People in Wales are friendly and greet each other openly, even if strangers, but what we find curious and unusual, are the words that make up the greeting, "You alright?" It's a U.K. form of "how are you?" but sounds oh, so weird to me. It makes me feel as if the person thinks I'm ill and I'm being asked if I'm okay.
Even whilst browsing in a store, an associate might come up to us and ask "You alright?" which in this case, also means "can I help you?" It feels a little awkward, as in "why are you standing there - are you feeling okay?" It takes a bit of getting used to.
Having landed in such a peaceful, sunny spot as this, I'd say I'm alright!
Interestingly, teenagers in our town greet passers-by too, often initiating it themselves with the familiar "you alright?" They sometimes willingly exchange further pleasantries as they pass, such as, "you gonna make some jam?" when passing us as we pick wild blackberries!
Last week, a neighbor's teen held a party, and one of the partygoers threw a vodka bottle into our yard as he passed by. We told our neighbor about it, and they agreed it was unacceptable. Next thing, two teens appeared in our driveway, and upon seeing us, said "you alright?" (aka hello). We hear there was a bottle thrown into your garden, and we've come to take it away. We also want to apologize on behalf of our friend."
Wow! Dale assured him we could take care of the bottle, and complimented him on apologizing for his friend, who needed to be told to "grow up." It was quite refreshing.
I love this next claim, written by Christopher Winn
In Wales there is nowhere that is not wondrous, nowhere that fails to amaze and charm, nowhere that does not bring forth the exclamation 'I never knew that!'
Wales is like nowhere else.
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