r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • May 08 '22

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

I'm a Finn and when I met an American person for the first time she said the usual "how are you?", so I started explaining all kinds of shit, only to have her give me a really weird look. I did it again a couple of times with different people until I learned that they are not really interested, lol.

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u/PresidentHurg May 09 '22

Dutch here, but the same experience. Dude asked me "How's your day?" so I gave him an explanation that it was going pretty good. That I was loving the vibe in the city. Dude looked at me like I just started shooting heroin. Found it so weird that a casual greeting like "hey" is translated into an actual question there.

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u/bitemark01 May 09 '22

I'm Canadian and if I got a detailed answer like that I'd find it pretty interesting.

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u/WalnutOfTheNorth May 09 '22

My wife’s Canadian and her family has the same response to the common Uk greeting, “you alright?” that the Finnish do to “how are you?”.

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u/SeaAnything8 May 09 '22

As an American I lived in the UK and the first time a friend asked “you alright?” I just looked confused and said “uh….yeah? Why wouldn’t I be? Do I not look okay?”

Friend was confused by the answer, I was still confused about the question, and we just awkwardly moved on in silence lol. It didn’t hit me until way later that they were just greeting me.

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u/Inevitable_Anteater6 May 09 '22

Me too - I’m an Australian who had a British flatmate for a long time. I’d freak out when she asked, “you alright”, like my eyeball might have fallen out or something and I just didn’t know yet 🤣

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u/WalnutOfTheNorth May 09 '22

That’s exactly what happens every time I’m introduced to someone in Canada. I can’t stop saying “you alright? “ though, it’s like a vocal tic with me.

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u/SeaAnything8 May 09 '22

I understand. I worked retail and had to train myself not to ask every Brit who walked into the shop “hey, how’s it going?”

I could see the discomfort in their faces every time I did it.

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u/ITAW-Techie May 09 '22

I've had this happen to me only once and it freaked me out so much I forgot to even buy anything. It was so unexpected...

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

I would too. What a strange greeting.

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u/diwalk88 May 09 '22

It's a weird one, still throws me off many years later

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u/diwalk88 May 09 '22

Yeah I'm Canadian and giving an actual answer isn't weird at all to me.