Would you use "do for a living"?

Question

I'm an English teacher explaining "do for a living" to foreign students. That's easy, what I want to ask native English speakers out there is:

would you use the full sentence "what do you do for a living?" when speaking directly to someone?

It feels unnatural to me, an example of too-proper English or perhaps even a bit impolite, like I'm asking "how do you make your money?" It seems more right to just ask "what do you do?" when speaking directly to someone.

What do you guys think and why? Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

I would definitely start with "What do you do?" and only clarify that to "What do you do for a living?" if they give me a goofy answer like "I sleep a lot" or "hash mostly". Even if they give me a not-answering-the-question answer like "I travel" or "I skydive" I would pursue that subject and maybe at some other point ask "so, do you have a job?"

On the other hand, if a clearly non-native speaker asked me "What do you do for a living?" I don't think I'd be offended. I think the poster above has a good point about a woman asking a man that.

Answer 2

I'm not english and if you would ask me if i would use the sentence "what do you do for a living"? when speaking directly to someone. I have to say, i would probably correct it to, Are you asking me if what kind of work i do?

I agree on you about using just "what do you do?" especially if you are in a circle of people you know and you are comfortable with.

Answer 3

Really, my initial instinct would be to ask "where do you work?" in a polite manner, to open to conversation up further. The person who is answering could say, "Barnes and Noble."
And then the speaker would say "Oh, you work at Barnes and Noble... what is that?" Then the person could talk about a book store, or how it's like working there.

I suppose "what do you do?" is good too, but the "do" at the end seems too relaxed to me.

Answer 4

Hi how are you. talk for a while. then after a few minutes explain how your job is going and if they dont bring it up then just plainly ask, oh so what are your interests or when you were little what did you want to be and what are you now?

Answer 5

i don't think it's impolite if the question is asked in a friendly tone. the response may lead to an interesting conversation. it all depends on the tone while the question is being asked.

Answer 6

If you're asking someone what their job is then "what do you do for a living?" seems perfectly acceptable to me. (Whether it's polite to ask about their job at all is another matter). Asking "what do you do?" when you want to know their job sounds a little manipulative to me.
If you ask "what do you do?" and they answer "as little as possible" or "do about what?" what will you say then?

Answer 7

How about: How do you earn a living? What is your occupation? Where do you work? What's your current employment status?

Answer 8

Yes, it is a correct and full sentence/question. If you should ask me "What do you do?" my reply would be "About what?"

Answer 9

if i had to say it, i'd definitely keep it as "what do you do?". but usually i think its an invasive question. and when girls ask me that, it raises all kinds of red flags!