Are you alright???

If any of you have been checking the translation section, you would have noticed that "y'alright" in the U.K. = "how's it goin'" in Canada. When I first got here, I found it really strange when someone would ask me if I was alright. My first response was usually, "why...?does something look wrong with me...?I think I am OK, yep, I feel OK..., why are you asking me if I am alright?". So I mentioned to a lot of the folks I work with that in Canada, when someone, specifically a stranger, comes up to you and asks if you are alright, it almost always means that you look like something is very, very not right. A ramble I know, but here comes my point... Today at work, someone in the shop asked me, and I quote, "how's it going?". So long since I have heard those three words... took me right back to Canada. I said I was doing fine, and thanked him for his Canadianese... he laughed and told me that he spent 3 months in Suffield (Alberta) and told me he said it that way on purpose because he knew that was how Canadians's said it. That is what it is like coming here. It seems the same on the top, but there are so many little things that are different. Hope this finds you all well. M