[Idiom] Is it acceptable to say How are you THOSE days? when initiating a letter to a friend.

[davidtao]

It is common practice to say Howou are you these days instead of HOw are you those days. BUt I am wondering if "those days" is acceptable to a English language native speaker. Thanks for your comments.

 

[5jj]

It is common practice to say "Howou are you?" these days instead of "H[STRIKE]O[/STRIKE]ow are you?" those days. It isn't.
B[STRIKE]U[/STRIKE]ut I am wondering if "those days" is acceptable to a English language native speaker. No.

5

 

[Barb_D]

Demonstrating the importance of punctuation
It is common practice to say "How are you these days?" instead of "How are you those days?"

I agree that it's reasonably common, after greeting someone you have not seen in a long time, to say "How are you these days?" especially if they were (perhaps) going through some difficulty when you last saw them. "Oh, my dog made a full recovery, my son was acquitted of all charges, and my mistress turned out not to be pregnant, so it's all good, thanks."

 

[5jj]

Demonstrating the importance of punctuation.

Indeed it is. I genuinely had no idea that the 'these/those days' was meant to be part of the greeting/question.

 

[abaka]

"How were you those days" is perhaps acceptable if the conversation goes something like:

A: I was sick for a week, and after that I had to pass a whole bunch of exams.
B. And how were you those days?

Meaning "And how was your health during your exams?". But it's a pretty careless usage. In any case, "those days" refers to the past, not the present.

 

[emsr2d2]

"How were you those days" is perhaps acceptable if the conversation goes something like:

A: I was sick for a week, and after that I had to pass a whole bunch of exams.
B. And how were you those days?

Meaning "And how was your health during your exams?". But it's a pretty careless usage. In any case, "those days" refers to the past, not the present.

There might be a Canadian English vs British English difference there, but in the situation you suggested, I would say "How were you in those days?" or simply "How were you then?"

 

[abaka]

Yes, I did say it would be a careless usage. The thing I really wanted to point out is that "these days" marks the present or the immediate future (the formal "presently", so to speak), while "those days" marks the only the past -- and does not seem natural for the remote future, either.

 

[Mohammadhelmi]

"How were you those days" is perhaps acceptable if the conversation goes something like:

A: I was sick for a week, and after that I had to pass a whole bunch of exams.
B. And how were you those days?

Meaning "And how was your health during your exams?". But it's a pretty careless usage. In any case, "those days" refers to the past, not the present.

It is more common to say: How are you these days? instead of : How are you those days?

these days refers to present ,but those days refers to the past.

 

[BobK]

There might be a Canadian English vs British English difference there, but in the situation you suggested, I would say "How were you in those days?" or simply "How were you then?"

:up: But a flat prohibition of the words 'those days' doesn't work; we don't want to give the impression that 'those days' is always unnatural-sounding. Sometimes there's not, as in Br Eng, a requirement for 'in'. A history book, for example, could say 'Those days were a testing time for the alliance'.

b