Comment by pimeys
8 years ago
As a Finn I typically answer what I really feel at that moment. It creates funny situations, but in general I think if you ask me a question I should give a truthful answer. Why would you ask if you don't want to know...
It's a quirk in English. "How are you?", "How's it going?", etc. are often greetings, not serious questions.
“How do you do?”
—“How do you do?”
tipping of hats ensues
I tried this and it worked poorly; people tended to get annoyed at me for answering the stupid question that they asked. Now I just go with "not too bad" in various tones of voice.