Thursday, April 28, 2011

"How's it Going?"

An innocuous enough question. In our culture used in same way you'd say hello, or the Italians would say "va bene" or the French "Ca va?". I remember the old joke about how the French could have a conversation with two words that went like this:
Person One: Ca va? (how's it going)
Person Two: Ca va. (it's going alright)
Person Two: Ca va? (how's it going for you?)
Person One: Ca va. (it's going alright)

Only the tone and inflection vary.

But I digress...even though I know it's just a way of saying hello, I do have to say it's kind hard to say, "fine thanks, and you?". Because it's not going fine. It's not going well at all. I have a wife with metastatic melanoma who also just suffered a massive stroke and brain injury. I need to invent a new phrase to respond that's more appropriate to the situation. Maybe I should just slip into a little of my language skills and answer, "Come si, comme ca". It's closer to reality, most people get the ambiguity, and I don't have to give them the whole sob story.

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