I think we have pretty silly phrases we use for greetings. Instead of just saying “Hello”, we say things like “How’s it going?” or “What’s up?” or “What’s going on?”. We really just mean “Hi” by these things, but we say them anyway.
And then there are the various replies to these questions. “Hey.” “Alright.” “Not much.” And, of course, by all these phrases we simply mean “Hi” back to the person.

The reason I’m writing about this now is because I just commited a mixup of the silly language. I saw a coworker in the hall and I said to him, “Hey! What’s going on?” and He replied, “Hi, how’s it going”.

And then I answered, “Not a whole lot”.

There was a short pause, and then I just looked at him, shook my head and laughed. He acknowledged the faux pas with a nod of his head and his own snicker.