The phatic function enables people to maintain a comfortable relationship without involving any factual content. For example,greetings, farewells and comments on the weather in English and clothing in Chinese all serve this function. Much of the phatic language (e.g. “How are you?” “Fine, thanks.”) is insincere if taken literally, but it is important. If you don’t say “hello” to a friend you meet, or if you don’t answer his “hi”, you ruin your friendship.