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Comment by vbezhenar | Hacker News Reader

It's the same in Russian actually. You're saying "how are you" ("как дела") after "hello" ("привет"), but you're not really expecting any meaningful answer other than "I'm OK" ("нормально") or "I'm fine" ("отлично").

But it might be one way to start a conversation when you want to tell something you don't like. Like "How are you? I'll live. What happened? ...". But it's more of closed friends conversation when you can feel OK sharing your burdens with other person. I guess, similar thing could happen in US?

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From now on, I need to start responding to "How are you?" with "Normal".

My favorite response to “How are you?” comes from a Russian former coworker: “Average. Worse than yesterday, better than tomorrow”.

I heard this phrase described as "Russian Optimism".

American here:

I did it last night with a cashier and she laughed and was, I think, amused by the novel response. It seemed to brighten her up a small amount. She then continued to make conversation by saying “Well let’s see if we can’t get you to better than normal.” That was slightly offputting and I wish she didn’t feel the need to take it there. I’m perfectly content with feeling “normal”.

I suppose the way I think of it is like dynamic range of expression. Normal is baseline and perfectly suitable. It’s where I like being. Great or bad are for special cases where I feel extraordinary.

My go to answer is, "can't complain". Vague enough to leave it alone if the question is trivial, but also open-ended enough to expound upon if the other person is genuinely interested in my well-being.

Reminds me of the old joke:

-- What, "can't complain"? Really? You're in a Siberian prison camp, starving and freezing your toes and fingers off, and you "can't complain"?

-- Yes, when you're in a Siberian prison camp, you can't complain...

Me, too. It's a very Midwestern response... [0]

[0]: https://youtu.be/vm-MrkoJPC8?t=35

I also like "hangin' in there" -- especially since Covid started.

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