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Hi - "It's going" is sometimes a common response to "How's it going?" and I've wondered from time to time whether or not there is a name for this type of response. Is there a name (or other examples) for when the answer to a question doesn't provide any new information? Can I call this a tautology?
It provides information, in as far as the question is provoking a boolean response – the reply could be, “It's not goingâ€. If the question was entirely rhetorical, the response is immaterial; if it was a genuine enquiry, then any data returned should have some value. I certainly don't think it's tautologous.
The use of the general construction, in which the operational status of an unspecified something is enquired about as a form of salutation, presumably goes back to at least the Latin “Quo vadis?â€, if not earlier, so it must be thought to be of some value.
It is found in French (“Ça va?â€), German (“Wie gehts?â€) – does anyone know if it is found elsewhere?
N.E. Scots has “Chavin' awa'?â€; “chavin'†is used more directly to mean “workingâ€, but “working†and “going†are fairly interchangeable (“is the radio going?â€/ “is the radio working?â€), so the sense is the same, (“Working away?â€).
As with “Ça vaâ€, the question is also the response – “Chavin' awa'?â€, “Chavin' awa'!†Only the inflection in intonation is different between the two.
This question also provoke me to wonder if anyone ever, in reply to the greeting “How are you?â€, responds “I amâ€â€¦?
Spanish speakers do say ¿como va?, but not (I think) as often as ¿como estas? And to answer another of your questions, jock123 (welcome, by the way), I know of exactly one person who has occasionally answered "How are you?" with "I am": Me. Never heard anyone else do it, but in a whimsical way it pleases me enough to use it despite the risk of theological misunderstanding.
I agree that it probably isn't exactly tautological, but not for the same reason; it doesn't (technically) add new information, because the very form of the question assumes that it's going. Still, it comes close. I think the real point is to be non-committal, even more non-committal than "so-so" or comme ci comme ça. Or the Spanish version, asi-asi. Dunno what the Germans say in such a case, but I'll bet they have an analogue.
It's possible that the 2 going's in the question and the answer are not the same, the latter addressing the 'How?' or 'In what manner?'
If so, the answer is really short for 'It's going in the manner that it's going,'
in the same way that this more sensical answer, 'It's getting better' is short for 'It's going in the manner that it's getting better.'
Bob Bridges said:
I agree that it probably isn't exactly tautological, but not for the same reason; it doesn't (technically) add new information, because the very form of the question assumes that it's going. Still, it comes close. I think the real point is to be non-committal, even more non-committal than "so-so" or comme ci comme ça. Or the Spanish version, asi-asi. Dunno what the Germans say in such a case, but I'll bet they have an analogue.
You want a non-committal analogue, in response to Wie gehts? (= "how's it going?) the Germans would say (according to my pro translator friend):
Einigermaßen = Passibly
Ja, nicht so gut, aber alles ist in Ordnung = Yes, not so good, but everything is alright.
Alles in Ordnung = Everything is alright/okay.
Okay = Okay
Es geht so = It goes okay/So so.
Normal = Normal
Nichts neues = Nothing new/Same old same old
Wie solls schon gehen, … = How should it go, (fill in your assessment)
Typisch = Typically
I think Es geht so or Nichts neues are the most non-committal.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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