Any of us who have been to England, and haven’t had prior warning, will come across the the common English greeting “Awright”. How do we respond to it? It is a very perplexing question, standing there alone by itself, without anything to keep us in the loop as to what is going on.
Normally the word means everything is ok or great, and is used as a response, or to say that is great. But as a question, it usually has a few other words attached to it, so we know what is alright thing in our proximity or our life is alright, so that we have some reference point to give them an answer. In the dictionary it means OK, fine, without doubt and very well.
If an English person were reading this we could substitute the word in the question they are asking to any of the meanings given by the dictionary. Here goes:
- Without doubt?
- Very well?
Many people wouldn’t know what to think if they were given any of the questions, let alone alright? You might think the first time you hear this, what is alright? the weather? me? what I’m doing? that fit bird over there?. While you’re getting used to the question, you are not going to know what to say. But once you get used to it you may give some interesting responses in return.
You might say All left? Yes it is a nice day. I think so. Rather spiffing old chap.
While in England depending on the region you might hear some variations on this question, depending on the accent. “Awright?” is also common, and “all right old chap” is often heard in other areas.
On the same side of the coin, or on the other side of the Channel, in France this is a commonly asked question. “Ça va?” which translates to alright is the translation for this from French. But unlike in English you can answer with the same words as in the question to mean “all is well- ça va. It the end it’s all about getting used to something that is not commonly heard and understanding it.
So the moral of the story is, if it’s unfamiliar and sounds strange it won’t be once you get used to it.