Response to "are you all right?"

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If somebody greets you by saying "Are you all right'?". or "All right?", how should you respond?
I never know what to say. Should you say "hi" or "I'm fine"? Or respond in a different way?

Has anyone else had this problem?

It' a yes or no question. Just answer it.

This topic reminds me the song "Everything's Alright" by Motion City Soundtrack.

So, it all depends on what you feel like answering, most people will settle for an "I'm fine thank you" cause that's what they want to hear.

Here's a shocker though, people may or may not care about how you are feeling, people might just ask that and if you answer negatively they'd ignore it as a joke or ask you "oh, what's wrong then?" and then hear 3 sentences and start figuring how to end the conversation themselves. (that's my point of view, based on my experiences, I'm not trying to imply that it goes that way for everyone, also just stating an example of how some people just say that as a general greeting other than really meaning to ask you if you're ok)

I usually answer "Not really" to "Are you alright?" (which usually starts a conversation bout how crappy i feel and how they can not solve it)

But that's rarely the question, people use the "How are you?" to which i respond "As usual" (purposely vague) to which people just shrug and move on.

Don't know if I helped in anyway and sorry if I sound too negative but that's just me being neutral. Best of luck though.

i'm NT and i hate the "How are you?" fake question cuz most people don't really care. it's up there on my list with "have a nice day" and i want to vomit.

in truth, it's another form of "hello" (distorted) though "hello" doesn't require a fake answer. if someone asks "How are you?" here's a great way to answer : just say HI back.

that's it. nobody will really notice (unless they're a close friend). so, if someone says, "How are you?" Just respond with a reasonably enthusiastic "Hi!! !" and that's usually good enough.

If somebody asks, "are you alright?" it means they sense that you are not 100% and they are either truly concerned or curious. In that case, answer honestly back. "Tolerably" or "reasonably" is a fair enough answer. You could be disturbingly direct and ask "Do you really want to know?" but in general, just a hi and a nod will suffice.

Why would someone ask you this? Is this a standard greeting? I've had a few times when people asked me this, like a weird greeting, but I'm not sure why. It's unexpected (by me) and I usually respond by freezing, which I guess just makes whatever I was doing seem worse.

Well sgrannel I guess it would depend on what person says it, the localization, different languages, cultures etc...

As far as i know it's pretty common and i hear it every time i go out, or even on msn and such.

I say "Hai", unfortunately. Confuses the hell out of most people (japanese for yes).

"Heck yes I'm OK! Woooo! Woooooo!"
It's not a literal question (most of the time), so just find a set-phrase. I go with "yeah, alright, you?". OR if you want a small favour from them, go "well actually..." then lead into the favour. I guess that's why it's a bit less formal than the standard "hello".

Just 3 minutes ago (i just got home) someone on the street just said to me "hey there have you been doing well?" and i answered "No, i haven't" and as she turned her back on me added "Then get well" and walked away.

So what was the purpose? It does not need a purpose, people just ask how one is out of anything else to say, it's like a "hello" but trying to sound nicer than just plain "hello".

I say "Alright" or "I'm fine"

I just say "fine", but I never seem to ask them the same thing, maybe I should.
I don't like the question though, it's pointless to ask a question when you don't even care about the answer!