"how do you do" and "how are you"?

Question

Do English people often confuse these common expressions and use them the wrong way? "How do you do?" should be said once in a lifetime, unless you are totally forgetful and you don't remember you've already met and know the person, while "How are you?" could be said every time you meet this friend of yours. Am I right?

I'm getting wonderful answers, thank you all. As usual pactice is sovereign!

Answer 1

Clearly, Am. Eng. speakers have been replying so far. "How do you do?" requires the response, "How do you do?" in Brit. Eng. It's not an invitation to tell them how you are . . .

"How are you," on the other hand, is an invitation to say, "Well, not too bad, but I had a bad cold a couple of weeks ago . . ."

Answer 2

Well, that's kind of right except for the fact that 'how do you do?' is an archaic expression that for some reason is still taught to English learners. If you said it to most young English person, they would fall about laughing.

Answer 3

yeah u are totally right;
actually people who are english-american language educated don't know the difference between them
while those who are english - british educated differentiate the meaning of each
but nowadays everybody is using them as same expression

Answer 4

Let's just go back to the Native American way and shorten it down to a slang, like we don't understand the language at all.

I say we all just say How. with a single hand raised like waiving.

Answer 5

You are right, but "how do you do", though not archaic, is considered very formal nowadays.

Answer 6

how do you do is british how are you is american