Responding in phone.

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david11

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If someone calls me(in phone) and asks me who I am instead of saying who he is, as normally everyone does, can I say this you are rather supposed to say who you are instead of asking me who I am ?


What
would a native speaker say to mean what I said?
 
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5jj

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I think I'd say something like, "If you don't know who I am, why are you calling me?"
 

david11

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I think I'd say something like, "If you don't know who I am, why are you calling me?"

That amounts to be a bit ruder than mine :lol:. Is my sentence grammatically correct,if not natural?
 

SlickVic9000

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It's normal to ask, "Hello, is this ______?", but to call someone and ask "Hello, who are you?" is exceedingly strange. You usually know who you're trying to contact, though you may not know for sure who's going to answer the phone. Either way, I'd still identify myself by name: "This is (Last Name) speaking. Who is this?".

Here's my take on your sentence:

"Aren't you supposed to say who you are instead of asking me who I am?"

That can still come across as a bit rude, even with it being a pretty legitimate response to a rather strange question.
 
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Rover_KE

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I always say 'You rang me. You can identify yourself first.'

If they think it's rude - tough.



Note to David: you get a call on the phone - not in phone.)

Rover
 

BobK

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:up: In that situation (if I don't assume it's a cold call and just hang up ;-)) I just ignore their question and ask 'Who is this?'

I'm normally quite polite, but not with someone uncouth enough to ask a question lke that.

b
 
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