If you listen to the radio in Great Falls, then you’ve heard the commercials for 3-Way Auto Body. The announcer says: “Meeting by accident — a commonly used phrase…in the auto body business, it’s true: if you meet somebody by accident…” The thing is, I don’t recall EVER hearing anybody use the phrase, “meeting by accident.” Have you?

I have some very vague recollections of my mom saying she met so-and-so at the market by accident (as in, unplanned OMG WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE
*prance* vs. a fender bender).
I may have heard it once or twice, but I’m curious as to why they just didn’t go with the phrase we all do know: “run into.”
There’s a body shop here that uses a similar thing as their slogan “You meet the nicest people by accident.” Other than that, I don’t hear that much.