Learn English – Usage of the word “meet” in the context of a phone call/video conference

word-choice

Is it acceptable English to use the verb meet in the context of a phone call or a video conference?

To provide a bit of background, I am writing an email to a business associate overseas. There is little chance of an actual face-to-face meeting taking place anytime soon, however a phone call or a video conference would obviously work fine.

I don't want to be the one to suggest a method of communication, but would rather let the business associate decide in what way would they prefer to conduct the conversation. For this reason, I was thinking of using a neutral verb, e.g. meet. Can I use a phrase such as "I hope we can meet to discuss topic X in the near future" in the context of a phone call or a video conference?

Intuitively, I would say that this sounds a little awkward. Nevertheless, given the fact that phone conference calls are often referred to as meetings, I was thinking that this sort of usage of the word might be acceptable after all. What do you think?

Best Answer

"meeting" certainly can be applied to phone conversations, but "meet" by itself strongly implies a physical encounter; if you want to be neutral, don't use it. I would simply omit "meet to", and say "I hope we can discuss ... in the near future" -- that is neutral.