How are you doing?

I am reading another book that I like. It is simple and sometimes funny. I am getting to know different habits around Europe by reading such books. Compare them to our habits.

I came to a paragraph which sounded so familiar to me. When we go for a walk/hike to the mountains/hills in Slovenia, or somewhere where there are not many people around, we always say 'hello' (dober dan/živjo) when we meet someone. Some like to chat, most of them don't. It is more common to chat in the mountains which is also a good reason to take a breath. :) Reading this book gave me the impression that this 'hello habit' is not common in United Kingdom.(?)

When I was in the U.S., roaming around the prairies and Rockies, people I met sometimes also said to me: "How are you doing?". I also thought that I should have answered that question but I found out that this was not so. This was obviously just another way to say hello. Later, when I was back in Slovenia, I asked a guy from Utah about this but he looked strange at me like hearing it the first time. Perhaps people from Utah don't say it? :) Well, we keep learning all our lives. Which is good.

P.s.: The most beautiful person I have ever seen, an Indian guy with his long black hair to his bottom, who I met just below the peak of Bear Butte in South Dakota, said to me: "How are you doing?". This was the first time I heard saying this way of 'hello'.