A friend used the phrase & was astonished that I had never heard it. She refused then to tell me what it means. Help, please!
It’s spelt comment allez-vous?
And it means “how are you going?”
It basically means “how are you?”
Je vais à pied, évidemment.
It’s como talle vu? It just means “how are you?”
That’s a literal translation. It actually means "how are you doing? or “how are things going?”
Yeah, what he said :smack: I know what it means, just can’t spell it.
you can “get her back” next time by saying “ça va?” which is the colloquial version of the more familiar “comment ça va” which also translates basically as “how goes it?” “ça” is pronounced “sah”
Actually, in Australian English it is an idiomatic as well as a literal translation.
“How are you doing?” is a translation of the Australian idiom into American English. 
I’ve also heard, “Il va?” (It or he goes?) meaning “Is everything OK?” but I’m not sure that was from a native speaker.
I would just pedantically add that the vous is the polite or formal form. To someone with whom you are more familiar you would say comment va-tu? Don’t know if that’s useful since I don’t know the context of the question.
You just ruined my reason for opening this thread, you realize.
As others have said, Comment allez-vous (pronounced, roughly, as [com m<nasal a> tallay voo]) literally means “how are you going”, and is an informal French greeting similar to “how’s it goin’, eh?”.
Elision drags the final ‘t’ of comment over against the first vowel of allez, where it is pronounced. It is not pronounced if comment is by itself, or followed by a word that starts with a consonant.
Useful replies include:
Ça va bien.
[sah vah bi-<nasal eh>] lit. “It’s going well.”
“Things are, in fact, going well.”
Ça va.
[sah vah] lit. “It’s going.”
“Things are not going well–in fact, they’re pretty craptacular at the moment–but I don’t want to actually come out and say it.” This expression is good for when you meet your boss in the lunch lineup.
Tre bien!
[treh bi-<nasal eh>] lit. “Very well!”
“My new girlfriend and I just won the lottery and we’re about to blow this popsicle stand!”
Comme ci, comme ça.
[kum see kum sah] lit. “Like this, like that.”
“A bunch of good and bad stuff has happened; please enquire further.” This expression is good for when you meet your co-worker in the lunch lineup.
Merde! J’ai oublié ou se trouve le mouton, mais j’ai vu Hal Briston dans cette autobus-ci.
[merd zhai oobleeyay oo seh troov le moo-t<nasal o> meh zhay v<nasal u> hal brisstun d<nasal a> set ohtohboos see]
I leave the meaning of this one for the reader. Hint: mouton = sheep. 
Oh wow I am rusty but
“Dammit, I forgot to bring the friggin’ sheep. but I did see Hal Briston on that bus”
Talk about your non sequiturs!
Hal Briston - Sex with sheep is fun!
Oh, and merde means “shit”. Clearly, I’m no French expert, but I know that much!
[pedant=on]Très[/pedant]
I would translate this idiomatically as “so-so”.
also there are the responses to Sunspace’s comments
“tant pis” (tau’ (nasal "n’ no final ‘t’) pee) - what a pity
“quel damage” (accent the 2nd syllable of “damage”) literally “what damage!” basically “Jeez, that sucks”
(or as my friend in Montreal is fond of saying “Quel fromage”)
Actually, that’s quelle dommage, or “What a shame!”
Wonderful Dave Barry reference 