Nice to meet you/meeting you

Hello Taka

I'm Japanese and I was taught to use the phrases the way like this. If you have a chance to meet a person for the first time, you would say "(Hello! (It is) nice to meet you in person" to begin your talk with them. In the second time or after you would say "nice to see you again." When you are going to finish a talk with someone, you would say "(It was)

I agree with Paco. "Nice to meet you" is for the beginning of a situation in which you are introduced to someone. "Nice meeting you" is for the end, when you are leaving.

I know the general rule, people. The reason I posted the question was that today I saw a Japanese ex-baseball player meeting Joe Torre, the manager of NY Yankees, and Torre greeted him saying "Nice meeting you". It was the frist time for Torre to see the ex-baseball player.

Why not "Nice to meet you" instead?

This one is simple to answer! Because he didn't feel like saying "Nice to meet you" at the time!

Either one can be used in either situation. Just because there is a general rule doesn't mean you can't get creative and say whatever you like that makes sense.

So if I, for example, saw you for the first time, and said to you "Nice meeting you", you wouldn't feel like "Hey, Taka. That's the weird wrong usage!", Jim? Does it sound natural for you native speakers even though it's against the general rule?

I wouldn't bat an eyelash. It would sound fine.
I realize that it's very hard for learners to get into the heads of native speakers. By that I mean it's hard to learn that what sounds to a learner like it might be a terrible error is often less than a triviality to a native speaker. Conversely, what sounds to a learner like a minor slip may sound extremely unnatural to a native speaker.

By that I mean it's hard to learn that what sounds to a learner like it might be a terrible error is often less than a triviality to a native speaker. Conversely, what sounds to a learner like a minor slip may sound extremely unnatural to a native speaker.

Great comments! You know here in Japan there are many "eye-batters", especially among teachers. I think I

OH! In the previous post, I meant to say "today I saw on TV...", by the way.

Hello. I've just read this post. And as I was taught that the first time I meet someone I must say: How do you do? the second time I must say: How are you? What do you say then: nice to meet you/nice meeting you. Is there here a difference between American and British english?