It depends where in the country you are.<p>In California, where I grew up, it&#x27;s expected to have a small response:<p>A: &quot;Hey, how are you?&quot;<p>B: &quot;Good, and you?&quot;<p>A: &quot;Good, thanks.&quot;<p>But in the Northeast, you&#x27;ll stress yourself out trying to <i>actually</i> respond. People will throw it out as you&#x27;re walking by each other, and if you try to squeeze in a &quot;Good, and you?&quot; they&#x27;ll be taken aback because they&#x27;re not really expecting to say anything further. And they&#x27;re not really waiting to hear any actual response like &quot;Meh&quot; or &quot;Woo&quot;.<p>In Boston and New York, I literally translate &quot;How are you&quot; to &quot;Howdy&quot; in my head. That is, &quot;Howdy&quot; was derived from &quot;How do you do?&quot; but obviously you don&#x27;t respond &quot;Good&quot; to &quot;Howdy&quot;. It&#x27;s just a synonym for &quot;Hi.&quot;<p>A: &quot;Hi, how are you?&quot;<p>B: &quot;Hi.&quot;