The function of polite speech such as Nice to meet you, and How are you?

is used as
a way of not seeming illiterate or obscene. These phrases have been used so often to greet a
person, that the public has forgotten the meaning of those words. The context of these greeting is
understood worldwide as a way for humans to be formal with approach with another human
being. As a whole human race, there are many different cultures and common courtesies that are
passed down from generation to generation until now. These cultures and old traditions have
been tweaked throughout many years and have finally become the way the younger generation
respects and treats other people.
Due to the differentiation of cultures and traditions, people greet other people depending
on how that specific culture ranks people. For example, a son is inferior to his father, so the son
must show respect to his father, as well as any elder person, as a way to show your appreciation
and respect. However, as much as there are differences between cultures, mostly all the cultures
treat the same group of people the same. Such as elders are treated with the highest respect and
are considered to be one of the wisest people in any culture. Also, in most cultures, the male
gender is treated with higher authority and is usually viewed as being the more dominant person.
These similarities are found commonly in cultures.
Its become tradition to greet a person by the traditions you have learned from your
parents. So, depending on how a person was raised, and depending on that individuals
personality, each individual greets differently. These first greeting between 2 individuals leave
first impressions of the how the person will view the other in the future. Its important in a

society for polit speeches because of the civility that this community has. However in a
younger generation these traditions have become diluted and meaningless as well as empty.
When a person asks How are you? its a rhetorical question and the person asking
doesnt necessarily expect to have the other person answer in a descriptive way. However, if a
close friend is to ask the same question, the person who asked might be more genuine with their
question and probably expect an honest answer from the other person. Why is this? People tend
to be more caring for people they are already bonded to. Strangers are more unknown so people
want to create a bond but still arent unsure of whether that bond will work out and want to be
pollite because they want to give the other person a good first impression of themselves.