V2nd - relationship to things

[Michael Bailey]

the very simple statement "How are things?"

( my trumpet teacher once asked me, "how are things?" -- I was having
a bad day and said back, "What things?"
he said, "Just things..." -- the kind of things that stick in your mind...)

so one's answer reveals something about the person, rather than, or in
addition to, anything about things themselves...

like many simple statements, it's weird if you think about it
(the simple things are hardest to explain - Dave Mason
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20bRuWAwIZo )





-- 
"The general agreement is that language should be a kind of honey.  I
like it to be a kind of speed." - Michael Moorcock