Sup?

Whatever happened to plain old Hi, or Hello?

The online pool-game I play has this built-in chatfunction - you can talk to the person you're playing. Quite a nifty feature, but I don't really use it all that often; I mostly limit the interaction to trivialities such as Hi, Good luck and Bye - sometimes I'll go as far as to make a comment about a specific good/horrible shot, but that's mainly it.

Now here's the deal. The people you play in this game are mostly Americans, and, when I'm dealing with the typical teenage specimen of the aforementioned American race (and yes, I'm generalising here), more often that not this person will open discourse by saying, and I quote, Sup. No, that's not a typo. Sup. Now, I don't live in a cave, so I know this is short for What's up, but I find this term completely and utterly unfit to act as a conversation-opener.

How on Earth am I supposed to respond to that? Let's look at the options, shall we? As far as I see it, there are two:

1. Ignore the fact that it is, in effect, a question; treat it as the typical Hi or Hello and react accordingly - reply by echoing the initial statement. In short, also say Sup.
2. Take it at face-value (a heartfelt inquiry into the goings-on of your intricate everyday life), and treat it as such by telling him or her, in detail, about your latest rash or about last week's bout of constipation.

Now, both these options don't seem all that appropriate to me, when talking to someone you've never met before, and will never meet again. The first option leaves the question (because that's what it is, isn't it?) hanging in mid-air, leaving it unanswered. This is downright rude, not answering a question.

However, the second option doesn't seem fitting either. I don't think that this stranger is really wondering about my life, so going into detail about what is 'up' with me and mine just doesn't feel like the right thing to do. And I'm not even mentioning the amount of time involved, and just how much this distracts from the game at hand.

What to do, what to do?

In the end I always plead the fifth ..

.. I say nothing.

Cheers