What's up?
This question has confused me as long as I can remember. I've heard it in songs, read it in books, seen it in movies.
What's up?
But when I was first confronted with it personally, I hesitated. "Uuuuum!", came out of my mouth. An utterly confused reaction to an allegedly simple question. I didn't know what to do with it. What was I expected to say? Were they asking about my well-being? Did they enquire about my current activity? Was I supposed to tell them about my future plans in life? "Yes, I want children", I thought briefly but decided to leave it at "Uuuuum!" and left.
The first confrontations took place in a dormitory filled to the brim with exchange students from all over Europe, back when I studied abroad. When I walked casually through the hallways I often ran into them. Some said "hi", others said "hello". But the cool ones, the reaaaaaally cool ones that I wanted to impress the most, had to use this bloody question that I simply had no answer to.
My Brazilian friend who was every bit as cool, helped me out. "Dude, can you stop taking everything in life so literally?", he said. "The answer is simple, and it's always the same", he continued knowingly. "Whenever someone asks you what's up, just say:"
Not that much.
Thanks to these words of advice I was able to handle the cool kids smoothly. For the rest of the semester I was running down hallways with a new-found assertiveness. Whenever I was faced with a "What's up" I gave them a solid and self-confident "Not that much".
Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Gabriel.
Next challenge: Responding to "How are you doing?", asked from people you don't know.