> And in Amoy, a language from eastern China, the records carry this message: "Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time."
From what I've heard. "Have you eaten yet?" in Chinese is a friendly way of greeting someone.
When I was in Thailand, I was always a bit befuddled when people would greet me and say "Hi! Did you eat?", but not actually invite me to eat or something.
"Have you eaten/did you eat?" seems to be the east-asian equivalent of "hi, what's up?". i.e., an apparent question in which your response is just a formality.