I feel like crap all the time, and I’m running out of curt answers.
I don’t want to lie and say I’m good just because that’s what’s expected of me, but I don’t want to invite discussion into why I feel poorly.
My go-to response is “Living the dream,” because if this life is a dream I hope to wake up soon. Plus not only is it considered an acceptable answer, it can be played off as a joke.
If anyone needs extra context, being asked “how are you” is an extended part of the greeting here. The asker is really just saying hello still, and although some kind of answer is expected, they aren’t actually curious about your welfare. A genuine response throws people off balance, and is probably unwarranted. Think of coworkers, service workers, or even total strangers being asked this dozens of times a day.
-Fair to middling
-Hanging in there like a hair in a biscuit
-Finer than frog hair
The horrors persist, but so do i.
I’m a big fan of this one, I started using it as a mantra when I got sick of “this too shall pass”
Monty Python also has a good response:
Sometimes I ignore the question and just move on in conversation. Most people don’t even notice because they’re asking out of habit, not to actually ask you how you’re doing.
I do this sometimes. I’ve had people ask again where i tell them that I’ll get there after i fonish my story, but then obviously never go there. lol
This is what I do. Either ignore it or just say “yes” and move on to the main topic of the day.
I used to answer somewhat truthfully, but I dunno, answering “horrible, I want to kill myself” every time tends to bring people down and sort of ruins the mood. So its just easier to skip the question. And like you said, nobody notices, they don’t really care. So why should I bother answering when its of no use. People who really want to know usually ask again and almost demand an answer, if you do ignore them.
In German, we say “shitty would be bragging”.
Beschissen wär geprahlt!
The one who can not cope with this answer should not ask!
my goto is “muss ja”
oh, nice
I’m here is an answer. If you deflect you also get your point across.
Something similar. I Normally go with “I’m breathing” if I really don’t want to answer honestly and saying “good thanks” feels like too much of a stretch lol.
I find most people kind of laugh the answer off and continue with conversation from there
As a retail worker, yup…
Am retail worker. I’m taking notes here
Really though, it depends entirely on the person. With my partner I will try to give the most complete answer I can, with friends and coworkers it depends on how close our relationship is. With strangers it may be a completely perfunctory answer to a completely perfunctory question, especially if I’m not up for defending a non-perfunctory answer, but I like to keep my answers real when I have the spoons for it.
I find this question quite fascinating: Culturally, there are countries where this gets asked indeed as a form of greeting, not a genuine question.
In Slavic countries, I feel like if you get asked this question, it’s generally considered to be of genuine interest, and you’ll get a genuine reply. Nothing offensive or informal about saying “Things are bad.” or “I feel bad.”, or any variant of such.
This might be my perception however, and feel free to correct me. I myself think that if someone asks how I’m doing, I have no need or responsibility to “remain positive/pleasant”.
Around here it’s definitely more of a greeting. I wish it was more of a genuine interest because then I wouldn’t feel so weird about answering truthfully when things aren’t great.
The context can make a big difference here. Friends and family are more likely to actually care. With coworkers and customers it’s often better to keep them at arms’ length because a negative response can get you labelled as not a team player, or receive customer complaints.
Some days I worry I’ll be too candid with my employer and I’ll lose my job as a result. That one is probably my own biased perception, but shit, it’s happened before.
I live in the US where it is just a greeting, but grew up in a different culture where it is almost always taken literally and isn’t something you ask a stranger. I tend to answer honestly because I want to normalize not being fake polite and I almost always have some bullshit to call out. If you can find something to complain about that other people also hate, it’s a great way to bond around how shitty the world can be. :D
In Finnish we have a phrase “ei kurjuutta kummempaa” which is said in a happy, jolly way and its usually accepted as “not great but I don’t want to expand on it.” It translates to “nothing worse than misery.”
The juxtaposition is great.
Thats why I like it so much :) Too bad theres no “good” equivalent in English and the chirpy way of saying it doesn’t carry over text.
“Not great but I don’t want to expand on it” is pretty much exactly the kind of response I’m looking for
Thank you for teaching me some new words
Thank you for teaching me some new words
I’m sure you’ll find it very useful. A whopping 0,06% of the worlds population speaks finnish lol
“Eh, been better.”
I feel like that response is real without oversharing, and invites someone to respond however they want. If they care, they can ask what’s up, or they can just say, “aw bummer man, hope it gets better for you,” or whatever.
Not dead yet
“Great!”
“Alright, you?”
“Living the dream.”
“Another day in paradise.”
“One day closer to death.”
Depending on my mood
“One day closer to death” is fantastic.
“Its going” gets the message across. Kind of shit, but time passes.
Took me years to realize that the “correct” reply is to ask the same question back, not answering.
But my go-to phrase when having just gotten out of bed, headed for my shift was “too early to tell”
“Eh, tired.”, usually.
People tend to get it. They’re probably tired too.
– Frost
“Hangin’ in there” is what I generally use when I’m not fine but I know it’s just a greeting. It conveys that things are less than fine, but not by how much, and that I’m still functioning.
Some other, more flippant ones: “As well as can be expected”, a shrug and a “meh”, “Too early to tell” (if it’s first thing in the morning / just arriving to work), “Sitting up and taking nourishment”, etc.
You can even skip answering at all, and move directly to the response greeting, “Hey, how are you?”
“meh” is my go-to haha. Or just a shrug. Gets the point across without being obnoxious.
