"Alright?"

After hearing "Alright?" or "Are you alright?" said dozens of times during the course of the day, mostly as a form of greeting, it began to grate on me, and I began wondering why has it suddenly become the thing to say? Why not a "Hello, how are you?" or some such greeting.

Would we ever really answer, "No, I`m not alright" ! and, more to the point, does the person asking the question really want anything other than an affirmative answer that we are ok. Is that why people greet each other in that way, so that they make it difficult for the other person to answer truthfully?

Maybe because of "Alright" being such a positive sounding word it seems hard to contradict it and give a negative reply, or an opening for a person to give a reply other than a one word "yes".

Ok, I know I`m guilty of doing it too sometimes. But, having made myself think about it, I hope I won`t be doing it as much.