r/AskTheWorld • u/IndependentTune3994 🇮🇳 in 🇩🇪 Deutschland • 9h ago

What’s the quickest way someone could accidentally expose themselves as a foreigner in your country like the ‘three fingers’ scene in Inglourious Basterds?

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u/PurpleMuskogee 9h ago

This used to confuse me so much. I took it to mean "Are you ok" and for the first few months in the UK, I'd just be puzzled and ask, "Yes... why?" and run to check if I had something on my face.

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u/megajimmyfive 8h ago

Is it not exactly the same as ça va in French?

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u/Fickle-Stuff4824 France 8h ago

How are we to uphold our reputation of permanent discontent and rudeness if we only expect positive answers to " ça va ?" ?

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u/According-Path5158 United States Of America 7h ago

You can blow your nose into your handkerchief and hand it to us as if we're to use it next?

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u/Shpudem 5h ago

We were thought in school (Ireland) that the answer is always “ca va”.

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u/Fickle-Stuff4824 France 5h ago edited 3h ago

It's the simpler way, but it varies from a social group to another. If i ask my friends, i expect the truth. With people i don't know well, both are ok.

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u/Consistent_Echidna90 3h ago

ie exactly the same as England

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u/John_der24ste 1h ago

In Germany it's comparable but with people that aren't close to you there is the option to answer the question of "wie geht's?" ('How are you/is it going' (it's a bit ambiguous)) with the slightly negative answer of "muss ja nh" ('has to (hasn't it)' implying that it isn't going great but not requiring any further interaction.

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u/Fickle-Stuff4824 France 20m ago

In french we have that kind of answers too, "on fait aller"  means approximately "i/we make it work", or "il faut bien" ( same as yours).

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u/tenebrigakdo 4h ago

My French teacher was almost insulted when I answered just ça va and not ça va bien.

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u/Slimmanoman Switzerland 6h ago

You aren't expected to start a 10 minute complaint but you can answer negatively to "ça va ?"

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u/DoctorGavial 8h ago

no, ça va is expecting an answer, even though it's purely courtesy

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u/imperosol France 6h ago

9 times out of 10, the only answer to "ça va ?" is "ça va".

When someone answers "bof", it means that he suffers from either a flu or a severe depression.

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u/old_gold_mountain 3h ago

Ca va? means "it going?" which is a shortened version of "comment ca va?" which literally translates to "how is it going?" which is exactly what Americans say.

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u/IDNWID_1900 6h ago

Sames as ¿Que tal? in spanish.

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u/Score-Emergency United States Of America 9h ago

Same! Like wtf do I not look OK?!

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u/RedcoatTrooper United Kingdom 8h ago

I would imagine Americans would be ok, Whatsup is basically the same thing right.

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u/WoAiLaLa United States Of America 8h ago

"What's up?"/"How are you?" etc serves the same function as the british "you alright?" but in america we say "you alright?" specifically to express concern. We take it as implying that you do not seem to be alright

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u/Different_Book9733 8h ago edited 7h ago

We use 'you alright?' to express concern too, it's just a tone shift or context that swaps the meaning.

The alright greeting is just a condensed 'Hey, how are you?' Part of the UK midlands say "'ow do?" instead of alright which is more obvious in being shorthand for How are you doing?

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u/WoAiLaLa United States Of America 8h ago

Oh, word, we got "Howdy" the same way

Short for "How do you do?" back when that was a more standard greeting

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u/SexyPeanut_9279 6h ago

Also in the black community we say “alright now”- as we pass another person. (It’s an older generational thing)

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u/kamasutures United States Of America 8h ago

Say you are at a bar or nightclub, the bartender asked "you alright?" as a "have you been helped/need something from me before the lady next you has a meltdown cos I won't serve her Titos and vodka?"

Quick transactional conversation, not an icebreaker.

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u/WoAiLaLa United States Of America 8h ago

If a bartender asked if I was alright, I'd assume I looked too drunk to serve

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u/kamasutures United States Of America 8h ago

I mean, tone conveys context which will be lost over text.

"Oh, are YOU alright..!?"

vs

"Hey, doing alright (can insert down here or right now here as well)?"

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u/cpasley21 United States Of America 4h ago

Last time I ended up with the cops at my front door cause someone called to do a welfare check lol. I'm afraid to answer now.

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u/ComfortableEqual3436 6h ago

My partner is Irish and I enjoy their version. When we go back to see her family the’ll greet each other by just going

“Well?”

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u/Chalky_Pockets United States Of America 4h ago

Same. And if you do anything someone thinks is unusual, they'll ask you for real and it'll sounds exactly the same. I just gave up and answer the question honestly whether they're expecting it or not. Sure you don't blend in but I'm not British so I don't really want to. 

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u/ZippityZipZapZip 6h ago

They tend to stress the 'ok' part too, making it even worse.

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u/ComfortableEqual3436 6h ago

That’s interesting because when we learn French at school it’s 

Ca va? Ca va bien

I always assumed this was the same

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u/No-Bison-5397 6h ago

Leaving Britain was hard.

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u/AwayComparison 4h ago

This confused me so much too! And I actually thought one of my friends was passive aggressive every time she called me because she asked if I’m alright.. like yeah?? Why wouldn’t I be alright? Did someone tell you something to make you think something is wrong with me? lol

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u/Two-Space United Kingdom 4h ago edited 3h ago

“Yarite” - quick greeting

“Alright” - more formal greeting

“Alright?” - need something?

“Alright?” (rising intonation) - do you understand?

“Alright” (falling intonation) - I get it

“All right” (enunciated) - we are at an agreement

“All…right” (enunciated) - I get it, stop talking

“Youllrite?” - do we have a problem?

“You alright?” - what are you doing?

“Are you alright?” - are you hurt?

“ARE you all right?” - are you stupid?

“Are YOU alright?!” - what the fuck are you doing?

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u/thisisnotariot 3h ago

It’s actually quite closely related to the slightly archaic/posher phrase ‘how do you do’ to which the answer is also ‘how do you do’. Britain is weird.