Conference thebay::joyoflex

    Everyone knows the phrase, but as you say, it is a little bit
    old-fashioned.  One might expect to hear it from ladies who
    are and/or pretend to be upper-crust (and old-fashioned), etc.

			Yes, it is old-fashioned.  

			Today's correct usage is
			"Yo!  How's it hangin'?" 
	
				 :-)

    Even more old-fashioned is the `rule' (I was taught it by a Frenchman
    who'd learnt English at school) that the correct response to `How do
    you do?' is `How do you do?'. I sometimes say `How do you do? [with
    an implied footnote - joc. and arch.]', but I've never used it as a 
    response.
    
    b

	Down South, we just say "hey."

		-- Cliff

    
    I have some Japanese aquaintances, and while I was at University,
    greeting them with either "How do you do?" or "How are you?" (shortened
    to "'Ow arya?" in Oz) resulted in some hysterical answers - because
    they mistook the question's meaning.  Most Westeners know that the
    poser of the question is rarely interested in how they feel - it is
    (where I come from) more of a symbolic greeting...
    
    My Japanese friends took it literally, and so I was often told of the
    previous night's activities be they sexual (one of them had a
    girlfriend who could have gone through the entire SAS and not even
    broken out into a sweat...), gastronomic or travel related.
    
    A simple greeting often took twenty or more minutes, many of which left
    me grinning from ear to ear...	8^)
    
    David
    

    	The French are hypochondriacs, and even if you greet them correctly
    in French will often describe their latest symptoms.

    "How do you do?"
    
    Well...
    
    First you have to be able.  Those who can't do, teach.

    re: .8
    
    Those who can, teach; those who can't persue some less fulfilling
    profession     ;-)
    
    re: .*  G'Day as we say "Downunder"
    
    BobH.
    

   >> 	The French are hypochondriacs, and even if you greet them correctly
   >> in French will often describe their latest symptoms.

	That kind of generalization makes me sick.

	8^)

    G'day,
    
    I guess a lot depends on the emphases and tonal stresses...
    
    _HOW_ do you do?
    How do _you_ do?
    
    have somewhat different connotations, I feel....
    
    The expression should be flatly spoken with no stresses, without undue
    haste, but not slowly, neither.  And more of a     how d'you do...
    
     
    
    
    It would not raise any eyebrows with me...
    
    But then I'm English.....
    
    
    You know there is a cultural gap, however, if the person you are
    addressing gets out their X-ray negatives.....
    
    
    derek

    A variation.  I had rented a plane and was flying over Loch Lomond when
    Scottish radio (air traffic control) called me and said, "How are
    you?", which is *not* standard flying or radio phraseology or jargon.

    My strong American inclinations were to reply, "I'm fine; how are you?"
    What they wanted was a position report.

	To return to my Southern theme, in certain parts of the South,
	the standard greeting is "you doin' alright?"  The reactions
	from Yankees who have heard this for the first time are pretty
	amusing.

		-- C

    I knew "How do you do?" before I came to the States.  But I was totally
    nonplussed the first time somebody said to me "What do you say?"  Yeah,
    what _do_ I say to that?
    
    --Simon
    

    The appropriate response to "What do you say?" is anything informal
    that happens to come into your mind.  "Glad to meet you" would be a bit
    formal but adequate.  "Any lie that keeps me out of trouble" would be
    in keeping with the question, followed immediately by, "How they
    hangin'?"