I have a fun OT:
The term towards a spouse in Korean is “yeobo”. Today is more equivalent to “honey” (among spouses always), but the original literal meaning is “look here/ hey, you there”, since they wouldn’t use each other’s names. After much use, it ended up being a term of endearement.
And one that I haven’t found in any other culture (correct me if I’m wrong, ofc), is that they subsequently call each other as “first-born’s-name-parent”. For example, if I were the first born, my mom would call my dad “Gia’s father”.
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I have no idea what “wei” means beyond it just being what a lot of Chinese speakers use when answering the phone. I think most Chinese speakers wouldn’t be able to give a better answer than that either. It’s not something you say in person as a greeting.
Alexander Graham Bell suggested “ahoy-hoy” as a greeting for answering the telephone.
I think one would call me a Chinese-American, but maybe also “native Chinese” (whatever that means)? I was born in China, am 100% ethnically Chinese, and learned Chinese as a first language, but I came to the USA when very young and spent almost my entire life here.
In regards to discussing how a population behaves and uses language, it’s incredibly hard to generalize when dealing with an immensely large population like the Chinese people. I’m sure the Chinese in Singapore have behaviors distinct from those in Malaysia. The greetings you hear among expats on the streets of Sydney’s Chinatown are going to be different than those in San Francisco. While the Chinese in Tokyo probably routinely bow, I don’t think I’ve ever observed a Chinese person bow as a greeting when outside of Japan or not interacting with a Japanese person in a business setting.
As for handshakes, from the Chinese people that I’ve interacted with, it seems far less common than as used in the West. However, I will note that the Chinese invented the “Wuhan handshake” (bumping feet) earlier on in the pandemic.
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Fascinating! Thank you for your insight!
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I would like to throw in an idea that will probably not go well, but:
I think English is having a new, distinct form, as the language of “internet-country”.
That is, some word might be correct in English in London, but unusual in New York.
The same way, it can be unusual in London, New York and Sydney, but make sense on the internet, to every internet-citizen more or less (with sublocal terms etc, of course).
I think linguistically it’s becoming its own thing and is not strictly bound by certain countries’ rules, as time goes by. We are literally collectively creating a new dialect (?). 
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I think that’s very much true. There are all sorts of new words, slang, and novel usage that is native to the online community.
I think how people use emojis and memes also fits into and affects communication online.
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I think this is absolutely right. I think it’s a(nother) thing that the internet has accelerated. It’s all a bit hazy now but I understood that it’s normal for a group of non native English speakers (e.g. in Brussels) not to worry about certain features like the -s on third person singular verbs. It’s not like any information is lost so why not. “Standard non native English” I think should be the language of the internet. The thing will be for native speakers to know their place when “correcting” it.
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I learned 嗨 from OGS! 
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Why bother? Even if your opponents say the nicest words in the sweetest tone in person, …, what they really mean in their minds: I will eat you live.
I just greet and say thanks for the game to establish a good habit. Do I really mean that? Your guess is as good as mine. 
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Politeness differs with cultures. GG is like a minimum crossing borders.
For me it doesn’t really matter if it was a good game or not.
Here when you meet a friend you will ask him “did you eat?” even if he is just going out of a restaurant. Just a matter of politeness.
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Some people even find that if you say “gg” you are being really disrespectful I have had games where opponents yell at me for saying gg and they continue to express themselves how the game wasn’t good. Its hard to know what everyone wants you to say so it makes saying anything even more meaningless since it runs the risk of being yelled at.
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I suspect these are people who actually want to yell. So you should feel good about having given them the opportunity.
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Well some positive feedback, it happens to have a nice little chat, even to go into a review after a gg.
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I found a relevant old1 thread.
@Kosh: ‘Do you wish me a good game, or mean that it is a good game whether I want it or not; or that you feel good about this game or that it is a game to feel good about?’
(1 although that “old” thread was started almost a year after this one :P)
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I do not buy this line of reasoning.
All cultures have traditionally had accepted standards for greeting, thank you etc even if you are in a bad mood. All the more reason to make an effort. It is mostly in modern America that civility is derided and considered passe. The internet also because of its anonymity also encourages sniping, tirades, insults and generally poor behaviour where community standards cannot enforce proper and respectful behaviour.
And I have heard the painful typing excuse before. It is amazing that the person with such severe arthritis can manage GO games on a phone or tablet or computer but ty Hello, Hi or gg suddenly the pain becomes debillitating.
So does it matter in the grand scheme of things perhaps not much in a ten minute game. But courtesy does make the world a bit brighter.
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No.
Politeness system differs by culture.
As example in China, players never wish a good game (after having played a few hundred real life games.) And they don’t say thank you or good bye when you leave a shop. Uses differ.
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No doubt there are cultural differences. But despite differences there is far more commonality than differences. You say Chinese never wish a good game. That is quite an absolute and emphatic statement. Are you saying the Chinese meet to play GO and do not acknowledge the other player in any courteous way? And I take it you mean they do not show any courtesy when the game is over? My point was not that one has to say good game. But to acknowledge the opponent. The courtesy is in the acknowledging. And after the game to acknowledge the opponent also. It is simply common in the US to use good game. Also I do not believe most people on OGS who fail to greet/thank an opponent are Chinese. I do not have the data, but this is hardly a GO site with an overwhelming number of Chinese players.
Regardless I stand by my statement that courtesy makes the world a bit brighter. Or to put another way it greases the wheels of human interaction.
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I point out that your way of seeing what is politeness is not universal. And even more a must be like that.
I just say that after having played many times in different places in China, players don’t wish a good game before starting. Between people who don’t know each other or few, it’s common to say nihao (hello) but not always if they know each other. And this is a bit outside of the game itself. One will just ask a “do you want to play?” and that’s it. I related my experience it’s not absolute or emphatic.
Aknowledgement: well really there this not needed like in the same situation in different part of our planet. I still have that shopping experience, if you greet or say goodbye to a shop seller here, they will be surprised or even embarrassed. Politeness vary even between America and let say Germany, you leave the office door open here, and carefully closed there. If you visit the house of some friends in another place, you will not knock the door but just wait until someone see you…
I find myself a bit sad that some players can be offended or even refuse to play if you don’t say hi gg at the beginning of a game. International politeness is not rigid like in your own country, it’s something we are still elaborating every day.
Is that a bit emphatic and absolute statement ? (Ok I am just returning the compliment)
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On fox where there are mostly chinese and some korean players I rarely get any form of greeting.
I assume though that it is probably because they play 100s of games a day and when you play that many games a day I can see how saying a phrase or even different phrases can be a lot of effort despite other peoples opinions on excuses.
Honestly saying anything doesn’t have a lot of value if one person doesn’t care. Like I don’t actually care to get a greeting so when people say it to me it has no value to me. (as previously mentioned sometimes when I even give greetings people get upset at certain greetings) making it lose even more value since its having a negative effect on the other player.
So “MOST” of the time I just don’t give any greeting unless I know the other person or just feel like it for no reason at all.
So sticking to the topic “is gg becoming a meaningless phrase” I believe I mentioned this in the topic much earlier I have played since around 2007 and the way people greet and end the game has been the same since then for me. So it was “meaningless” already to “most” people I came across and I can’t say it has become more meaningless since for the most part it seems most people don’t care to do it or care to get it. (And, yes it has shown more in the asian community in my fox and tygem games) but I assume its just because they play more games so its more likely to come across that when playing there.
(But, have also had it here on OGS).
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This is something I’m curious about!
I wish to expand it in a specific thread.
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Well, it’s funny I remember on the basketball team when I was little we all had to say good game to the other team. Really little. If you want some meaning about it. I was the point guard. Once I stole the ball and drove it to the other end of the court for a lay up. People cheered that, I loved that. I also remember a time I passed the ball, and was like, “Take the shot you’re open!” and my friend took the shot and it went in. I am tall and muscular for a girl.
But anyway, it could be that people just don’t feel they have a lot to say to each other anyway. For the most part, we’re complete strangers who can’t even see each other.
I was raised with video games. I’m quite good at some of them. You don’t have to talk to the video game. A site like this can feel a lot like a video game, only it’s other people, but there are so many people, that there is always someone who’s looking to play. It’s really interesting.
But speech isn’t necessary, people love the game, not you per say.
I think I’ve gotten better at Go than I ever expected. Maybe because of my Russian heritage, we have a great respect for Chess, and I feel Go has the same societal place as Chess only it’s a completely different game. But people have a lot of respect for Go, and there’s a Go community, and I guess I should be aware of that. I’ve never been good at Chess. But for some reason I was very interested in Go. Maybe because I like video games and the first system was named Atari.
I’m aware of the Chess personality where people get so obsessed it’s all they think about. I never wanted that to be me but I feel it’s the same with Go.
But you know, you probably dislike me already.
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