This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 109, when not to use the verb to meet in English.
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Are you using the word meet incorrectly in English?
Find out if you are making this common mistake and how to use it correctly.
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Hey, Aubrey, do you like to go to the mall?
No.
No, me neither.
I hate the mall.
I do have to go sometimes with my kids.
I have a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old and that is their favorite thing to go to the mall and window shop and wander around, and we'll buy them new clothes.
Window shop.
I never understood window shopping.
No.
No, but they love it because they don't have a lot of money to spend.
But they want to see the new styles, the new trends, right?
Okay, got it.
But lately, they're old enough that I can just drop them off with their friends.
So I don't have to stay, which is nice.
Is that still where the kids hang out?
Is that still like a teenage hangout, the mall?
I feel like that's very stereotypical from the 80s, the 90s, where kids would hang out.
Is it still a thing?
It is.
Yeah, they still hang out.
Part of it, it's in Arizona.
You're just looking for anywhere indoor that's air conditioned.
But you have to have plenty of places to wander around, plenty of things to see.
And it's one of the only places where they can go that's free, because a lot of other indoor spaces would be maybe a trampoline place or something where you're going to have to pay for entry.
Teenagers want and need something that doesn't cost anything.
So often they go to the mall for a free place. to hang out.
I love it.
So the tradition lives on.
Very interesting.
I was wondering if malls were just going to disappear at some point, you know, but that's another topic for another day.
So when you go to the mall occasionally with your kids, do you ever run into?
You know someone, maybe a neighbor unexpectedly?
Oh, yeah, definitely.
We'll run into someone from church or one of their friends.
We'll stop and chat for a packed, right?
There are always people.
So you're definitely bound to see someone that you haven't seen in a while.
Interesting.
So when you do that, what would be the right way to say that?
Like, let's say, you go home, you see your husband, you say Oh, I blank our neighbor today in the mall, right.
What would you say?
How would you describe that encounter?
I would either say I ran into.
I ran into a neighbor or I bumped into.
I bumped into somebody from the kids school.
You know, we ran into my daughter's best friend.
Those I think those two, which is funny, because neither are literally true.
We didn't actually run into them, which would mean you physically ran into someone, bump into them or we didn't actually bump into them probably.
Yeah, but I like this because guys, today we're highlighting a common mistake that we hear a lot of students making.
We want to stop this mistake today.
What's the mistake, Aubrey, that we want to stop right now?
Yes, we often hear students, English learners use the verb meet in this situation.
They'd say like, oh, I met so-and-so at the mall.
Or, oh, it's so nice to meet you here when you bumped into someone.
We do not use the verb meet this way.
So this will be a great for you guys to realize, oh, I need to stop using that.
And here are some great alternatives.
Exactly.
Let's talk about when it does make sense to use the verb meet.
I mean, there's a couple scenarios, right?
There's two that we can think of.
The first one is, of course, the original one.
The first time that you're introduced to someone, right?
Right.
I met someone new at the movies last night.
Okay.
Exactly.
Right.
If you didn't know them before, like, oh, nice to meet you.
Yeah.
But yeah, if you use this when talking about bumping into someone, you're going to make the listener think that you just met them for the first time.
It wouldn't make sense to say, oh, I met so-and-so at the mall.
No, but this is such a common mistake.
I'm really glad we're talking about this today, because I've heard I mean, we've both been teaching for years and years and years and we've been hearing this mistake over and over again.
So we're going to stop this.
There's a second scenario where it does work to use the verb to meet.
What is it, Aubrey?
Yeah, it's when you have made a plan to meet someone at a specific location at a specific time.
Like, let's meet at the movies at 3 p.m.
Or if you said to a friend, oh, I met my best friend at the mall today.
That doesn't mean you bumped into them.
That means you made plans beforehand. to meet at a specific place, and you did so.
Perfect.
Or another example this weekend I'm gonna be playing a little tennis I think I mentioned earlier and my friend is gonna be at the park.
She's going to a meetup that's gonna be at the park.
And then I said oh, let's just meet at the courts at four and we'll hit some tennis balls and then go have a beer or something, right?
So let's just meet at the courts.
That means she's going to go there.
I'm going to go there.
We're going to get on the tennis court, right?
We're going to meet there.
And use that great phrasal verb, meet up.
We'll say this all the time, like let's meet up at the park.
Yeah, we hear that a lot, but that means you have prearranged the time to meet.
Yeah, that's a good bonus for our listeners today.
We had a little phrasal verb.
Guys, you know, the phrasal verbs are always coming in here.
This is just a fact of American English, but we'll get you through it.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So to meet up, let's meet up there.
Also, I think it just makes it more casual, doesn't it?
When we say meet up there.
When we're talking about a bigger group, like there's actually a website or an app called Meetup.
And this is always like groups that are meeting up somewhere.
So that I feel like I use that a lot more when I'm talking about meeting up with several people.
Yeah, a meetup, an actual event, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
When I lived in New York, I met a lot of people through meetup.
A lot of my friends like going to a Spanish language meetup.
I met two of my closest friends, who eventually became my closest friends, through just going to the New York City Spanish language meetup, which was a huge, huge event, huge group.
Yes.
Awesome.
Good for you getting like being really proactive about finding ways to meet other people, learning that language right.
We definitely recommend that to all of you listening.
Meetup is a great app for that.
It's fantastic.
OK, so what are?
Let's just go through three things that we would say is in the right way guys, if you unexpectedly see that person.
And we mentioned them earlier.
But let's just go through them real quick.
Aubrey, what would you what could you say to the person?
Yeah, so you could say, oh, it's nice to see you.
So nice to see you, right?
Don't say nice to meet you, because you haven't planned to meet them.
But you can say it's nice to see you.
Also, it's great to run into you.
Oh, so surprising to run into you here.
Yeah.
And it's great to bump into you.
As we said before, guys, these sound supernatural and native.
And likewise, you wouldn't use these when you're meeting someone for the first time, right?
So go back to that other example.
You're introduced to someone, you wouldn't really say it's nice to see you, right?
You know them, it's common, right?
You already recognize who they are.
Exactly.
This is very much because you meet by chance someone that you already know well.
And notice there are two more phrasal verbs here, run into and bump into.
And the tricky thing about phrasal verbs is you have to use them with the right preposition.
If you make this tiny change of saying it's great to run to you.
That's a totally different situation, right?
Where you're running to someone, maybe grabbing them in your arms, right?
It has to be run into.
Sounds very romantic or dreamy.
Sounds like Gone with the Wind or something.
Something from a rom-com.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jennifer Aniston running down the streets of New York City, chasing after Ben Affleck, right?
That's what it says.
Exactly.
Oh, that's so good.
So guys, this is again, this is a big mistake we hear all the time.
And at All Ears English, we believe in connection, not perfection.
But if we can find the most common mistakes we're making and fix them, we can connect better.
That's the key.
Yes, exactly.
Oh, this is a really fun one to chat about.
I think it's, it's such a good point that it's natives don't care if you make this mistake.
They're not judging you.
They're not, you know, thinking worse of you.
But this because it's so common, we want to point it out so that you can up level your English.
Get that confidence knowing, okay, I'm improving every day and make those connections.
I completely agree.
This is awesome.
So if you guys love the way that we teach here at All Ears English, it's a new way to learn based on connection, not based on grammar mistakes or being perfectionistic with yourself.
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We publish four days a week, don't we, Aubrey?
Yes, exactly.
And they're all such great episodes.
So wherever you find your podcasts, follow All Ears English.
All right.
Very cool.
We'll talk to you next time.
Yep.
See ya.
Take care.
Bye.
Bye.
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