Comment by Gene_Parmesan
5 years ago
This is exactly how "How are you?" is meant in American culture. It's not fake; greetings are culturally determined and especially the most common greeting phrases in any culture should not be treated literally but instead as part of a ritual exchange.
"How are you?"
"I'm well, and you?"
"Great, thanks."
It's just a ritualistic exchange.
See also the English upper-class ritual introductory exchange:
How do you do?
To which the correct response is:
How do you do?
I’ve learned, can’t say if mistakenly or not, that if an American/Brit really expects you to answer, they will say “Are you OK?”
The Japanese say something like "nice weather, eh?" (ii otenki desu ne? - to which one replies "sure is! - "so desu ne!") -- which is mostly just a semantically little-analyzed pragmatic sequence functioning as a casual greeting.
It’s also not universally American. One of the adjustments I had to make in Boston is “how you doin’?” being the start of a leisurely conversation instead of a quick pleasantry.
It's not just American. It's very similar at least in Belgium and I suppose on other western countries too