Why Do Australians Say It This Way? · Season One: Hearing More Than the Literal Words · Article 5
You walk into the office in the morning and a colleague looks up:
“Morning! How are you going?”
The first time you hear it, you might be tempted to answer that you came by car, or that you are on your way to a meeting. Where are you going? asks about a destination. This question has how, not where. What the Australian speaker means is “How are you?”
Has that solved the difficulty? Not quite. A second question immediately appears: do they really want to know how you are, or are they just saying hello?
Some questions mainly open the conversation
Linguists describe How are you? and related expressions as formulaic greetings. “Formulaic” does not mean false, and it does not mean that the speaker has no concern for you. It means that the utterance has a conventional job in a particular position: recognise the other person, establish friendly contact, and make it possible for the next business to begin.
Australian English commonly offers several forms:
“How are you going?”
“How’re you going?”
“How ya going?”
“How’s it going?”
In fast speech, How ya going? can be heavily compressed. A new listener may still be identifying its sounds when the conversation has already moved on. ABC learning material explicitly glosses it as How are you? Lynda Yates, writing about pronunciation and pragmatics in Australian English, likewise discusses how are you as a standard greeting sequence. Her larger point is useful here: learners need more than the words. They need to recognise what an utterance is doing in an interaction.
When can you give a real answer?
The fact that a greeting often receives a short reply does not mean Australians refuse to hear the truth. Relationship, available time and the next topic determine how much of an answer the occasion can hold.
If a lift door is closing and somebody says How you going?, a full account of last week’s insomnia may overwhelm the moment. That is not proof that the person lacks sympathy. Both participants have treated the words as part of a passing encounter.
Now imagine a colleague stopping to ask:
“How are you going with everything?”
If the colleague stops to listen or follows up with something specific, the question is probably more than a passing greeting. Begin with a brief but truthful answer, then let the response determine whether to expand. The useful question is not whether a fixed expression is “sincere”, but how much room this interaction is making for an answer.
Why “going” rather than “doing”?
How are you doing? is common in American English. Australian English often uses going. The verb does not refer here to movement through space. It refers to the way a situation is progressing. English already has How’s the project going? and Things are going well. Place a person into that pattern and the question asks how life is proceeding for them.
This also explains a related Australian question:
“How are you going with the report?”
That is not a general greeting. It asks about progress on the report. Good, thanks may be inadequate; you need to say how far the work has advanced. The phrase with the report gives the question its object.
A greeting is not a test
Learners sometimes prepare the ideal answer to a greeting as if an oral examination has begun. Everyday contact allows much more room for personality.
If you are not having a good day but do not want a long conversation, you can say:
“I’ve been better, but I’ll be right.”
“A bit tired, otherwise okay.”
“Getting there. How are you?”
These replies neither pretend that everything is perfect nor force the encounter into private detail. Getting there suggests that a situation is improving or that something remains unfinished. A person who intended only a greeting can move on. Someone with time and genuine concern can ask another question.
Listen to the delivery and watch what happens next
There are clues more useful than a dictionary for separating a greeting from an enquiry.
If both people are moving, the question is quick, and work begins immediately afterwards, it is probably mainly a greeting. If the speaker stops, maintains attention, mentions a specific matter, or follows your short answer with another question, they are more likely to want the real update. Relationship matters too. A cashier and an old friend may use the same words while making very different amounts of space available for your answer.
When you are uncertain, a short but truthful version is often ideal:
“Pretty good, thanks. Busy week.”
It asks about your state and confirms the relationship
The direct meaning of How are you going? is “How are you?”, not “Where are you going?” Yet memorising that translation still gives you only half the answer.
In a brief encounter, the expression often confirms that the participants are willing to begin on friendly terms. You do not have to hand over a complete report on your life. When time and relationship allow, the same wording can express serious care.
There is no single formula for that judgment. Even familiar people adjust it to the time and setting.
Primary sources and further reading
- ABC Education, “Understanding the Aussie accent and slang”
- Lynda Yates, “Learning How to Speak: Pronunciation, Pragmatics and Practicalities in the Classroom and Beyond”
- Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority: Australian English greeting examples
Continue reading: Why Do Australians Say It This Way? — Series overview
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