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Maybe you should respond with "Well actually I'm not....you see I have this bunion on my left heel" and then you can find out whethere they really give a hoot about how you're doing!
My experience is that this would turn into a half hour discussion involving neighbors and relatives.
This is so funny,My husband and almost all his family are from here in nc,I'm a contry girl, But I'm learning the slang here...And yes sometimes it is hard to understand, I really have to listen..But for most part I can understand or if not,I usually nod,Hoping I'm not nodding to something wrong...hehehehehehe
Last edited by me41; 06-23-2008 at 07:29 PM..
Reason: oops country girl
It's our way of asking how you are doing without being overly proper. We don't, or I don't, want the conversation to go like this: "How are you doing? Oh, I'm doing well, and how are you doing?" Instead, things are more informal and we say something like: "How are you doing? I'm well (usually in the south you get, "I'm good"). I hope you are." After someone says this the conversation is still totally open and they have invited you to provide commentary on how you are actually doing. You can say good, well, poor, bad, or anything in between. That's just how it is around here.
Originally posted by emelvee
The "yes, sir; yes, ma'am" thread made me think of something I've only encountered since moving to NC.
Say you ask someone how they are doing. They respond with "I'm doing well", etc., following simply by "I hope you are". I take the "hope you are" to mean something like "I don't really want to discuss this further". I don't know how to respond, or if I should; I generally don't respond. It just feels awkward - I've specifically asked someone how they haven't reciprocated.
Anyone else encountered this, irritated by it, etc.?
/end rant
Oh my Gosh, someone else noticed that too! I'm from Michigan and I LOVE how pleasant southerners are when you pass by them on the street. Up north you might get a nod of acknowledgement. Personally, whenever people say "hope you are" I just say "thank you" or "I'm well" and continue on my way. that friendliness is the most endearing trait that southerners have.
As a 42-year-old native: Charlotte, Boone, Chapel Hill, I've only heard the expression within the last 4 or 5 years. It does have some ominous undercurrent to it: "OH sweet Lord no...things are NOT going well! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Gaaaack...gflozzz....". I always thought it was a church-derived thing - it just kind of appeared, and I started hearing it a lot around my job, and there are large numbers of perky non-denominatinal Christians and self-avowed Buddhists who make up chunks of our clientele, and it just seemed like something that would originate within one of those metaphysics.
It's the latest "catch phrase" going around, similar to "Have a blessed day" and "I know, right?".
People who have no mind of their own and cling to whatever they think the rest of the "sheeple" are doing cling to things like this. They hear other people saying something, or wearing something, and decide that's the thing to say/do. I work for the public and have to greet them when they come into our place of business. It's like a broken record now "Hi, I'm going great, I hope you are". Yeah, yeah, yeah..., get a life.
These types of things get on the nerves of those of us who at least have a mind of our own. Oh, and those purses about a year back that looked like they were made out of the hide of a cows butt?
I didn't have one of those either.
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