattered to keep lying about my mental state for the sake of social niceties, so I'm hoping my vague, neutral statement will either convey what I'm feeling, or you'll fill in the blank with whatever you want to hear. Just as long as you stop asking how I'm doing.
My favorite to use: "not gonna lie to you."
My coworker once when I asked him a hard question: "Don't make me lie to you."
I still think of that a lot and try to work it in when someone asks me an impossible question.
Defcon 5
I never know if they're meaning that it's not that bad, or if they actually mean defcon 1.
Because with defcon, the lower the number, the worse the situation.
"Too blessed to be depressed" - they're a Christian fundamentalist who is depressed but trying to convince themselves otherwise. You should run.
I'm here ain't I = Defcon 5
So normal then?
Yeah, def on 5 is basically civilian peace times, right?
In the opposite direction, when I moved to England it took me a while to get used to compliment "inflation" over there.
For example when somebody's opinion on something is:
I once asked one of the natives how did they transmit the message that they trully believes something was a 10/10 and was explained that's done by going into details on how something is so great.
Meanwhile Germany:
Seems very American. If you ask a German you be prepared to not get Smalltalk.
This isnt small talk, this is a survival mechanism to figure if the person will enact violence on you or not. Optimally you want the response to be empty words, grunting, or being told to fuck off.
A friend of mine, married to a European, said that I should have been born in Europe, not the US, due to my hatred of small talk.
Wh... what's y'alls base suicidality level
Our national holiday consists of drinking and playing with explosives at nighttime. You do the math.
It's generally a very cheerful level of suicidality though! Would be awful to bring the mood down by making a suicide all somber or some shit.
Fair to middlin'
it's not bad
My high-school friend group adopted "it goes" from our French class ("Comment ça va?" "Ça va!", roughly meaning "How goes it?" "It goes!" being the common neutral greeting taught in French classes) and I slightly resent it being described negatively here.
I'm German and for me, "can't complain" means I have nothing to complain, I'm fine, nothing special
I find Germans have an easier time replying to things very frankly and without garnishment or humor. I can ask a German, "How are you?", and he may reply with "I'm fine" and it can be taken at face value.
Americans tend to be more, I don't know, conflict avoidant in their replies? There's more expectation of subtext, of irony, and it's not as typical to take "I'm fine" at face value.
"Can't complain" is another good one. It's often heard as, "I can't complain [because nobody would listen anyway]". Tone is important, as is environmental context. Blue collar workers at the site say this, yeah their day is going to shit. Your buddy says it over drinks, maybe he's having a neutral, normal time of life, or maybe his life is going to shit and he's giving the ironic answer to avoid diving into his real issues, while still communicating that things are not perfect.
Last week I was asked how my day was. It had been a perfectly normal, decent day, good time at work, beautiful weather, and my reply was "Life's a peach". I got back, "That bad, huh?" Yeah, the American habit of taking genuine expression and searching for a darkness under it can be tiring sometimes.
Where does "Good enough" fit on the scale? Asking for a friend...
"Good enough" is "My head is barely above water and I'm wondering if it's worth the effort"
Good enough= My day is shit, My week is shit, My life has been shit, but it's not as shit as other people so I don't have the right.
Don't forget "too blessed to be depressed"= I think God will be angry with me if I admit life (read: murica) isn't perfect
I often respond with: “Well, I’m still kicking and screaming.” I don’t know why. I think it got used a lot when I was growing up - someone getting dragged kicking and screaming.
Folks get tripped up by that.
For me, it means that despite the fight being hopeless, I’m still trying.
Her horrors persist, and so do I.
DefCon Stages:
5 - "I'm here, ain't I?"
4 - "ain't dead yet."
3 - "it is what it is"
2 - "I'm not gonna lie to you"
1 - "...don't worry about it"
One time I was in a really run-down thrift store looking for anything neat that stood out. A random guy asked how I was doing and y'know, I tried to be genuine enough, but in return he gave what is now one of my favorite replies:
"Too blessed t'be stressed!"
The delivery of it was like he actually meant it. Like he was just enjoying his day lookin' at stuff and nothing could bother him.
It's a good outlook, y'know... especially because at the time I was in a miserable job and often used the "Been better" and "I'm here." Responses because I just didn't have much else in me.
What annoys me with this culture is when they expect foreigners to use the same exhuberant language and they think something is wrong with you if you don't.
British -
"Alright?"
"Alright?"
French -
"Çava?"
"Çava. Çava?"
Way simpler
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