Once I used "pretty good" as a reply to one of my friends' question "How are you today?", I was under the impression that the "pretty good" will weigh much more than just "good", means "very good" or "awesome".
But after a quick conversation with her, I got to know that "pretty good" has a flavor of sarcastic, thus it might mean "what a busy day!" or "Too busy to be good." in that specific context.
Is that a good practice to reply with "pretty good" to the question "How are you?", and expecting no sarcastic meaning conveyed?
If the answer is no, then can I use "pretty good" if I had got a sore throat for all day long?
Best Answer
The precise meaning of “Pretty good”? Good, to an imprecise degree.
I wouldn't say it has a flavour of sarcasm, but a flavour of “more or less”.
So when you answer “good” then everything is well and truly definitely good but when you say “pretty good” you're just less than sure about the well and truly definitely part. “Pretty good” is more non-committal.