As a native English speaker, I feel they have different implicit meanings. Without knowing the context, this is how I interpret them:
I'm going straight home after work. How about you?
I'm going straight home after work, which I assume you are also doing, would you like to accompany me as far as it is possible to travel together? Or, can I give you a lift?
I'm going straight home after work. What about you?
I am going straight home after work. You are not invited to join me, and I am not interested in doing anything with you, but I expect you will not be going straight home and I am curious where you are going instead.
John Lawler put it excellently in his comment above: "'What about you?' requests a statement about you in general, while 'How about you?' requests a response about your manner, means, or condition."
I don't see the words as being extremely similar.
Smug is exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation; self-righteously complacent, where synonyms are self-satisfied, superior, complacent, conceited, self-righteous, holier-than-thou, priggish, self-opinionated. The stress is on the self-righteous attitude accompanying being pleased with oneself.
While I know that complacent means satisfied with how things are and not wanting to change them, I think the connotation is one of unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies in oneself or something one is a member of, for example, a political party or a church
I think, for example, that much of the world has become complacent about AIDS. We just don't worry about it as we once did.
Condescending means showing or characterized by a patronizing or superior attitude toward others, showing that you believe you are more intelligent or better than other people.
Best Answer
is literal.
and
are both metaphors and not to be taken literally. Such as, "What's up?"
They don't make sense when you think of them literally. They're different in that they use different metaphors to mean the same thing.
Most people are so used to them as idioms they simply don't think of them as meaning anything other then "here it is".
In most usage you'll likely find that, "Here you are" is more formal than, "Here you go" but the meaning is the same.