memes

Yeah Tom Scott did one of his linguistics videos about that, he had a word for it but some questions aren't really questions they're basically just rituals, though rephrased a different way makes them genuine questions, and when you have major dialects of the "same" language like British and American English, we use different ones. "Are you alright?" is basically a noise of greeting in Britain and an expression of genuine concern in America, while "How are you?" is the reverse.

When I moved to London, I remember the old lady at the laundromat addressing me as "love"

I was like: "Damn, over here my charm even works with old ladies"

As it turns out, calling somebody "love" it's just a way of addressing people in some English regions.