How many ways can you say: “How are you?” or “What’s new?”
Below is an exhausting (but maybe not exhaustive) list of all the ways I can think of to encounter someone and ask either of these salutatory questions.
How you feel?, How do you do?, How are you?,
How’s it goin’?, How goes it?, What’s up?,
What up?, What’s happnin?, What’s the haps?,
How you feelin’?, Sup?, Sup wid it?,
Wassup?, Wazup?, Wzup?,
How’s it hangin’?, How you doin’?, How you doin’? (Philly),
What’s the news?, What’s new?, What’s the word?,
What’s goin’ on?, S’co in on?, What’s the deal?,
What’s the deal, yo?, What’s the dealee yo?, What it do?
From Alonzo Westbrook’s Hip Hoptionary, [a dubiuous source in my opinon]: What’s poppin’?, What’s getting’?, What’s crackin’?, What up doe?
Which ones did I miss? Are there any fun ones from your area?
The one I hate the most is probably “Sup wid it?” because a co-worker of mine would always ask me this when I first saw him at work and it always seemed to be a conversation ender, rather than starter. “Sup wid it?” sounded, to me, like I was being accused of a transgression and he was inquiring as to my motivations for said transgression. Sheesh.
My favorite is probably “What it do?” I think I heard it in some song and it sounds cool. I don’t know what it means, beyond “hey.”, but I like it. I’d probably add “Yo.” in front of it for extra effect.
The Dialect 
mjones460 said,
January 23, 2010 at 2:10 am
We used to say “whats percolatin”, got it from some Coup lyrics so may be 90’s Oakland slang.
todd said,
January 25, 2010 at 1:24 pm
in Tamil you greet someone by saying have you eaten? or where do you come from? If i remember that right anyway.
the spanish slang one, que ondas? is hard to translate. what waves/undulates?
Adam W. said,
January 25, 2010 at 7:35 pm
-what’s purculating?… i love it.
-Whats good?
-what’s crackin?
-(spanglish version) que es crackiendo?
-que paso?
I had this spanish slang book that had some good ones, but I can’t remember any.
thedialect said,
January 27, 2010 at 7:00 pm
These are all great suggestions. So far we now have:
What’s purcolatin’? What’s good? What’s crackin? (already on there)
Que ondas? Que paso? Que pasa? Que Tal? Que es crackiendo? (Could we add ‘Orale!’ or is that a statement rather than a question?)
todd said,
February 4, 2010 at 3:15 pm
oiye que vola!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1459609/los_primeros_oye_que_vola_music_video/
MK said,
February 5, 2010 at 5:42 pm
“How YOU doin’? (Philly)”
shouldn’t this be:
How YOU doin’? (Joey from Friends)?
Carl said,
November 24, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Who’s the FIRST PERSON to say this……besides JOEY?
Carl ckcontact@comcast.net
thedialect said,
February 6, 2010 at 5:29 am
Perhaps. Yes. Mmmm… No. Perhaps not.
ryan said,
February 12, 2010 at 2:44 am
How ya goin mate? apparently dates back to the early days when aussies were usually not goin all that well and needed their mates to check and make sure they were alright.
thedialect said,
February 13, 2010 at 3:31 am
I forgot “How you livin’?” which, I might add, I succesfully employed today at work without the slightest hint of affectation. Jyeah!
Also: “Howdeedo?” which I’m guessing came from “How do you do?” and is likely what produced the folksie phrase “Howdy!”
Ryan: great history but it only leads to more questions. Why were they doin’ bad and in what sense? Where did mate come from? The Australians use ‘mate’ as a direct ‘you’ (I don’t know the grammatical nomenclature) but the Bristish use ‘mates’ as ‘friends’ but not really as ‘you’. Why is this? I’m not an expect on things Aussie but I can comb my Australain phrase book. You are the Oz expert though.
2010 in review « The Dialect said,
January 2, 2011 at 4:19 pm
[…] How many ways to say “How YOU doin’?” ? January 2010 9 comments 4 […]
aLPHONzO SwOoPz said,
June 21, 2011 at 6:58 pm
what the nigger is??… jiiiiiiiiiiiive turkey
or
whats crackalackin,whats poppin, whats the bizzniss, whats hanin, whats good, whats hood, how goes it
thats all i got keep it fresh kidz.
George said,
November 24, 2011 at 6:35 am
In Ireland we say “what’s the craíc?”, “any craíc?” (“How’s it going”, “any gossip”) … what ‘craíc’ means depends on the the context in which it’s used: “what’s the craíc” means “how’s it going”, “it was great craíc” means “it was great fun”.
Lily said,
July 20, 2012 at 6:41 am
I always say Whaddup?
Carl said,
November 23, 2012 at 7:35 am
WHO was THE FIRST PERSON to Say “HOW YA’ DOIN’ ?”
NOT just on FRIENDS…BEFORE THAT????????????
Carl
emily said,
September 18, 2013 at 6:13 am
go back to the basics, simple yet thoughtful how was your day? and if its morning a simple good morning i just wanted to say have a nice day if you have been with them all day and had fun simply say so like i had a great day with you thank you 🙂 and if it was a terrible day then say something along the lines of shame im really sad to hear that but anyway tomorrow will be a new day..it can only get better! 🙂
thedialect said,
December 31, 2013 at 1:41 am
Que onda, todos!? Emily and Carl and Lily and George and Alphonzo! Thanks for your additions! Carl, I give up. Who was the first person?
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