Finished? Why, I've barely begun!

[khiemtran]

Still only at the first chapter. So far I've learnt three different ways to reply to Mitä kuuluu ("How are you?"). I'm not sure how useful this is going to be, as I had one Finnish friend complain to me once about all the smalltalk required in English when "you don't really care how we are"...

Comments

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. There's nothing worse than being asked how you are when you aren't that good really, but you know the person asking doesn't really want the details. In Somerset, the standard greeting tends to be " 'Rite?" which is an abbreviation of 'alright' and the response is the same - usually pronounced 'reet'.

The Klingons, of course, don't have small talk and their standard greeting is 'What do you want?' That's kind of ... refreshing. :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Around here, "how're ya doin" can be practically a threat depending on how it's spoken. Then again, my standard challenge if I've seen something where I don't think they should be is "can I help you?", and I guess I don't sound as friendly as I think I do when I say it.