Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Speech Patterns

"Have a nice day."

That's what I assume people will end a conversation with. It's not a bad assumption. And, polite guy that I am, I respond back with "you too".

The problem is, my response is automatic. And "you too" doesn't always work. For example, today, when conversations tended to end with "happy birthday". "You too" in that case makes no sense. But twice in less than an hour, I was wished "happy birthday" and responded with a hearty "you too!"

5 comments:

Jack said...

I have this problem with "and you?". I'll say hey, "how are you?" Or "what's going on?" the other person will respond and then ask how I am. The I'll answer and automatically end by asking the same question again just because I'm used to asking after I've been asked.

Jack said...

And happy birthday! And congrats on a really subtle way of doing a blog post telling your readers that its your birthday.

Pope Incontinentius XIII said...

Have a nice day, happy birthday, and you too.

Anonymous said...

I do this in airports. When the person who takes my ticket says "Have a nice flight," I say "You too," and then realize they aren't going anywhere.

Happy Birthday.

Barry Deutsch said...

How sad -- you haven't even gotten past the bar yet and you're losing your memory. :-P

Nonetheless, happy birthday!