Difference between.......

[Farhaj]

Hello Tdol i am back actually i were out of station last ten or fifteen days well now i want to ask you the difference between

How are you?

How do you do?

Because somebody tells me about this that if you meet with strange people means you dont know him then u would say how do you do? and in this reply he would also say How do you do? so plz help me in this regard. and please tell me my mistakes in english grammer.

[Casiopea]

Well, hopefully you won't mind my help, too.

"How do you do?" is used in formal situations, but it's not used all that much any more in North America. "How are you?" is more common these days, and it's used in both formal and informal situations.

[Farhaj]

Well its nice to hear you actually you are also a good teacher. Well i want to ask you that somebody tells me that How do you do is use where we meet with strange peopls is it right or not?

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by Farhaj

Well its nice to hear you actually you are also a good teacher. Well i want to ask you that somebody tells me that How do you do is use where we meet with strange peopls is it right or not?

When you use the word "strange", do you mean, people you have not met before or odd, weird people?

If it's someone you have not met before then either How do you do? or How are you? is perfectly fine. But I, for one, being North American wouldn't use the first one unless it was a very formal event. It's too formal, and it sounds like something my grandfather would say.