As a kid that used be the question that made me panic. Some teacher or parent would ask “What’s up?” In a casual manner and I would just freeze. To this day I have no idea what the proper response is. I assume it isn’t to start talking about orbits.

  • Caveman
    17•4 months ago

    This one is a bit nuanced. “What’s up” can be used both as a greeting and a question depending on where in the conversation it appears. If it’s a greeting a reply is not expected but rather a greeting. Here’s an example.

    1. A: What’s up?
    2. B: How’s it going?
    3. A: All good (note this is void of information, things are not necessarily good.

    Another

    1. A: Hi
    2. B: Hey
    3. A: Soooo, what’s up? - Here a proper reply to the question is expected, optional to reply with “Not much, and you?” to skip the question. Normally people that ask in this way want to be asked this question in return.

    Annoyingly, it depends on the context which makes it weirdly complex for a simple interaction.