"You alright?" Errrr...

I remember thinking/ feeling the same way.  We're here on Tier 2 (so none to really ask) and  arrived in the summer so when the windows were open or if I was in town I would try to overhear what other would respond to.  Eventually no I just say something like "fine, how are you" or fine thanks" if in a shop or something.

I used to mock my wife's daughter because she always said "Hiya! You alright?" on arriving and "See you in a bit" upon leaving, but now no more mocking because I say it myself

I usually just answer "yea, you?" and that's about it.  Doesn't seem to confuse anyone and we get on with our day. 

The Scottish version: 'Awright?'
'Aye, yersel'?'
'Aye'
*mutual nods*

Or the Aberdeenshire, Scotland version:

Foos a doos? (Means-- how are your pigeons?)

And the standard reply of:

Ays a peckin'


Soooo.. It could be worse!   

My favourite (I've only heard it in Glasgow, but it's probably said in other places too):

'Ye winnin'?'  (are you winning the game of life? are you doing well?)
'aye, champion.'

 

Haha, Tracey, my Edinburgh FIL says that sometimes!

Another one I remember from working in Edinburgh for 8 years:

Me:  how are you?

Them:  och, doin' awa'!  (Doing away.  Just doing.  Getting by, basically.) 

I usually just answer "yea, you?" and that's about it.  Doesn't seem to confuse anyone and we get on with our day. 

Me too.  I've never had anyone appear confused.  I wonder if the perceived "confusion" is actually the respondent feeling confused rather than the recipient being confused... Self conscious, perhaps?

Me too.  I've never had anyone appear confused.  I wonder if the perceived "confusion" is actually the respondent feeling confused rather than the recipient being confused... Self conscious, perhaps?

Nope. Not self conscious. They were confused.

PlainPearl, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about.

Yep, this drove me nuts when I first visited here. 
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm Ok."
*Mind begins racing- wondering if I look ill or annoyed or something that seems off*

So... yeah I've been told be a few people that sometimes I make these weird expressions on my face when I'm thinking/day dreaming about things and I always wondered if I was making these weird faces and the people who asked if I was alright had seen them and were concerned. I would never reply with a "How are you?" because I didn't know they were saying Hi...  Must have thought I was the rudest... haha.

Remember the scene near the beginning of The Full Monty when the guys were taking steel fro the defunct mill to sell? Gaz was in the middle of the canal, trying to balance on a beam?

Friend walks by and says "alright, Gaz?" and the reply was "Aye, not so bad" .....

The "alright?" confused me at first, but seems perfectly normal now. No different from some parts of the US where one says "hi" versus "hello" in other parts

I remember when I studied abroad in the US and in the orientation week they told us not to be confused if people said 'Hi, how are you?' without expecting a response... that the norm was to simply reply with a 'How are you?'

'You alright?' is the same principle... it's just a greeting, and the appropriate response is usually just 'You alright?'.

I'm British and it took me a while to get used to 'you alright' as I was growing up as well. No one in my family says it,

I wonder why your family doesn't say it if it's the 'British' thing to do?

I wonder why your family doesn't say it if it's the 'British' thing to do?

Nobody in my family has ever said it either, and I don't believe I've ever heard any of my friends say it. It's not universal.

I wonder why your family doesn't say it if it's the 'British' thing to do?

Well, I guess it's partly a regional/class/accent/generation thing as well - different people have different ways of greeting others, and, as chary said, not everyone uses the same phrases.

I guess my parents just weren't brought up to greet people with 'You alright?' (presumably because it was considered impolite to do so - my mum's family especially were big on etiquette and being polite, due to her grandfather being a bishop and her parents both being ex-military). Instead, they are much more likely to greet people with something more along the lines of: 'Hello, how lovely to see you. How are you?'.

These days, my brothers both say 'you alright?', and I guess I say it sometimes, but as kids it wasn't something we really heard or encountered... we just picked it up as we got older and met other people who used it.