This is a guest post from author Elle Garrell Berger. Enjoy!

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I am much too busy.  And I'm not alone.  Today, the traditional greeting "How are you?" prompts an unsettling, new response. 

Gone is the old standby, "Oh, just fine" and the somewhat more honest, "Mmm, things could be better."  Even the grammatically questionable, "Real good," seems to have given way.  Our new answer follows a deep intake of breath, audibly exhaled, and dramatized by a roll of the eyes: "Busy."