It is my experience that the vast majority of folks, when asked this question, will respond, “Good.”
IMO, a preffered response is, “Well.”
Whattayasay?
I say, “Better than you.”
I’m very competitive.
I’m guessing by preferred you mean ‘grammatically correcter’ as opposed to a desire that people tell you that their health is okay rather than how they’re feeling.
So for word usage, ‘good’ is correct. The simply reply ‘good’ is a shortening of “I am good.” In this case, an adjective is used (both sides of the verb ‘to be’ are in the same case, I think). Consider statements like “He is nice” or “She is callipygian.” Nice and callipygian are adjectives there, not adverbs. You wouldn’t want to say, “He is nicely,” now, would you?
IMHO, there’s not much of a need in this casual exchange to be a stickler for grammar. Language is about communicating, and if everyone starts using ‘good’ and ‘well’ interchangeably, and people understand, we oughtn’t really complain. Of course, it does lead to some more exceptions in the language, since it’s currently clear that saying “I’m doing well” and “I’m doing good” have an entirely different meaning. We also understand that when asked, “How are you?”, the response, “I’m feeling well,” means the same as “My emotional state is good”, as opposed to “My tactile sense is in operational order.”
panama jack
Wer keine andere Sprache kennt, kennt nicht sein eigene.
I usually say, “Fine. How are you?”
“Fine, thanks—and yourself?”
“Better than nothing. Wanna find out?”
My answer is usually a rigidly extended middle finger, accompanied by a violent upthrust of the right forearm while simultaneously leaning the crook of the right elbow for support on the palm of my left hand.
When done correctly, the gesture is very evocative and leaves my interlocutor in no doubt as to my general opinion of his kind inquiry for my well-being.
I often respond, “Why, what have you heard?”
I find that the ‘vast majority’ says “Fine.”
I like to make people think a bit. I say, “I’ve been worse.” The only problem is that most don’t do the thinking, and they think that reply is a complaint about a bad day I’m having.
So far, so good.
Thank God, doing fine. How about you?
Would someone like to back up or challenge panamajack’s post before I toss this thread to MPSIMS?
i’d like to challenge panamajack,
ahem, er…:
no, i don’t think so PA-NA-MAAAA! WHO would ever say they were callipygian?
(i tried…)
sigh. better get it out of here. Hopefully, I was completely off-base and no one will notice it …
And soulsling, I’ve known at least several callipygian girls. Hey, I wish they all could be callipygian …
panama jack
pushing this thread that much closer to MPSIMS
Well, to further the effort to throw this thread into MPSIMS: I try to answer “I’m still alive” at least once a day. “I’m awake” or “I’m still asleep” is good early in the morning.
Hmm…I wish they all could be(don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming :)) California girls…
-Sam
Yeah. Heave it.
Sorry to cause you the trouble, Man. One of these times I’m bound to initiate a thread in the correct forum, if only by chance.
Panamajack’s response is the type of response I desired. I had always thought it was somehow not quite grammatically correct to respond “Good.”
-If I ask, “How are you?”, the response “good” implies to me virtuosity. As opposed to “well” which suggests well being.
-If I ask, “How are you doing?”, “good” suggests Mother Theresa (debatable, I know). Again, “well” suggests physical/emotional ease.
-If I ask “How are you feeling?”, “good” either makes me want to stroke or compliment them on their tactile ability. Again, “well” suggests health, comfort, etc.
I don’t not know much in the way of grammar rules, but end up using decent grammar much of the time by ear. I try to avoid using imprecise words if possible. And “good” simply did not sound quite right to me. Not that I would correct someone. But if I say, “How ya doin?”, and someone responds “Good. How bout you?”; If I respond, “I am well”, I feel uncomfortable with what might be perceived as a tacit correction. (Hey, if I can’t belabor the small stuff, what am I supposed to obsess over!)
Assuming this goes to MPSIMS, I usually respond with words like splendid, fantastic, super, tremendous, etc. Wakes folks up. Forces them to realize they asked me a question, and I responded. Get some pleasant responses from folks too, instead of just mindlessly mouthing words we aren’t even hearing ourselves say. And if I say it often enough, I might start believing it. 
Occasionally I’ll respond “Absodoodle!”, to test whether they have read what I consider to be one of the best novels ever written. They might look at me as tho I’m wierd, but at least they fucking look at me! Are we not men?
hey, i tried.
and yeah, i know plenty of callipygian girls. but none have ever said “i’m callipygian, go ahead, feel!”
wish they did though.
This could mean “By what reason do you exist?” In my case, my mom either forgot or deliberately stopped taking The Pill.
Don’t worry about it. It was worth a shot. Some topics are just too irresistible to get all serious about. This, if the denizens of MPSIMS feel sufficiently inspired, could be a future Threadspotting item.
Off to MPSIMS.