what's the story

What it means

1. 1.

   What's happening; how are you. A greeting between people who already know each other, expecting 'not much' rather than actual news.

2. 2.

   With a following noun, a genuine request for information: 'what's the story with the buses?'

In use

• Story, bud. — Not much, yourself?

  Note: Clipped to a single word, 'story?', among young men especially.

• What's the story with the tickets, are they gone?

Where it comes from

A calque-like parallel to 'what's the craic', both asking for news. The clipped 'story?' greeting spread nationally from Dublin in the 1990s and is now general.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

story bud, what's the story horse