Monday 19 February 2007

How to Greet Someone in Britain


The Handshake

A handshake is the most common form of greeting among the English and British people and is customary when you are introduced to somebody new. However we rarely shake hands when parting.

The Kiss

It is only when you meet friends, whom you haven't seen for a long time, that you would kiss the cheek of the opposite sex. In Britain one kiss is generally enough.

Formal greetings

The usual formal greeting is a 'How do you do?' and a firm handshake, but with a lighter touch between men and women.

‘How do you do?’ is a greeting not a question and the correct response is to repeat ‘How do you do?' You say this when shaking hands with someone.

How do you do? – How do you do?

'How are you?' is a question and the most common and polite response is "I am fine thank you and you?"

How are you? – I am fine thank you and you?

Nice to meet you – Nice to meet you too. (Often said whilst shaking hands)

Delighted to meet you– Delighted to meet you too.

Pleased to meet you – Pleased to meet you too.

Good Morning / Good Afternoon / Good Evening


Informal greetings


Hi - Hi or hello

Morning / Afternoon / Evening ( We drop the word 'Good' in informal situations).

How's you? - Fine thanks. You?

Thank you / thanks / cheers

We sometime say 'cheers' instead of thank you. You may hear 'cheers' said instead of 'good bye', what we are really saying is 'thanks and bye'.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is that really true you use phrase:
How's you? /even though in informal English?

One more question:
What's difference between
Nice to meet you?
Nice meeting you?

Is it possible to use both (with the same meaning)?
Nice to talk to you
and
Nice talking to you

Thank you

Viagra Online said...

hey I have to thank you so much for this valuable post I will go to England next month and these tips will be so useful!

and as way to answer anonymous' question the difference between Nice to meet you and Nice meeting you is that the first one (Nice to meet you) you say it when you just meet a person and the other one before you leave... you say nice meeting you and you go, it's like saying it was a pleasure to meet you

Generic Viagra Viagra

price per head said...

This blog is really helpful to me, Lots of idea I got from this site.

call center voip solutions said...

Useful information ..I am very happy to read this article..thanks for giving us this useful information. Fantastic walk-through. I appreciate this post.

Elliott Broidy said...

Every country is so different. Great tips and examples.