American and British greetings

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and you just want a short update.

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Number five, I wonder if you've heard this one before,

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it's what's up?

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Hey, what's up?

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Traditionally very American,

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but now used much more in Britain.

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Number six is a very British one, it's what are you up to?

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Now this comes from to be up to mischief.

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which means you're doing something mischievous.

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It's a very friendly and endearing question.

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What are you up to?

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It implies mischief, but in a friendly way.

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So if I say what have you been up to,

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or what are you up to?

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I'm kind of saying, what mischievous things

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have you been doing?

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What trouble have you been making?

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It's very friendly.

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It's also something I say to my dog

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if he looks suspicious.

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What have you been up to?

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What mischief have you been causing?

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That's a really, really good one.

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If you're gonna take one thing away from this lesson,

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make it that.

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Number seven, how are things going?

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This is very general.

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Things, I mean, it couldn't be more general than that.

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It's a great one to use if you can't quite remember

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what someone's been doing for work

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or in their personal life, so how are things going?

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It's a very non-specific.

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Number eight, how are you feeling?

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How are you feeling?

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Yeah, I'm feeling great.

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Or, I'm not feeling so good.

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This implies that you know something about their health.

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Maybe they were ill a short time ago.