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Orrex

(67,057 posts)

14. "God Bless You" is also a complete sentence. So is "Hey, how are you doing?"

Mon Dec 2, 2013, 12:11 PM

Dec 2013

Both of those are phatic statements.

The way that you've described it, "I see you" serves the same primary function as "hello." Aside from the hipster appeal of using a non-western-conventional greeting, I am confident that the "active interaction between two individuals" would very quickly boil down to another empty social idiom.

It would take a fairly compelling argument to convince me otherwise.

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I See You. [View all] MineralMan Dec 2013 OP

Namaste GliderGuider Dec 2013 #1

Thank you! MineralMan Dec 2013 #2

Phatic statement. Orrex Dec 2013 #3

Would it? I don't think that's necessarily MineralMan Dec 2013 #4

"God Bless You" is also a complete sentence. So is "Hey, how are you doing?" Orrex Dec 2013 #14

The thing is that I'm not trying to convince you of anything. MineralMan Dec 2013 #15

Well, all right. Orrex Dec 2013 #18

The short history of 'hello' as standard English greeting is pretty interesting itself. Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #5

Hallo, Hullo, Ola, and variations MineralMan Dec 2013 #7

Edison did not coin the word, he simply oversaw that which broght the word into constant useage. Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #10

Hahahah!!! pipi_k Dec 2013 #8

And so on! Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #11

From the viewpoint pipi_k Dec 2013 #6

I can see your issue with it, for sure. MineralMan Dec 2013 #9

Yes... pipi_k Dec 2013 #12

"I see you" is also the greeting used by the blue people in Avatar. Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #13

I'd forgotten that. Looks like the writers for that MineralMan Dec 2013 #16

Very true ... 1StrongBlackMan Dec 2013 #17