BUMPING INTO PEOPLE

When my eldest son arrived home tonight, he said he’d bumped into his pal on the train home.

 Although people do sometimes physically collide with each other, he really meant that he’d met his friend unexpectedly.

 The phrase “bumped into” is frequently used to describe a chance meeting, usually with someone we know.

 Examples of use:

 “Now, he’s donated hundreds of pounds worth of the plastic playbricks to Laxfield Primary School in Suffolk after a teaching assistant bumped into him in a local pub.”

 “In 1987, I was in Perth, Western Australia, and bumped into Hughie in Fremantle.”

 “Inside the store, several elderly people bump into each other.”


Photo credit: Don Rogers