My ideas on greeting
1. Always greet people you haven't seen since the day before. Greet by name if you know it and can remember it. If not, just greet. You can use a single word such as "Morning" or "Hi". When I was growing up, it was bad form to say "Hey". Now, in some places it is good form and more up-to-date than "Hi" or "Hello".
2. If you don't get a response to your greeting, simply accept the fact calmly and go about your business. The person may be old (like me) and unable to hear. The person may be distracted or worried that answering will be a signal you want to snuggle up while they don't.
3, We had healthy, good-looking farm kids cheerfully greet passers-by in a main London park. That behavior was out of place there and alarming to big city people who work at maintaining distance. A brief glance at the passer's eyes would have been more than sufficient. Not greeting at all in such a situation is also good.
4. Greetings establish that you are bold enough and friendly enough to speak. Once that is established, you can follow up or not, using your feel of the situation and your mood.
5. Avoid cliches such as "I'm not awake yet" or "I haven't had my coffee yet". Muster the energy to speak a simple, direct greeting, even if you are in no shape to converse at length. Doing so gets people rolling along and puts a friendly, energetic charge to the air.
Note: when a man with wrinkles and white or no hair, greets anyone but a child, he cannot safely smile too broadly or speak in too merry and bright a tone, without a risk of frightening or alienating the other, especially if the other is a male. In the case of a child, a slight smile is often helpful. See the movie "Home Alone" and the example set by the character Marley, Kevin's elderly neighbor, played by Roberts Blossom.
(copyedited by L.S. Kirby)
