Is 「お元気ですか」 an acceptable/common greeting?


English (and other languages) speakers often use "How are you?", "What's up?",
"How's it going?" and similar phrases as greetings. Other language speakers
and cultures will refrain from asking such a question unless they are
genuinely interested in the answer and have a reason to ask, so typically not
as part of greeting someone.

Is 「お元気ですか」 acceptable to use in a similar way, such as greeting someone with
「おはようございます。お元気ですか。」?

If it is, how common is it?

Does it sound weird to native speakers?




It is weird if it's the first phase you open with. First you need an opener.
If you're a guy you might say, おい、元気？ ("Oi" or オッス "Ossu" is not really a
word, it's more like a sound, or like "hey!" preceding a "what's up" in
English.) But just like "what's up, this is between pals, casual not for your
big boss or strangers. Women tend to say 久しぶり、元気？or even a cute ハイハイ! 元気?
There are many different combos, but I've never heard a conversation just
start with straight up "Genki?"




It is weird if it's the first phase you open with. First you need an opener.
If you're a guy you might say, おい、元気？ ("Oi" or オッス "Ossu" is not really a
word, it's more like a sound, or like "hey!" preceding a "what's up" in
English.) But just like "what's up, this is between pals, casual not for your
big boss or strangers. Women tend to say 久しぶり、元気？or even a cute ハイハイ! 元気?
There are many different combos, but I've never heard a conversation just
start with straight up "Genki?"

