Don't ask, don't tell

From now on, anybody who asks me "How are you?" better wait to hear the answer or at least be walking in the same direction as me. I never managed to get the hang of responding to "How are you?" as if it just meant "Hello", so I usually try to give a reasonable answer, then inquire about the greeter's state of wellbeing. By the time I get through my initial part of the response, though, we've continued moving and it's clear that the conversation starter was just a sophisticated grunt of acknowledgement.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Is the phrase "sophisticated grunt" an oxymoron?
PPS - I suspect so.