sitting across the aisle

[MariaTeresa]

Hello.

Could you please explain to me what 'sitting across the aisle from someone' means? I know the meaning of 'across' and that of 'aisle', but I fail to understand the whole thing.

Thank you in advance.

 

[TheParser]

Hello.

Could you please explain to me what 'sitting across the aisle from someone' means? I know the meaning of 'across' and that of 'aisle', but I fail to understand the whole thing.

Thank you in advance.

***NOT A TEACHER***For example, Tom and Mona are in a movie theater. They are both sitting in row 8. They are not sitting together. The aisle (or passage) separates them. Look at my terrible diagram ( + = other people; T = Tom; X = aisle; M = Mona): +++ T X M +++

 

[Raymott]

Hello.

Could you please explain to me what 'sitting across the aisle from someone' means? I know the meaning of 'across' and that of 'aisle', but I fail to understand the whole thing.

Thank you in advance.

It means that the first person is sitting on the other side of the aisle from the second person.
You must be confused about "across". It has two meanings.
ii) over ii) on the other side.
A bridge lies across the river. In this case, the bridge starts on one side and goes to the other side.
Building A lies across the river from building B. In this case, the Building A doesn't lie across (over) the river like a bridge does. It lies on the opposite side from Building B.

 

[MariaTeresa]

OK, I got it. Thank you.

 

[SoothingDave]

It is also used metaphorically to refer to people on opposite ends of the political spectrum.