The greeting that you use will depend on who you are speaking to. The greeting and your response will be formal or informal. Here are a few formal greetings and responses: - How do you do? I am very well, thank you. - How are you? I am very well, thank you - How have you been (for someone who you have not seen for some time) I've been well / very well, thank you (thank you is added to be polite and to thank the person for asking or caring about you) - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening (but not good night because it means good-bye). The reponse is usually the same "Good morning, good...." Many people believe that it is not right to tell the truth to people who you don't know well or in a formal setting (Don't say "I'm not well, I feel ill, etc). When you speak to your friends or family members it is OK to tell the truth. Informal greetings and responses (usually with friends or in informal situations) may include: - What's happening? Not much - How's it going? Fine/All is well/Great/Good/Not bad - What's up? Not much, the usual - How have you been? Pretty good Personnaly, I don't like the response "not bad" because it is a little negative ... it looks like you are comparing your situation or feelings to the worst situation or feeling. When a friend asks me "How are you?", my favourite informal/fun response is "Perfect" Of course, it's almost impossible for life to be perfect, but when I say "Perfect" everyone smiles because it's an unusal answer, and it is also a wonderful/optimistic/positive response. Try this response with your friends and watch their faces when they hear you say "Perfect".

some answers you can use in response to "how are you?"... are: fine, not bad, been better, ok considering, ok, had better days, never been better, Dont make the mistake of saying stright off if you are not feeling so well.... so usually answer with "fine thanks, but i have been better".... something like that...

you can also ask, how do you feel?

For "how are you?" if you want to ask some else's being, you can use "how is it going?", "how are you doing today?". If you want to say "hello" (the phrase "how are you" can be used as greetings), you can vary to hi, hey, and something which is more Ozie (Australian) usage like "G'day mate", or "how'di?"

Speaking of single "word"s, "howdy" is cool.