it has always baffled me that we're supposed to greet each other by asking "how are you?" but then instead of taking the time to formulate a thoughtful answer we're supposed to just lie and say "good, how are you?" so that the other person can also lie and say "good, thank you"
All this is quite arbitrary, and in other cultures and at other times quite different conventions have obtained. In particular, greetings containing no inquiry of any kind (e.g., "Good day," which merely expresses, in abbreviated form, a kindly wish) have been popular.
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I think I would prefer that. repurposing a specific question as a greeting (with no expectation of or desire for receiving a sincere answer) causes ambiguity, since on rare occasion that I am actually interested in the answer, I don't know whether the one I receive is genuine
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