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“On Accident” or “By Accident”?

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Re: “On Accident” or “By Accident”?

#31

Post by kenbellows »

A thought I had while reading: Neal (the author) reports that Barrat found "on purpose" to be used "to the near exclusion of by accident" by "speakers born after 1995". However, Neal then goes on to ask:

> why did the new form suddenly edge out the old in the mid-1990s?

Based on the fact that the years listed in the first section were the birth-years of the speakers, I would guess that the main cultural transition actually took place around 2000-2005, when speakers born after 1995 would be developing their dialects.

I suppose it could be argued that the shift must have happened earlier based on the mixed usage among speakers born as early as 1970, but at any rate, the complete takeover seems to have happened around the millennium change.

Re: “On Accident” or “By Accident”?

#33

Post by snake_plissken »

Whoa, what? You learn something new everyday on here. I have never heard anyone in the US say "on accident."

Does "on accident" even make sense? The preposition "on" in this case implies intent, so who is causing accidents on purpose? And if you are, then it's not really an accident, it's sabotage.

Re: “On Accident” or “By Accident”?

#34

Post by tfgg »

kenbellows wrote: post #32
amelius wrote: post #20

"On" suggests that there is intention involved. "By" suggests passivity.

Wouldn't the fact of intention contradict the notion of an accident?

Perhaps that's the subtle humour behind this linguistic change?

"I broke your mug on accident", at the fifth word, the listener/reader thinks the other person is about to say "on purpose", but suddenly they say "on accident". Hence it's funny, reduces the tension about them breaking your mug.

Re: “On Accident” or “By Accident”?

#35

Post by hrnnnnnn »

madaxe_again wrote: post #24
pidg wrote: post #2

Interesting, and very much an American thing - never heard anyone say 'on accident' here in the UK.

No, but we have a similar one - lend and borrow have become interchangeable. "Can you borrow me an X" or "I lended (not even word AFAIK) it from him" is one I hear often from younger folks.

When they grow up, if enough of them still say "lended", it will be put into the dictionary.

Re: “On Accident” or “By Accident”?

#37

Post by unfamiliar »

gilgoomesh wrote: post #8

The computer programmer in me says both are valid: "on accident" is a pre-prepared behavior that will be employed when an accident occurs in the future. "by accident" is metadata accompanying an event, reporting the author or agent that created the event.

Except that's not how it is used, it is used in place of "by accident."

"I knocked over the glass on accident."

Re: “On Accident” or “By Accident”?

#38

Post by rquantz »

hrnnnnnn wrote: post #35
madaxe_again wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but we have a similar one - lend and borrow have become interchangeable. "Can you borrow me an X" or "I lended (not even word AFAIK) it from him" is one I hear often from younger folks.

When they grow up, if enough of them still say "lended", it will be put into the dictionary.

Lended is also an Americanism.

Re: “On Accident” or “By Accident”?

#39

Post by pc86 »

netnichols wrote: post #17
mrbig4545 wrote: post #16

On accident is one of those American sayings that sounds weird to my English ears. Like poop. where did the second p come from??? That said, I think our dialects are merging, (well more likely British English is becoming Americanised, but you guys make all the tv, so that's to be expected), for example, when I was younger no one said "ass", it was always "arse", but nowadays it's nearly always "ass"; except for the o…

Funny, before I read the article I thought that "on accident" must be some British English bastardization since it sounds so weird to my American ears. But I was born in the late 70's and haven't lived in the US since 2000, so maybe that explains it.

I personally say "by accident" and was born in 86 (during the period the author says speakers are split) and "on accident" has always sounded odd to me, and almost wrong, although when I was in school I do recall people saying both with a pretty even split (as much as I can remember, anyway).
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