How are you? When a Swedish journalist is calling an American expert for an interview or something, the beginning most often goes something like this: “Hello, I’m the Swedish journalist.” “Oh hi, Swedish journalist, how are you?” “Oh, I’m fine. How are you?”
This is probably correct, but as a school kid I was taught that you must never answer the question “How do you do?” with how you are doing. - You will make a fool of yourself, they might even laugh at you. When they say How do you do, you must say, How do you do.
So, can we draw the conclusion that “How do you do?” means “Hi”, and “How are you?” means “How are you?” If an American gentleman for instance, shakes my hand and says “Hi, I’m Bob, how are you?” I’m supposed to say “Fine, thanks Bob, and how are you?” But if he says, “Hi, I’m Bob, how do you do?” I’m supposed to say “How do you do, Bob?”
Dear Sirs. If I’m writing a polite letter (or mail of course) to an American or British company whom I never dealt with before, is “Dear Sirs” the correct way to start? It seems to be when googling about, but it just feels weird, I don’t know why. – How would you natives address them in such a letter (where Hi or Hello etc won’t do)?
“How do you do?” is not a very common American phrase in the modern times. But if I were confronted with such an introduction, I would probably reply, “Fine, how are you?”.
“Dear Sirs” or “Dear Sir or Madam” is acceptable for an impersonal letter.
Possible answers to “How are you?”:
– How are you?
– I’m fine.
– Never better.
– Can’t complain.
– Could be worse.
– Do you want the whole story, or just “I’m fine, how are you?”?
Any of the above could be used in response to “How do you do?”, since it means exactly the same thing.
I haven’t heard “How do you do?” in ages. It might be regional. “I’m fine, how are you?” is a perfectly appropriate response to any of those “fake question” greetings.
Socially, in the context you mentioned, the correct response to “How do you do” calls for a statement that you are doing well, regardless of the truth. It’s a social matter and it is not treated as an assertion of fact. You can then ask the same question back (expecting a positive answer regardless of the truth), or you can jump right in to what you called about.
E.g.:
“Hello?”
“This is Sven Jansen, the journalist from Sweden that your agent told you about.”
“Oh, hi, how are you?”
“I’m doing well. I actually called to ask you about the rain in Spain, and your recent statements that it does not actually fall mainly in the plain, as commonly accepted.”
Socially unacceptable:
“Hello?”
“This is Sven Jansen, the journalist from Sweden that your agent told you about.”
“Oh, hi, how are you?”
“Well, my wife just filed for divorce, and my doctor told me that I may have skin cancer.”
“How do you do?” is synonymous with “how are you to me?”, an American, but somewhat old fashioned. I can’t remember the last time I was greeted that way.
I would say that “How do you do?” sounds a little bit antiquated - formal; sort of like what you would hear from someone’s high-society grandmother. “How are you?” is the usual opening question nowadays in North America.
Once I recall a comedy skit or movie where the person was supposed to be abrupt and rude. He asks “how are you?” and gets the series of complaints about health etc. He interrupts with “No, no, you don’t understand. When I ask ‘How are you’ I’m just being polite - I really couldn’t give a damn how you really are…”
The usual rule of thumb for business correspondence that I’ve heard is:
Nobody should complain if you write “Dear Sirs,” to an unknown audience. The English grammar rule, like in French, is “when desirable, the male embraces the female”. (Ha ha)
If you want to be politically correct, you can address it as “Dear Sir or Madam,” and everyone will understand. Not aware of a good plural.
If you know who is receiving it, address it to them: if the ad says “send resume to Ann Smith, Human Resources” you address it “Dear Ms. Smith,” (Although some older ladies may still be touchy about Mrs. vs. Ms., but unlikely);
-or if the add says “Send to Human Resources” you can be ultraformal and simply address as “To Human Resources;” This is the best way to escape the “Sirs” trap.
Basically everyone is aware of teh gender/address problem, there is no simple agreed solution, and as long as you are polite, nobody will usually hold it against you.
How do you do has distinctly British sound to it… I’m guessing that’s why it was taught to you as the proper way. Your system is British English based, right? Colour, not color, organise, not organize? I’d personally treat any question about my well-being as a meaningless social convention unless followed by really/seriously; and would answer in the exact same words used.
It’s basically the opposite in the US. The exchange:
How do you do – How do YOU do
is stodgy, old fashioned, and possibly comical if you have a British accent to your English.
My understanding of “how do you do” follows yours: when greeted with “how do you do”, the response is “how do you do”*. It is essentially a formal way to say hello. I still hear it, but it’s not nearly as common as it used to be. I would find it slightly odd if someone replied “fine, how are you” to “how do you do”, but it wouldn’t be a major problem (particularly for a non-native speaker).
“How are you” is a slightly different formality. It usually follows a greeting (“Hi, how are you”), but can sometimes be used in place of “how do you do”. The proper response to “how are you” is some variant of “fine, thanks, and you?”.
“Dear Sirs” is still appropriate as a generic greeting for a business letter, or you can say “Dear Sir or Madam”. Sometimes I use “Dear Gentlepersons”, but that’s because I’m like that. It’s certainly not standard.
*Sometimes abbreviated to “how-do” in my neck of the woods, hence “howdy”.
On preview: Really? Has “how do you do” fallen that far out of use in other areas? Because while I don’t hear it for every greeting these days, it’s still the standard for a first meeting or introduction.
As if my 42nd birthday last weekend and just today pulling two really big hairs out of my ear weren’t enough, I learn from this thread that “How do you do?” is antiquated, stodgy, and old fashioned.
Ugh.
FWIW, in the south, many folks with respond to “How are you?” with “Fine, hope you are,” or some variation.
I think you are all making too much of this. Just say, “Fine, how’re you?” and it will be fine.
Often when I am writing a letter to an unknown, I will skip any opening and launch directly into the matter. No one seems to take exception. Otherwise, either “Dear Sir or Madam” or “To whom it may concern” are fine.
One of my real pet peeves is telemarketers who start off, “Hello, how are you?” To which I reply, “I was fine till you called.” Click.
This does not quite capture the subtleties of the (typically New York) “how you doin’”. For example, if a guy enters a working-class bar in New York, he may greet the bartender with a slight nod and a monotonic “Aay, how you doin’”, to which the bartender will reply, “How you doin’”. Then if an attractive woman enters, the guy may lift his eyebrows, give a slightly larger nod (actually a bit of an up-and-down look), and say to her “How YOU doin’”. Entirely different connotation.