A lesson in etiquette

It’s all to do with respect.

If you’re a young person in Malawi and you greet your friends of a similar age, you’d say ‘Bo?’ They’d probably reply:  ‘Bo, bo!’ – which means: ‘I’m very OK!’

But if you met your parents, or anyone older, you wouldn’t say ‘Bo!’ It would be disrespectful.

For parents and older people, you’d say: ‘How are you?’ or sometimes ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’.