Who does it? I routinely say Good Morning or "Evening" when out walking Cody. It's habit. I was brought up in a rural area where it was considered rude not to greet someone in passing - whether you knew them or not. Now I live on the outskirts of a town - but in a fairly leafy area, i.e. lots of park spaces, wooded areas etc for dog walking. I find about 30% of people reply and they are ALL dog owners. Runners & Walkers are a no go. I generally have a bit of a laugh with the dog about how rude some people are (probably makes me look a loon) afterwards. So to greet or not to greet, that is the question?
Yes , I always say Hello to others we meet when out and about and like you , I do tend to make whispered comments on the quiet if they don't reply or worse still , look at me like I am from another planet ! x
Well good evening to you! Absolutely, I always smile and say hello, morning or afternoon... I greet the human though, not the dog. I appreciate that dog owners, especially labrador owners know their dogs need very little encouragement to give their own version of hello. It usually involves slobber and mud!
I'm a greeter. I find nearly everyone replies, even the joggers and cyclists (I don't greet if it's a big pack of cyclists though).
I absolutely used to do this with Brogan. We'd have quite good conversations about rude people! I live in the country in Spain, so it's pretty rare to see anyone on the beach this time of year. But in Germany, I live in the centre of the old town - always lots of people. When Brogan was alive, I thought it was the friendliest place ever, as everyone always said "Good morning" to me. Turns out that they were saying "good morning" to Brogan, because after he passed my greeting rate went from 95% to about 5%. No dog, no greeting. It was especially awkward right after he passed, because I'd still say "Morgen" to people and they would look back at me as if I were a serial killer and give no reply. For a while I stopped even trying, but then I started up again. Old doggie habits die hard!
I live up north - everyone is a greeter round here. When I get the bus home the chat is often amongst the whole bus, a general conversation - across the aisles
We have a guy who lives in our village, a real "recluse" type - never goes to anything, never socialises. In fact the police were at his neighbour's door recently as they were worried about him - house and garden been falling into disrepair over several years.... He can't be much older than me. Anyway, over the last year we have passed him most mornings - in the dark - at the bus stop. First time I saw him I was a bit freaked, but made a point of saying morning to him every time we pass. Recently his reply back to me has been less a grunt and more a greeting, and a couple of times he has bent to pat Lilly (I am sure his ex-wife and him used to have a little terrier). I call that progress.
I always greet people as I pass and often tell Harley how rude they are if they ignore me. The ones I get really frustrated with are cyclists - I always move off the path to let them by, but 90% don’t even acknowledge you!!!
I greet almost everybody (some people just give off a vibe so I don't bother) and almost everybody replies. I can probably count on one hand the number of "ignores" I've had, so I reckon that's pretty good! I used to walk BC (before canine) but I always had my earbuds in listening to music or podcasts, so if people greeted me then I was that rude person who didn't reply. I did used to smile at people, though.
I've been hit by one on a pavement and nearly a few times on the park. Most are fine some are just overly aggressive and rude.
We live in a fairly leafy suburb and it's quite friendly and small. It's a 35-40 minute train journey from Sydney City. Most people on the street will at least smile and those at the dog park are super friendly. Very different story in town though, it's like everyone hates everyone else, there is no eye contact and I regularly get shouldered out of the way by men when trying to board the train. As a not-so-young person (52) it really bugs me. So imagine how nice it is to come home and be greeted by a super-excited puppy who cant contain his delight that Mum is home and a nice hug from hubby
Always say hi to everyone I pass, dog walker, cyclist, runner. Everyone always responds but it wouldn't bother me if they didn't, some people just like to be in their own heads.
I smile and say hello. It appears OH and his dad have full conversations because a lot of people seem to know "Stan the man" and insist on coming over to say hello and have a big fuss
We live in a rural area, so say hello to practically everyone we see when out walking the dog. Although most of them are people we "know" anyway. You made me smile In Finland it can be considered extremely rude to "bother" other people you don't know with idle chit-chat The logic is that someone is perfectly at peace and happy in their own world, with their own thoughts, or maybe their own problems. Then a rude stranger comes along and breaks that tranquility with a meaningless, purposeless or pointless interruption. Not every Finn is like that but many are. e.g. if every double seat on a bus is occupied by single people, many newcomers to the bus will choose to stand rather than sit next to someone you don't know. Check out the Finnish bus queue picture in this link: https://finnishcrashcourse.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/personal-space/
Haha, another bit of fun trivia - we English, if we walk by someone we know but we're not stopping, normally say "Hi", "Hello" or similar. In Catalan, they say "Goodbye" (adéu). To my English ear it always sounds so dismissive! That bus stop picture is hilarious! My husband always stands too close to people in queues in the supermarket and it makes me cringe, but that's taking it to another level
The city I live in is known as the 'Friendly City' and besides that outside of Johannesburg and Cape Town centers (very busy so a little different) we South Africans are a friendly bunch. You greet people as much as you breath. You just do.
