"What you saying?" -- How do you answer to that?

[MetroMan]

There's an increasingly common greeting that I've been hearing: "What you saying?"

How do I reply to that?? I may be showing my age (I'm 30) but I seriously don't know what to reply to that. Some dude greeted me like that in the elevator and then looked at my for a response... Me: blank look.

Any younger members here that can give me some insight?

 

[jn_12]

I don't think I've heard this before... but just say "not much" and all will be fine.

 

[Translude15]

MetroMan: This beauty of a phrase started popping up just about halfway through the decade. (2005-ish) I too was quite taken aback by the utilization of this term. Initially a predominantly black term, it slowly seeped its way through the cracks of social barriers and into the dialogue of white suburbanites everywhere. I drop this phrase the odd time, as do my buddys, but I would say it's usually delegated for use by hoodlum wannabes.

 

[JayBee]

person: "What are you sayin?"
me: "chillin"

 

[afransen]

Dumb. I know languages are living, breathing creatures that change over time. I'm not going to acknowledge dumb greetings that strictly reduce expressivity of the language.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

I'm not going to acknowledge dumb greetings that strictly reduce expressivity of the language.

man waves hand to afransen, afransen replies, "yes, i know you have a hand, as do i". afransen keeps walking.

 

[JayBee]

Dumb. I know languages are living, breathing creatures that change over time. I'm not going to acknowledge dumb greetings that strictly reduce expressivity of the language.

C'mon man

 

[MetroMan]

man waves hand to afransen, afransen replies, "yes, i know you have a hand, as do i". afransen keeps walking.

LMAO!!! HAHAHA Oh man, I had a good laugh at that one.

I don't think I've heard this before... but just say "not much" and all will be fine.

It's pretty common now. There's even that song: "Whatcha say" by Jason Derülo that samples Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" -- I like the latter, not so much the former.

I think I'll get around it by asking my own question: "How you doing?"

... or if I wanna hit back with something that will leave them blank, I'll make up a greeting of my own. Perhaps some geek terminology "Live long and prosper!" to counter their wanna-be-black culture...

 

[afransen]

man waves hand to afransen, afransen replies, "yes, i know you have a hand, as do i". afransen keeps walking.

Not quite. If hand-waves meant something else, and then suddenly people wanted to overload it with a banal greeting, I would ignore the latter. It's like turning a thumbs-up into a greeting. It takes a gesture that has meaning, and dilutes that meaning.

 

[jn_12]

ya the peace signed ruined everything.

 

[JayBee]

Some of the snobbery is funny.Yo, I'm not moving this weekend. *It's either the 3rd or the 10th now. *So hard to line everything up. Let me know if you're still available. Everybody uses some form of slang. What makes this any different? Because it's used by "ghetto people" and teenagers? That's where slang usually originates from. Lol at ignoring someone who is greeting you. I guess people are right when they say Torontonians are rather cold.

Get over yourselves.

 

[jn_12]

Do you guys respond when someone says "hey?" or "what's up?" or "How's it goin?" because those are greetings on par with "What you saying?"

 

[sungs]

There's a bunch of old men yelling at clouds in here. Some slang I like, some I hate, but to ignore someone completely when they're just using a term for the purpose of greeting? Look I hate when people write "me thinks" (can I roll my eyes at you and wonder if you talk like that in real life), but I don't ignore them... Bill Clinton using the word "diss" must have put some people in the fetal position.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Oh man, complaining about the weird slang used today is only a small step removed from yelling at the damn kids to get off your lawn. Before you know it you're watching Wheel of Fortune nightly and getting up at 5 in the morning to go mall walking.

It's all downhill from here, MetroMan.

 

[MetroMan]

That sounded like a jab towards me GraphicMatt. I'm not complaining, I'm looking to keep up so I don't end up like the old man on my street that we all wondered if he had been a kid before.

Khristopher: the reason why I wanted to know more about this term is because I've seen regular people use it, not just "ghetto people or teenagers" like you say. The person who asked me "What you saying?" in the elevator was a twenty something guy in a suit.