How ya doin'?

If you’ve ever lived in (or near) the Chicago or New York metropolitan areas, you’ll know that “how ya doin’?” is a fairly common greeting. You’ll also know that a response to the question is NOT REQUIRED. The reason it’s not is shown in the clip posted below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhEYXcCB1Qw

All of us (including me) have made the mistake of asking someone who appears to be from a foreign country where they are from. The clip below explains why THAT can also be a mistake:

what kind of Asian are you?

Since all of us are of mixed heritage (I’m mostly Irish, but there’s a little Bohemian blood in my makeup as well), trying to stay away from “country of origin” during your initial exposure to a person is a very good idea.

Chapter III of Emily Post’s book on etiquette discussed (at length) how to greet people. Although the advice that she gives IS still applicable today, most of us would find less formal greetings to be acceptable. Bart Simpson’s attempt at greeting people (I’m Bart Simpson; who the hell are you?) wouldn’t work in most situations, but “hello” and “good morning” should be universally acceptable the vast majority of the time. If you still wear string ties on occasion, you’re also allowed to just say, “howdy”.

Like they say in L.A., have a real nice day.