Greeting Habits
“The phrase, ‘How are you?’ is used as a greeting and not as an indication of a desire to know how the other person (usually a mild acquaintance) is doing.” Sorry to tell you, but when Americans ask “How are you?”, answering with a simple “I’m fine” will do just…fine. No one’s expecting you to pour your heart out and tell your life story. It is only a variation on “Hello”, “Howdy” and “Whazzup”.
Conversation Habits
“Total strangers will start conversations with you if there’s something they find interesting. This can be anything from your accent to your jewelry or clothes.” It’s true, Americans are usually very friendly and all it takes is a simple eye-contact to start a nice and pleasant conversation. It might be disconcerting for our foreign friends but hey, it is what it is!
