Much of common interaction between people is just meaningless noise. Take common greetings and leave-takings. “How are you?” is just noise from the lips of someone who really doesn’t give a damn how you are and isn’t even remotely considering wondering about it. “Have a nice day,” is equally empty noise in almost all cases.
I tend to try making folks minds lurch a bit and wonder about such things. When I greet someone, frequently I’ll simply ask, “How am I?” That alone is usually just enough to jar them out of their dull lack of contemplation as they drift vaguely through the day–IF they have enough wit to be paying even the slightest bit of attention to their surroundings. I get some interesting, though usually delayed by double-takes, replies from time to time as the occasional person stops to consider that two actual people are interacting… Not often enough to be encouraging, but often enough to give me a wee glimmer of hope.
Then there’s my semi-frequent reply to an empty, “Have a nice day.”
“Kind of pushy aren’t you? I mean, what if I want to have a bad day?” Or, “Who made you the boss of me? I can have a bad day if I want to!”
Now, admittedly, each of those is deliberately delivered with a wry smile, looking the person square in the eyes if possible, so the sting ought to be taken out of such comments, but still. The cognitive dissonance created with statements like this might–might–lead folks to consider what they’re really saying and whether they really mean the blessing they unconsciously pronounce as empty words.
I just try to do my small part to wake the sleepers from their slumber. 😉
I generally respond to the “have a nice day” crowd in much the same manner as you, although I’ll frequently just respond with “If I have too” in a whiney voice.
I’ll occasionally respond to how are you be telling them how I am… It’s fun watching people realize that they didn’t really want to know.
Interestingly enough, this was the first thing I learned to ask in Gaelic: “How are you?” “Ciamar a tha thu?”
Perri, What bothers me almost more than the banality of a thoughtless, “How are you,” are those folks who are awake enough to actually hear me ask them, “How am I?” who then respond with “You’re good.”
Have they no idea what that means? Do they think it means, “You are well”? Are so many of those few who are conscious enough of their surroundings to actually hear and parse what I say so lacking in basic skill with English that they somehow think “You are good” (similar to the nonsensical response to “How are you (doing)?” of “I’m good”) is in any way appropriate?
I am heartened by the very few who do respond with a thoughtful, “You look like you’re doing OK (or rather poorly *heh*)” or “I’m not sure, but it appears you are breathing, at least,” as one person responded this week. Something that indicates both awareness and understanding of the question, and an ability to turn it right back at me.
If I have to… Not too. Man where did I learn to type?
I’m not sure where you learned to type, Perri, but I never have, really. Back in the long ago days of yore when I was in school, “typing” was an all-girls class. Seriously. No one had heard of “keyboard class.” A few years after I left high school, some boys in the schoolbroke the ice and took typing, but in my day? Nope.
So, I type by the “biblical method”–seek and ye shall find, as it were, although my Wonder Woman tells me I;m the fastest “hunt ‘n’ pecker” she’s ever known, and I do use four fingers (and sometimes more) and even thumbs, so I may be better at this than the average monkey. Barely. So, typos don’t generally bother me, though I do sometimes correct obvious typos in comments.
Actually, if you’d simply added another “o” or two to your, “If I have too,” I’d probably have taken it as a part of the “whine” you referred to. 🙂
I am so with you on this. I usually say, “Do you want the long or the short answer?”
I agree with you David – what you write – the onus behind it is so true. Just the same I hope you do remember most of the population does not have the insight to think like you and I suspect they are not even half the fraction as intelligent as you either. So, I like that you lighten up on them a bit, after all – not everyone is “as blessed” as you – not empty words, but sincere words David. 😉
Ah, but Layla, should I not be a “lightbringer” and awaken the slumbering masses? *heh*
How am I? Heh. I’m going to try that. I once said “Nice talking to me!” after a brief conversation, but that was an accident, lol.
Yeh, well, Mel, enough about me. What do you think about me?
Well, sure, there is not wrong with being a “self-appointed” lightbringer if it makes a difference. I hope they wake up from their slumbering. *heh*