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Quick question to North Americans
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| Lira |
Is "how do you do!" equivalent, in any way, to "nice to meet you!"? I've seen it in an "English for Foreigners" book (made in US) and I had never ever seen/heard this before.
Any thoughts/examples/explanation? The book doesn't say a word about
it.
edit: (Just realised I made a mistake, hehe) |
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| Radagast |
What do you do = Asking what someone does for a living.
Nice to meet you = Pretending it was nice to meet someone.
What do you do != Nice to meet you |
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| Azz3D |
I've lived in the US for almost 7 years now and I have never heard anyone use the expression "how do you do" ever...
Edit: Nevermind, I need sleep. I didn't realize you were talking about "what do you do" |
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| teegee |
no.
"what do you do" is more like asking what they do for a job, which i suppose is something you do when you first meet a person. but still... |
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| Lira |
Oi, I just realised, it was actually "how do you do!", instead of "what do you do!" :p
| quote: | Originally posted by ShadoWolf
:rolleyes: |
:conf: |
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| ShadoWolf |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Oi, I just realised, it was actually "how do you do!", instead of "what do you do!" :p
:conf: |
hehe not directed at you ;) |
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| trancebrat |
| quote: | Originally posted by Radagast
What do you do = Asking what someone does for a living.
Nice to meet you = Pretending it was nice to meet someone.
What do you do != Nice to meet you |
:conf: Typo?
EDIT: I see the conversation about Lira's typo! :p
For the record...I never say "how do you do". Sounds kind of silly. I might say "how are you?" |
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| Eu4ea |
"how d'you do" posh english used in great britain,
said as a statement instead of a question. Out of fashion by now, I believe..
in the u.s. "how are you" is automatic,and at time annoying, since asking party only wants to hear "fine". Foreigners find thid hard to get used to in america, our fake pleasantries. |
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| MrSquirrel |
"How do you do?" is general greeting. "Howdy" is the shortened for of it which you will hear more often these days.
"Nice to meet you" is usually used when you are introduced to someone for the first time, whereas how do you do can be said to people you already know.
MrS |
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| Lumps |
| I'd say both phrases are exactly the same, but to say "How do you do?" is old fashioned; as in picture a man saying that while taking off his hat and giving a slight nod when introduced to a woman. Who does that nowadays? Get a new book, dude. hah |
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| Lira |
^^^^^ It's not mine :D
hehe, I was already familiar to this expression, I was just surprised about this new meaning of "nice to meet you", like Radagast said (and later Trancebrat and Lumps confirmed).
:) |
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