How ... alive is your toilet? Difference in usage between 元気 and どう

I’ve heard it several times as well, it seems to be more of an old people thing, though. 「元気? 元気、元気。」 exchanges exists as well. It’s obviously no “Hi!” replacement for any situation.

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@dboltz03, I wonder if you’re still following this thread or if it’s drifted beyond your interest?

Anyways, every Japanese teacher I’ve ever had has said something like what @riccyjay said. As far I understand it, the usual way to begin small talk in Japanese is to make some comment about the weather. Whether you mean it or not isn’t important, just as in English “How are you doing?” “Fine, how 'bout you?” doesn’t always mean you want to hear details about the other person’s mental and physical state. It’s just a socially accepted way of opening a conversation.

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Yep, famously you can tell someone’s going to be boring if, when you ask them how they are, they actually tell you.

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How… alive is your toilet?

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I hope mine never answers back!

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I’d say, on a scale from 1-10, maybe a 5.5?

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I’m not sure if anyone said this… but avoid using あなた, it is implied with most questions, if you have to refer to someone saying their name is usually better. If you say あなた… you might sound mad?

トムさんは元気ですか?
I don’t think anyone would think you are weird for asking that, especially as a foreigner.

元気?
Is also an acceptable question. Healthy?

調子どう?
Is a casual how are you?

Probably something about this:
http://www.therobotsvoice.com/2012/04/6_types_of_japanese_ghosts_that_hang_out_in_toilet.php

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Depends on what happened there before :scream:

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It’s not really that you’ll sound mad if you say あなた, but あなた is used between lovers and it has a similar connotation to the English words darling or hun. Depending on the situation, it might come across as a little creepy or insulting. It may sound degrading as “hun” sometimes does in English.

Kind of off topic but also important to know is that it is common for male friends to use お前 to refer to each other. In some regions female friends use お前 also. On the other hand, お前 can sound very disrespectful if you are talking to your boss or something like that.

It’s best just to avoid using second hand pronouns in Japanese altogether unless speaking with close friends.

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My name’s Commander Shepard, and this is my new favourite phrase on the forums.

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あなた is totally fine to use in situations where the name of the person you’re talking to can’t be known, like in instructions or something. I don’t think the fact that it’s used as a term of endearment by married couples will occur to anyone if you use it in conversation, it’s just almost never used in that way by Japanese people. So it’s just another thing that makes your non-nativeness stand out.

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Why would you be deported?

Serious question?

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Why would you be deported?

I believe that they were suggesting that not agreeing would be violating a cultural norm.Much in the same way that in the US the only expected response to “How are you?” is “Great!” :>

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If I could like this twice I would.

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Thanks, I misunderstood the original phrasing.

Honestly I think this is overstressed to lower level learners

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that learners make a much bigger deal about あなた than Japanese people do.

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Yeah, I asked my girlfriend, and she said she wouldn’t think anything of it, if a foreigner used あなた in a conversation with her.

It’s probably low on the list of things you’ll say to a Japanese person that will stand out as unnatural.

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