Feifei Hello and welcome back to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.
** Rob** And I’m Rob. Now, Feifei, do I have a story for you!
** Feifei** Oh? Do tell!
** Rob** Well, I was out shopping at the weekend when I ran into Neil!
** Feifei** OK…
** Rob** Well, we decided to get some lunch together, when who should we run into but Dan!
** Feifei** Dan from the office? No way!
** Rob** It gets weirder! Dan joined us for a bite to eat and then we saw Sam and Sian getting lunch together as well! It was a big, unplanned BBC Learning English meet up!
** Feifei** That’s unbelievable - it’s a small world, isn’t it?
** Rob** Feifei, what are you talking about? It’s a massive world: Over 190 countries, more than 7.5 billion people – it’s enormous!
** Feifei** Rob, I’m not talking about the size of the world. I’m saying that it was quite a coincidence that you all met up!
** Rob** I know! What are the chances that five of us would all meet up at the same time!
** Feifei** Indeed! Let’s take a look at some other examples of this phrase.
** Examples** Your brother works in the same office as my girlfriend! It’s a small world!
I can’t believe you went to the same high school as me! What a small world!
A: We haven’t seen or spoken to each other for twenty years and now you’ve moved into the house next to mine! Unbelievable!
B: It’s a small world after all!
** Feifei** This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re talking about the phrase ‘It’s a small world’. It’s used when we want to say that a surprising coincidence has occurred. It’s used particularly when two people meet unexpectedly, or have a mutual friend or connection. Rob told us how he met four of our colleagues on the same day in the same place.
** Rob** That’s right. And now if we’re finished, I’d like to go off and do some shopping.
Feifei Oh yeah, what are you going to buy?
Rob A globe! All this talk of small worlds has reminded me I need to get one for my son. And there’s a globe shop just round the corner.
Feifei Well, it really is a small world.
Rob In this case, yes! Bye.
Feifei Bye bye.