coming across/running into a black cat

0That would be a perfectly natural replacement.02br
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00Let me add that in my experience the superstition requires that the black cat cross your path.0-

0Hi,02br
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01font00According to superstition, 01b00coming across02b00 a black cat may bring bad luck.02font02br
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01font00Is it OK to replace "coming across" in the above with "running into?"02font02br
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00 No. 01b00'Runn

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01cite10Avangi12cite12br
10That would be a perfectly natural replacement.12br
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10Let me add that in my experience the superstition requires that11b10 the black cat cross your path.12b12br
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12blockquote

10Thanks, Avangi.02br
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00Do y

0I'll defer to Clive on that. I would have said you can run into an animal. Just pray it's not a moose at 60 mph.0-

1blockquote

01cite10Clive12cite12br
10Hi,12br
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11font10According to superstition, 11b10coming across12b10 a black cat may bring bad luck.12font12br
12br
11font10Is it OK to replace "coming across" in the above with "runn

0Hi,02br
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01font00 02font01font01b00coming across02b00 a black cat 02font00This does not mean literally that something 'moves across'. 'To come across' is an idiom that means 'to find accidentally'.02br
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00eg 01i00When I was looking in my

0 In a certain sense, 00coming across and 00run00ning into00 do share some slight similarity IMO. 02br
00Let's say you are traveling in the 01b00Serengeti02b00 Safari on a Jeep and from a distance you see a herd of migrating wilder beasts. You can say in your journal " May 3rd, 2000. As we drove across the Safari early morning, 00we came cro

0I was about to say I changed my mind to agree completely with Clive, that "to run into" applies only to people. Then I ran into Goodman's post.02br
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00The consensus seems to be that "coming across" shows 01i00more unexpectedness02i00 than "running into." I no longer agree with that. As I play with scenarios in my mind I find it's even 01u

0 Hi, 02br
00Regarding unexpectedness, I find 01u01i00come across02i02u00 and 01u01i00run into02i02u00 do have some similarity. Both can be used with either something or somebody. For examples:02br
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01font001a. I 01i00came across0

0"Regarding unexpectedness," I repeat a point I made earlier: I believe there's more of it in "ran into" than there is in "came across." When you use the latter, you may well have been searching for exactly something of this nature, though perhaps not the specific item you "came across." You may have been hoping to find something a little different, but you "came across" something which might