I have noticed that the British have a habit to ask – Are You Happy? Americans ask it too but not so often. I don’t know - why? Perhaps I have usually met Americans from that part of America where this question is not appropriate. Probably there is no such an average American.

Europeans and others are used to generalize Americans a lot. It’s very difficult for them to imagine that Western coast of America is quite different from Eastern coast. The central region of America is quite another story. American in San Francisco can be different from American in Los Angeles. Europeans seldom think of the fact that an inhabitant of Alaska could be slightly more unusual than American from Texas. It’s the same with European in Portugal and European in Finland.

The answers to the question – are You happy – might be different too. In the English language it has become almost a formal question or a phrase of politeness. A part of Europeans knows it. However, they almost always become confused when this formal phrase is directly translated into their native languages. For most Europeans it immediately turns into a substantial question worth-thinking. Most Europeans ask themselves from time to time – are they satisfied with their life, are they happy and what is happiness in general? As they see Happiness is something very close to Harmony of life. It seems that English "are You happy?" is more thought as – is everything OK, are you satisfied with a particular moment? Europeans more likely will think in much wider scale. The definition of happiness is very ample and everybody has his own different definition. Most of the people adventure on thinking only about half-way to Happiness and harmony. It is supposed to be called an achievement if a person reaches at least Balanced life. There is even a special course for Balanced life. It includes even walking barefoot on hot coal. It is taught already on the first day and most of them can walk unhurt over the glowing coal.

However, nobody sees the real meaning of the question – are you happy. In its deeper essence it is an untrue control-shot, it is a smart British provocation to test their conversation partner. If a person gets embarrassed there are only two possibilities – either it is a person having unstable life or the British have met a European. I know that some British could say right now that they are also Europeans. Probably. It is a very embarrassing question.

Have a nice Day and be Careful ... and Happy!
Paul Lasaro

That's a very true observation. It's easy to forget that the USA is as large and diverse a country as is the whole of Europe. The one big difference as I see it though, and I'm not sure whether this is likely to have any major difference in the ways that people from different parts of country think and behave or not, is that Europe has always been an aggregation of separate nations with greatly varying cultures whilst the USA has been a largely willing merging of people from different nations looking to form a new life.

As to "are you happy", it's a totally subjective matter. Regardless of whether they're European or American, each and every one of us has our own mental image of what constitutes happiness for us, and unless we know what the equivalent benchmark is for someone else, I don't see how we can make any meaningful comparison.