How are you? vs How do you do?

How are you? - This is a common and general greeting which means that you are asking about the other person. The idea is that you are asking about the person's feelings and life.

Person 1 - "How are you?"
Person 2 - "I'm great, thanks"

How do you do? - This is a very old-fashioned and polite way to say "Nice to meet you". This is quite formal and not as commonly used today but most commonly used in Britain. It is usually only used when talking to older people or in a very polite situation.

Person 1 - "How do you do?"
Person 2 - "Nice to meet you"/"How do you do?"

These are commonly confused phrases. I have had a look online and even the english speaking community is divided on this topic. It seems though, that British english speakers view "How do you do?" as meaning "hello/nice to meet you" but American English speakers view it as "How are you?". I will jump on my high horse and say that the British version is correct and that American english has purely confused this meaning through improper use of the phrase. I am open for correction though.

There are other greetings we use such as "How are you doing?" "What's up?" "How's it going?". These are all mostly the same in meaning but "What's up?" can sometimes mean "What's wrong?"

Confused yet??????