1

On PBS NewsHour, I heard the following conversation. (At around 13:40 of the video.)

A: Where are you going to be and what are you going to be doing on Christmas?

B: I'm going to spend it at a quiet dinner with my wife. We will do what we did over Thanksgiving. I will Zoom in my three daughters, so we can have a chat and maybe share a glass of Prosecco with them.

I guess the expression I will Zoom in my three daughters is equal to in other words "I will have a Zoom video-chat with my three daughters." Am I correct? Is the phrase commonly used in English speaking countries today?

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    Zoom has become widely known to the general public only as a result of this year's restrictions on movement and social interaction. No doubt people are finding colloquial ways to refer to it, in the same way that we use to google for _to perform a search using Google or another search engine'.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Dec 22, 2020 at 14:08
  • 1
    I have not heard this exact phrase used before, but it is parallel to a phrasal verb expression that has been common in the business world for decades: conference in, which means "add someone to a conference call." For example, I might say on a phone call: "I think we're both confused; let's conference in Mary because she's the real expert."
    – Canadian Yankee
    Commented Dec 22, 2020 at 14:57

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

I don’t think I’ve ever heard “zoom in someone” (nor can I find similar examples online), though it sounds idiomatic enough to me. I would interpret it the same as you, though with a bit of nuance. To me it is a bit closer in meaning to “call in” or “conference in”: the daughters are being brought in or added in.

As for what native speakers usually say, it is common to say “zoom someone”, meaning to meet with someone on Zoom, as in this example:

 I have been teaching college for 20 years, so being in front of a room full of students doesn’t bother me. It turns out, however, that Zooming a bunch of students kind of does. — Zoom Teaching

It’s also common to say “zoom in”, with no object, meaning to join a Zoom meeting:

All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion! — Virtual Tuesday Night Book Club

You can also say “zoom with someone” (much like we say that we meet with someone):

How to Zoom with the ACS Senior Chemists Committee

Sometimes Zoom is capitalized when using it as a verb, sometimes not. It’a also common to see quotes around it (especially when people talk about “zooming in”) as not everyone has fully accepted it as an expression.

(It’s perhaps somewhat relevant to note that I am not only a native English speaker but a Zoom expert as my job has me involved with everything Zoom, including announcing meetings.)

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .