Social Pleasantries:
A guide to tactful conversation
In greeting people we say, "How do you do?" We do not really expect an answer, but it is proper to reply, "Very well, thank you," even if it is a blue Monday and you feel far from well. No one wants a clinical discussion in response to this purely rhetorical question. In fact, you may answer Socratically with "How do you do?" expecting, and getting, no answer. In farewell, say simply, "Good-by," or something you really feel, such as, "Let's meet soon again" or "It was so nice running into you." Don't use some current banality such as "Good-by now." It is obvious it is now you are saying "Good-by" not an hour previously nor an hour hence. Watch these cliches. Up to a point they can lend a little color to your conversation, but they can easily become second nature, so that you seem to be a person of little imagination, one suffering from a sad poverty of language. These innocuous slang expressions sound partciularly inept from a grown man or woman, unless one is using them quite consciously and in fun.
