In England, people have a weird way of greeting you. They ask “(Are) you alright?” This means how are you. When I first came to UK and was staying at Victoria Halls, the first flat mate I met asked me “you alright”. I thought may be I look weird to him since I was a foreigner. But then after that one of the caretakers asked me “you alright?”. I felt a bit offended as why do these people keep seeing me as if I’m in trouble? It was annoying. Adding more to that feeling, I was bit embarrassed because I didn’t know how to answer to that question. Every time I go out people would ask if I’m alright.
So not knowing what to do and what’s the best response, I decided to follow simple rule “when in Rome, do as Romans do”. Yes, I start asking the same question “you alright?” with a smile on my face. And I start getting some responses. Out of them, I remember, “Yes mate I’m alright, you alright?”, “Not too bad, how about yourself?”, “yeah! you?”, “bloody hell mate, its freaking cold” and my favorite “yeah yeah yeah I’m alright mate, do you have a quid I can borrow?”. Well you shouldn’t be too nice to people after all.
Anyway its a part of their cultural. You need to learn that and not be taken back. My initial reaction however was based on the assumption that may be they think that I need help because I looked total foreign. And now whenever I see someone I know the first thing that comes to my mind is to ask “You alright?” Even though they look extremely happy, or Sad. So in a way its a good line since it hints a gesture of care. And an opportunity to share the feelings.
Its not just a greeting, but it is also used when you actually think someone need help. For instance, if you see a customer wandering around in aisles you can ask him “Do you need any help sir?” Or you can also ask “are you alright?”. I have seen people use it as a straight pick up line to chat with girls. Rather than saying all those flowery lines, they just ask “you alright” of cause in a different tone. But that might backfire if she said “Do I look like I’m not?”, in that case she could be French.
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