# Coincidentally 不約而同

The Chinese idiom "buyue ertong," means to agree by chance or take the same action or view without prior consultation, and can be roughly translated as "coincidentally" in English. 

The idiom has, however, taken on a new meaning in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since "buyue" means "no gathering" in Chinese and "tong" refers to "reaching agreement or consensus," the phrase morphed to imply "reaching a consensus to cancel gatherings" in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus.