Why have people started responding "I'm well," when someone asks how they are?

(Scolds myself for using ‘I’m Good’)
< Grammar freak.

I think they are fairly interchangeable in some contexts. I think the preferred usage probably relates to culture/and local custom.

I feel good today. I feel well today.

Good, can also mean something is of useful value. That is a good bike. The writing was good.

Or to behaviour. @Dutchess_III has been good this week. Dutchess_III behaved well at the party.

Your family has a good name. The child has good manners. Your family is well regarded.

I think they’re interchangeable, and I know when to use each one properly, but in this case, even if it IS correct it just sounds so…uppity and contrived. IMO.

Oh god! I am uppity. I think I am more likely to say “I’m well”. I think it’s my British side.

Most of my friends and relatives have been sick this week, so it would sound perfectly normal for any of them to say, “I’m well, thank you.” I would not consider well to be uppity or contrived. I hear both of them, probably more goods than wells, but both of them are used pretty regularly around these parts (So Cal).

@Bellatrix do you also say super instead of awesome? I love how the Brits say super. It just warms my cockles : )

I have never heard it around here until about six months ago. I’m no good, am I! :(

I honestly can’t remember saying “that’s super” for a long time. I have been here for over 20 years but apparently, I still sound British. I can say it though and with a plum in my mouth too. I think it is a fairly old fashioned phrase though. Reminiscent of colonial times. Oh top hole ol’ bean. How SOOPER!” Sort of thing :D

I think that people get tired of saying the same ting over and over day after day. I usually jus say “Good” or “OK”. A few decades ago it was trendy and funny to say “ I’m fair to middlin’” but that got old fast.

I have always heard both responses. I’m well, I’m doing well. I’m good.

I use super and groovy. Every so often I throw in a brilliant.

I am a well

I have not heard that.

Check this out about good v. well.

I despise small talk. Always have. My parents tell me that even as a small child, six or seven years old, I refused to exchange niceties. If they said “good morning,” my response would be a frown and, “Don’t bother me with the mundane.” I see my friends perhaps once a month at most, and sometimes go a year or more between get-togethers so that we have meaningful experiences to exchange rather than niceties. When cashiers or someone on the elevator have the temerity to annoy me with inanities like “How are you?” I reward them by answering with complete honesty. “Poorly. I’ve been diagnosed with pigmentary glaucoma and there’s significant nerve damage to my right eye. Also, I have an abscessed wisdom tooth which is leaking pus into my mouth.”

I suspect that people may be switching from “I’m good” to “I’m well” as a way of getting away from the infuriating need to give a rote catholic response to a formulaic question which serves no function except to make comforting primate mouth-noises.

It drives me crazy. “I am doing well” is ok, though. Do people think it sounds smart or something?

Also, I hate when people (work acquaintances) interpret “How are you?” as an invitation to start ranting about personal issues. Or complain that they’re tired.

@fizzbanger If you don’t want people to answer, then maybe you should stop asking. Just a thought.

I always say fine thank you, how are you. What I find interesting is that in Australia, people always say how are you or how you goin but the typical aussie response is simply an answer to the question. They rarely ask in reply how you are. I think in the USA asking in return was always the polite and expected response, but not here.

I’m australian and it’s always been “I’m well thankyou and you?”- maybe it’s an old fashioned thing?

@SmashTheState I’m talking about when you greet someone that you don’t know that well in passing, and it’s more of a rhetorical, lighthearted way of saying hi. Not when you’re sitting down and having an actual, in-depth conversation. However, this is an American cultural thing. For example, if you ask a Russian how they are doing, they will launch into an extensive narrative about their mother’s state of health, etc.

Do you complain about your life to people you’ve just met during casual interactions? I hope not.

Isn’t “How are you?” something you say when you can’t remember someone’s name? As for the answer, “Well,” you could replay, “Oh, good! I didn’t know you’d been ill.”
It’s just a locally used expression and using it where is is not used locally sounds kind of affected and snooty.

@trailsillustrated – you are probably right, it is a generational thing, a difference in the way respect and courtesy is taught now as opposed to yesteryears. But hey, you are pretty young yourself???

I hate small talk too. But I’ve found it puts people off when I get to the point immediately. They get a little confused, and I have to start over. The bit of small talk actually saves some time. So now I’ll go, “Hi. ThisisVal. Howareyou?”
They answer while I’m tapping my foot impatiently, then “OK I need to know about XYZ…” I’m still moving too fast for some folks but…hey. Sorry.

It’s respectful and courteous @rooeytoo and SOO boring and time wasting! I’m not well, I guess!
There is this little dog that runs around our neighborhood that looks just like you! I think of you every time I see him, which is a couple of times a week! I’ll go “Look! There’s Rooeytoo!”
My husband says, “How do you know his name??” He just trots around, being busy I guess. He’s sooo cute!

@Dutchess_III – thank you I do believe I have the cutest most beautiful dog in the world, hehehe, but I am a bit biased!

I just gave you lurve, not because I agree that being courteous is wasting time but because I agree with the rest of what you said, heheheh!

I am mostly well.

“Well” is an adverb and although “am” is technically a verb, because it’s a copula, you wouldn’t normally use an adverb, you’d use an adjective as a complement. So that is why I use “good”. :)

They haven’t just started. Rather, they must be a few remaining diehards like me. Most people these days seem to say “good” instead even though it used to be regarded as an inappropriate response.

“Well” is an adjective describing one’s state of health: ill, well. When someone asks me how I am, I say I’m well (“I’m very well, thank you”) because it’s an inquiry (even if pro forma) after my state of well-being. If I were to say “I’m good,” I’d be telling them that I’m morally upright, virtuous, or otherwise excellent, and that would be an unbecoming way to describe myself.

@rooeytoo I don’t know, it’s always been the same: “how ya goin, or. how are you” the answer, always the same, ‘well, and yourself?” This has been the exchange since I was a child. I live in the US now and I find it a jolly and genuine exchange. I like it. And I am not very young. I am returning to oz and my answer will always be the same: Well, You?

@trailsillustrated – maybe it is a qld and nt thing, but it is rare that anyone asks in return. And when I respond with a fine thanks how are you, they get this astonished look on their faces.
I will have to pay attention to what they eventually say in return, I don’t know if it is well, fine, good or okay????? Never paid that much attention.