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It is often the case that other people greet me with "What's up?" and I don't know how to answer, so I usually say "hello" or "hi". It's embarrassing...

As a person whose first language is not English, I am not really sure "What's up" means. Does it mean "what are you doing", or "hello"? How should I answer "What's up"?

Thanks!

Steve Yang
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    See: [What does “What's up?” mean?](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/73762/what-does-whats-up-mean?rq=1) ... [What is the expected response to “What's up?”](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/what-is-the-expected-response-to-whats-up) ... [What is the meaning, usage and formality of the greeting “What's up”?](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/13657/what-is-the-meaning-usage-and-formality-of-the-greeting-whats-up) – J. Taylor Apr 28 '18 at 07:23
  • Everyone asks a question starts with "How to", I know it's Chinese. Hahaha – Zhang Apr 28 '18 at 09:01

1 Answers1

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"What's up?" could mean any of:

  • What are you up to?
  • What is happening?
  • How are you doing?
  • Hello.
  • What's wrong?
  • What's the matter/problem?

You could respond by saying:

  • Nothing much.
  • Not much.
  • What's up?
  • Good. What about you?
  • Just chilling. You?
  • On my way here, I bumped into this jerk who was ...
johnlee
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