Our German friends A and M were puzzled by this regular question from people they have never met before, ranging from people at church through to waitresses in coffee shops.
Fifi explained to them that the answer, in Australia at least, is always 'fine, thankyou' for any condition of life ranging from a mild headache through to having your kidney stolen from you while unconscious in the hotel bathroom.
2 comments:
Being an American transplant from Germany I am QUITE familiar with the German confusion. The "greeting" "Wie gehts?" is not as casual as it is in English speaking countries. You ask a German "How are you?" you ought to be prepared to actually sit down and hear about how they are.
I am often puzzled by the question 'How are you?' and I'm Australian (although my grandmother is German, so maybe that explains it).
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