Talk:on accident

Tea Room discussion

Meaning accidentally. Where is this used? I find some use in this sense (10), mostly in speech, at COCA, perhaps one at BNC. (13 other of the raw hits for "on accident" were not in this sense.) Is it an effort to create a parallel with "on purpose"? Is it an error? In contrast, by accident has a raw count of 1383, almost exclusively in the "accidentally" sense. DCDuring TALK 17:57, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

In the U.S., it's found predominantly among younger speakers; see this study, which concludes that "nationally", i.e. "in all states surveyed" (viz. Michigan, Indiana, California, and Georgia), "on is more prevalent under age 10, both on and by are common between the ages of 10 and 35, and by is overwhelmingly preferred by those over 35." I don't understand why you added the {{UK}} tag, given that the editor who created the entry is American, and you found more usage in COCA than in the BNC. Was that just a bad guess, or do you have other information that you haven't mentioned?     (BTW, hat-tip to Neal at Literal-Minded; it's from this entry of his that I first learned about this study.)   —Ruakh_TALK 11:31, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. It was my best guess. I knew it wouldn't remain uncorrected if wrong. DCDuring TALK 11:43, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

I say "on accident" and I'm 30....my mother always tried to correct me when I said that but it never stuck. — This comment was unsigned.

some regions use on accident much more than others

What regions? any examples? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:04, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

Is it "proscribed"?

Sounds just wrong to me, and I've never seen it in print that I can recall. Sounds like a child's error. Equinox ◑ 18:21, 5 August 2023 (UTC)