r/CasualConversation • u/GirlisNo1 • 8h ago
Questions Why do people say “on accident” now?
This has been driving me nuts for years lol. I keep seeing/hearing people say things like “I did this on accident.”
At first I thought it was just something the younger generations are saying…for some reason. But I’ve noticed my fellow millennials saying it as well.
Am I crazy or did we used to say “by accident?” As in- “it happened by accident.”
When did everyone decide to start saying “on?” And why?
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u/PhilArt_of_Andoria 4h ago edited 4h ago
I grew up in the South and feel like on accident was common and accepted, it's only as an adult that I see this ire come up about this phrasing.
Tangential to that, I've been studying German recently. The preposition for physical location map closely to one another between English and German. But when you start getting into more abstract situations (like on/by accident) the translations become much less intuitive. It's taught me how trule arbitrary prepositions can be.
Doing something on accident or by accident doesnt really make sense either way if you think about the spatial meanings of those prepositions.
Edit: maybe we're all doing it wrong, we could just say it was done accidentally.
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u/knewleefe 2h ago
Really? I'm in the south too (Australia) and we definitely don't use "on accident".
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u/aaron_dresden 22m ago
I’m presuming they mean southern United States, not the much broader south of the equator.
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u/IsilmeCalithil 7h ago
It used to bug me so much but I’ve accepted it now. I think people see “on purpose” and extended that to “on accident.”
Also people read less these days (for a variety of reasons). If you see “by accident” written out in a book or article you might remember it, but in audio-visual short form content a lot of creators will say “on accident” and that’s what kids pick up.
Language changes of course, it is what it is.
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u/GirlisNo1 7h ago
Yeah, reading less is a big part of it probably. That’s why we see so much “could of” “would of.” They’re going based off what it sounds like.
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u/0MelonLord0 5h ago
I always thought it was a specifically American thing to say “on accident”. I’ve never been a massive reader, especially not as a child/teenager, but I still never hear people say “on accident” in real life. I just assumed I see it online/on tv because it was how Americans say it, but now I’m finding out you guys apparently used to say “by accident”. You learn something new everyday!
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u/AstrexasVoid 3h ago
I'm an American, and I don't even notice if I've said "on accident" unless I ruminate on my speech. It's a lot harder to edit your speech in a fast-paced conversation trying to get the word out. I used to get peeved at people saying "whenever" instead of "when", but then I started saying it myself. I don't think any one nation is super keen on creating something like the Académie Française for the English language, and Merriam-Webster is pretty good about updating grammar rules and vocabulary to accurately represent our population.
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u/bibimboobap 6h ago
You aren't alone, 'on accident' drives me crazy as well. Same with people mistakingly saying 'I'm weary' not 'I'm wary', or writing 'that doesn't phase me', instead of 'faze me'.
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u/Spiritual-Estate2848 5h ago
The weary/wary thing is one of my biggest pet peeves! I’ve mostly recovered from being that person that corrects grammar mistakes by others, but that one I can’t help correcting. Also “I could care less”.
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u/starsinpurgatory 6h ago
I’m in west coast Canada and grew up hearing/saying “by accident”, never heard it as “on accident” until like past the height of covid as well
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u/Kingofcheeses 3h ago
I only hear it from young kids and Americans. No idea why it's a thing now
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u/idemockle 7h ago
I always considered it to be kind of a southern thing. I feel like I've heard people say it for around 20 years though, at least.
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u/GirlisNo1 6h ago
Interesting. Seems like it’s a regional thing and with people from all walks of life communicating with each other online it caught on.
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u/Wonderful_Crow8952 6h ago
It usually goes hand in hand with using “whenever” in place of “when,” like “whenever I was six years old,” as if there were multiple times in which they were six years old.
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u/Lend-Me-Your-Rears 4h ago
I was 6 years old 365 times
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u/Academic-Pangolin883 5h ago
Not regional. I'm from the US Midwest, and I've heard it my entire life. I'm 38.
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u/Sensitive-Issue84 7h ago
My father used to say this exact thing in the 1970s. "You kids don't know how to talk, Think about it!" This is so a funny! We are just doing the same things over and over.
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u/TristanTheRobloxian3 your local trans gal 6h ago
it happens with every generation lol. language is evolving and yall just gotta get used to it :P
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u/Sensitive-Issue84 6h ago
That's why it's so funny because it's the exact thing my dad said. It's not evolving, it's staying the same, and people are complaining about it.
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u/TristanTheRobloxian3 your local trans gal 6h ago
deadass people are stuck in the period they grew up in when it comes to language i swear lol.
my grandfather somehow thinks theres a "proper" way to speak english (theres not 😭😭) and that it doesnt change... honest to the stars i shouldve told him to speak english from the year 400 because apparently it "doesnt evolve".
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u/Upstairs_Big6533 1h ago
I dunno, I'm 35 now, and I remember lots of people saying "on accident" when I was growing up. I don't think it's really new.
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u/TAL_fan 43m ago
It's age-dependent. You are pretty young compared to the history of the English language. Relatively speaking, "on accident" is quite new. https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/articles/on-accident-versus-by-accident/
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u/East_Vivian 7h ago
I thought maybe it was regional. My husband says “on accident” and he is from a different part of the country than me. I say “by accident.” We are both Gen X.
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u/TAL_fan 1h ago
Grammar Girl's theory is that it was introduced in some mass-media (TV, movie) that was aimed at children in the last 2 or 3 decades of the 20th century. https://youtu.be/9C9nvVUEuOI?si=Qx4lwM6pyq0_zP59&t=2040
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u/AdditionalTip865 24m ago
I am pretty sure kids in Virginia were already saying "on accident" in the 1970s and 1980s, but I knew it was non-standard. Sounds like a change made for consistency with the phrase "on purpose".
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u/sageamericanidiot 8h ago
I hear more older gen people saying "on" instead of "by".
I work with Gen z and alpha and it's rare to hear them say or write "on". It's surprising how often "by accident" comes up in conversation or on paper.
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u/GoldSquid2 8h ago
See this is interesting because I hear the opposite… in fact I’m gen z and all the other gen z (including me) and gen alpha people I know say “on”! I wonder if it’s regional at all
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u/greydawn 5h ago
Agreed! That, and pronouncing the word aesthetic as AS-TETIC (dropping the "th" sound in the pronunciation) is another linguistic quirk I'm noticing with Gen Z.
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u/GoldSquid2 5h ago
Oh goodness really?😭 I learned to pronounce it myself before hearing anyone else say it, so maybe that’s why I’m not part of that group lol
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u/greydawn 3h ago
Yep! And it's become a lot more widespread in the last 5 years or so - I think people have been hearing the alternate pronunciation on Tiktok (timing aligns at least).
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u/gaveedraseven 5h ago
Someone else mentioned writing and reading the phrase and I had never thought about it. I would never write on accident but that is how I say it.
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u/Ok_Squirrel388 4h ago edited 3h ago
I was super confused by OP’s assertion and those agreeing as I have always heard people of at least my generation use “on accident” as an elder millennial. My boomer parents’ generation and older maybe not.
But as with all things I wonder how much regional differences in speech patterns might have to do with it. I grew up in small town and rural areas of the upper Midwest, so perhaps that comes into play.
“By accident” feels funny in my mouth/doesn’t flow as well just speaking and sound wise as “on accident” does, with the n sound flowing naturally in to the a sound.
Also, agree with those pointing out the “on purpose” parallel as well. Might be interesting to ask the linguistics sub about the use of “on accident” and whether or not it’s even technically incorrect in the first place.
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u/Ordinarily_Average 4h ago
Grew up in south western Quebec and Southern Ontario. Never heard "on accident" in my entire life until the late aughts. Now it's becoming more common and I have no idea how it got here.
The other one is people who say they were waiting on line instead of in line. I know people in NYC say they wait on line, but I'm not sure how it found its way here or if any other place was known for commonly saying it.
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u/JPMerola 3h ago
TV & Movies over 75 years, has contributed to both spreading new idiom, as well as averaging out language & accents. I'd guess, in the last 20 years, Social Media has done the same.
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u/TheCloudForest 7h ago
It has always been common in the Midwest. It's just spread, like any other language innovation might or might not.
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u/Cold_Barber_4761 7h ago
I grew up in Wisconsin and we were taught to say by accident.
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u/TheCloudForest 7h ago edited 6h ago
The fact that you needed to be taught means that some people were using a different form. Otherwise the lesson would have been completely pointless.
As an aside, I grew up in a family and community where everybody used the verbs teach and learn with their standard definitions. I vividly remember in third grade being taught what the words mean and having to do a worksheet filling in the blank with either teach or learn and just being absolutely flummoxed by the whole thing because as if they were teaching us that open and close were different words. Same thing also happened with lend and borrow.
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u/Cold_Barber_4761 7h ago
Taught is the wrong word here. I should have said that we grew up saying "by" accident.
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 7h ago
Gen X Midwesterner, and I've only ever heard on accident.
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u/TheCloudForest 7h ago
I mean, surely you've heard "by accident" on TV or whatever. But indeed, OP is way off base thinking that "on accident" is a novel form.
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u/TristanTheRobloxian3 your local trans gal 6h ago
im gen z and have never heard "by accident" except for maybe a few times where i said it. thats it.
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u/Moretti123 6h ago
I’m from the midwest and always said and heard “on accident”. I didn’t even realize it was wrong till now…
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u/possiblycrazy79 3h ago
Im gen X and I grew up saying on accident. Not sure if the region(Midwest) played any role in the saying. I did learn that by accident was grammatically correct later on in life, but I am not a big gatekeeper when it comes to language. I still say on accident occasionally. Language is awesome because it is so dynamic
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u/megafaunaenthusiast 49m ago
Also midwestern, I also say on accident. It's truly bizarre how aggressive people are about this. It's a two letter word that does nothing to change comprehension.
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u/Sewingoddess 34m ago
I always thought that was just uneducated USians who said that. They get mixed up between ON purpose and BY accident for some reason.
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u/My_fair_ladies1872 7h ago
Yes and I am appalled that my daughter says on accident. Its by accident and I will die on this hill
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u/schnellermeister 7h ago
I didn’t even think of that but I think I even say “on accident” once in a while. My biggest thing is people saying conversate? Instead of converse. Im assuming because there’s “conversation” so conversate does t necessarily sound wrong unless you know it’s supposed to be converse.
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u/cynicalicoffee 5h ago
I really don't like 'conversate' and I'm relieved that my phone didn't recognize it as a real word. But I remember one word we used to misuse all the time in the 80s and 90s, that I'm glad we got a handle on: 'go' in place of 'say' - do you all remember that?
Example: He goes, "I broke your remote." So I go, "I don't have a remote. I just get up to change the channel," and he goes, "Yeah, I know - but the reason you don't have a remote is because I broke it."
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u/GirlisNo1 7h ago
I’ve never heard “conversate”…wow.
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u/schnellermeister 7h ago
I didn’t until someone pointed it out to me. So hopefully I didn’t just do the same for you!
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u/glitterydick 4h ago
I think conversate is a result of the irony to sincerity pipeline. Like, we all know that nonchalant means being unconcerned and calm, so it is funny to see someone who is losing their cool and call them chalant. We know that chalant isn't a word, and that's half of what makes it funny. But if enough people did this often enough, it would eventually cross out of the realm of irony and become sincere. Dude comes up to you like "are you okay, man? You seem pretty chalant." This happens surprisingly often, I just picked an unlikely example to demonstrate the mechanics of it.
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u/schnellermeister 2h ago
Kinda like my coworker when I ask him if everything is good and he (jokingly) replies, “I’m whelmed” when he’s neither over or underwhelmed.
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u/RedditSkippy 6h ago
I wonder if it’s regional and starting to spread around.
It sounds very, very strange to me.
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u/United-Cucumber9942 1h ago
By accident is still the only way we say it in England. Because that is the grammatically way to say you did something accidentally. The verb by means the action was accidentally.
Using on means you have placed an action and actually connotates purposeful action
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u/JojosMissingEyeball 4h ago
I grew up in the rural midwest with a lot of family from southern states. I heard "on accident" far more than "by accident". I learned it was grammatically incorrect in elementary school and tried to correct myself.
Then in college, I had a creative writing professor hit me with, "if the reader understands what you meant, it didn't actually matter, now did it?" One shot was all it took to kill my inner grammar nazi.
English is great when you realize all the rules are made up and (unless your job revolves around formal speaking) the points don't matter.
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u/driftingfornow 3h ago
Growing up I was constantly in top percentile of scores for standardized testing of the English language. People told me that I speak like a dictionary and I should come down to an average level. I thought this was anti-intellectual.
Now that I live abroad meeting someone like me, but in my second or third language, is a fucking headache.
Really, the simple speakers of a language, they can communicate outside of the language much better generally speaking.
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u/nullstorm0 2h ago
It's nice to have some degree of mastery over a language, to be able to wield it precisely, but the key is to only use that precision when it's actually helpful.
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u/nullstorm0 3h ago
Yeah, especially when "on accident" is really not grammatically incorrect, although it could be seen as stylistically incorrect.
It's an arbitrary choice of preposition, where the meaning of the phrase is entirely disconnected from the meaning of the preposition.
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u/someonenamedkyle 3h ago
It’s entirely grammatically incorrect, whether it’s understood or not
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u/SnooBananas4958 3h ago
How so? Can you explain why it’s grammatically incorrect?
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u/someonenamedkyle 2h ago
Because when you do something on purpose, on is describing your state of being as a state of being purposeful. You are the agent doing the thing.
If something happens by accident, the factors of the accident are the agents causing the outcome. Since an accident is by definition not intentional, you wouldn’t describe your state of being as being accidental.
In other words, on is implying active agency, and by is implying passive agency. On purpose is active because you had a plan or purpose, by accident is passive because you didn’t actively choose to have an accident occur, it occurred by way of an accident.
These both have hundreds of years of precedent in English. While on accident is commonly used, it’s also commonly seen as incorrect and gets a point across while still signaling a lesser grasp of the English language
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u/nullstorm0 2h ago edited 2h ago
If that's the case, why would you use "placed by myself" rather than "placed on myself"?
I'll give you a hint, "on" isn't used for actors/agents because it can be confused for an actual physically relational preposition. However, "accident" is not a physical actor, it's a quality, namely a lack of intention. As such it's perfectly appropriate to use "on accident" for the same exact reason that it's appropriate to use "on purpose", which is to describe the lack or presence of intention.
When you're using a preposition to ascribe quality, you can use literally any preposition and it will be understood, it just might sound weird if it's not common usage. "I placed it there by accident." is the exact same meaning as "I placed it there under accident." or "I placed it there out of accident." or "I placed it there with accident."
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u/pre_pun 8h ago
Despite the devoted efforts of pedants everywhere, language changes.
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u/GirlisNo1 8h ago
Of course it does. But that has nothing to do with my question.
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u/aachsoo 8h ago edited 8h ago
Q: Why do people say "on accident" now?
A: Language changes over time.
Another example:
"Why do people now say 'perhaps' instead of 'perchance'? They have different meanings!".
As long as all parties understand both means "maybe" then the language serves its purpose.
As long as all parties understand "on accident" means something happening accidentally, then the language serves its purpose.
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u/GirlisNo1 7h ago
I’m asking why this particular language changed in this particular way. “Language changes” is not the answer.
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u/TheCloudForest 7h ago
You're wasting your time. There is no reason. Some linguistic innovations spread, some stagnate, some die. This one happened to spread.
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u/GirlisNo1 7h ago
I hope you don’t have kids.
“Dad, why is the sun so bright?”
“It just fucking is, stop wasting your time with questions”
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u/TheCloudForest 7h ago
The sun is bright because of the radiation it emits.
There is usually no explanation that explains language changes. From a sociolinguistic perspective, 90% of the time it just happens. The end. The other 10% can be chalked up to a specific triggering event (e.g., a usage in a popular movie), due to influence from another language form, or from an authority mandating the change.
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u/GirlisNo1 7h ago
Linguistics Class Day 1:
Professor- “Language changes. End of class for the semester. See you on Exam day.”
Exam Question 1: “Does language change? Circle ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”
Damn I really should’ve taken that as an elective.
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u/TheCloudForest 7h ago edited 7h ago
I think you are just out of your depth. But yes, historical linguistics generally is about rigorously describing linguistic change without attempts to explain it, because those explanations do not exist in most cases.
Not entirely of course, it's really complicated and social factors, language-internal factors, etc., do exist too. But overall, yeah, more or less.
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u/GirlisNo1 7h ago edited 4h ago
This is the weirdest crash out I’ve seen someone have on Reddit over a totally innocuous question lol.
“Out of your depth” May I remind you that I’M the one who ASKED the question, literally asking others for info.
Omg this is hilarious. Honestly, thanks for bringing some laughs to my Saturday.
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u/IntelligentSeesaw190 7h ago
Well people myself, and you, better should think about doing something about it!
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u/driftingfornow 4h ago
Also Midwest. I say both ‚on accident’ and ‚by accident.’
As a Polish speaker it does occur to me that in Polish and Slavic languages at large, there is a preposition which can do both of these roles.
So it’s really not that strange to me, as other languages have words which handle both cases the same, and English language imports a lot of other linguistic norms.
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u/Summer_Is_Safe_ 3h ago
I notice this a lot lately too. My personal opinion is that it started with the phrase “it was an accident” and “an” sounds so similar to “on” that everyone started hearing/using “on”.
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u/Ok_Grapefruit_8946 3h ago
I grew up with “by accident” and still use it but I hear “on accident” a lot now, regardless of geographic location.
I also hear “whenever” used in place of “when” a lot now too… “whenever we got married, it rained”. That one is way more annoying because it doesn’t make sense!
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u/latelyimawake 2h ago
I always assumed it was people flipping “on purpose” in their head to express the opposite, thus “on accident”. It’s not technically correct, but it’s clear what they’re trying to say, so I’ve never had a problem with it.
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u/JimJ0nesFlav0rAid 35m ago
The on purpose > on accident association. It caught on more in some places, so it's more of a regional thing now.
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u/SecondLeigh 6h ago
This is a pet peeve of mine as well. When I was growing up, only 2 or 3 year old toddlers who were leaning to talk said it like that. Now it seems to be spreading.
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u/siwokedaj in solidarity [limited supply] 7h ago
I'm in my 40s and have heard this for as long as I can remember.
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u/Stormschance 7h ago
I’ve noticed this a lot the last few years and I badly want to correct them every time I hear it.
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u/strumthebuilding 7h ago
This has been going on since at least my childhood in the ‘80s. ON accident is the opposite of ON purpose.
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u/Weary_Capital_1379 7h ago
Misuse of prepositions is rampant. Like different to instead of different from.
Annoys the hell out of me.
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u/TristanTheRobloxian3 your local trans gal 6h ago
"misuse"? really? have you ever considered that language just evolves over time, and on top of that you can just swap out prepositions to ones that feel like they make more sense? ffs i heard someone say "astrices" as a plural for asterisk just cus its easier to say, and makes just as much sense as "asterisks".
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u/Weary_Capital_1379 5h ago
No I do not believe prepositions change because you misuse them.
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u/PenPuzzled8055 6h ago
Should have -> Should of (how did that happen?)
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u/GirlisNo1 4h ago
Bugs me to no end. It’s because people think they’re hearing “should of.”
I don’t know how they manage to type it though- even typing ^ that autocorrect changed it to “should’ve” multiple times.
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u/ShadowLuvsLatinas 7h ago
People have been using it interchangeably with “by accident” for as long as I can remember. Maybe it’s a cultural thing
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u/Sov90 5h ago
Can't comment on other places necessarily, but I grew up in (rural) northern Missouri and "on accident" was definitely a commonly used phrase in the 90s. Enough so that I've never once given it any thought. I've traveled a lot/spoken to people from vastly different backgrounds and I've never had anyone correct me or mention it, though I'm honestly not certain as to which one I use anymore since they both sound right to me.
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u/HarperTeagarden13 4h ago
I'm from the southern US and we've always said it like that as long as I've been alive.
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u/kinggbuffallo 4h ago
This feels like the result of social media taking common regional phrases and making it more popular outside of their original locales.
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u/arivas26 3h ago
I grew up in Southern California always saying “on accident” so it’s been around (I’m in my late 30s)
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u/mutant_anomaly 2h ago
On account of, vs by the process of.
“By accident” is a shorthand, leaving out words that don’t really contribute to the sentence. You can substitute a different skipped word, and the sentence remains comprehendable.
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u/Old_Ant7118 1h ago
I think this is regional. I've heard it in the US, mostly the south and midwest, but I don't really in the PNW.
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u/Old-Following1073 1h ago
People used to say “I’ve never seen anything like that before” now they say “I’ve never seen something like that before.” Not sure why that changed.
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u/DoubleIntegral9 1h ago
Well I grew up saying it so I suppose it’s been around at least 20+ years if that helps
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u/Pro_Player_Preschool 1h ago
My mom has always fussed at me for saying “on accident”. I just said it because it is the opposite of “on purpose”.
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u/EffortlessBoredom 1h ago
Because a lot of people were never taught how to speak properly after the age of 7, so they just keep talking like children.
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u/Sujnirah 1h ago
I think they’re heard “it was an accident” and then mistakenly rephrased it as “on accident”.
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u/TheTwistedToast 31m ago
Worse for me is when people use "of" instead of "have". I think people just picked it up based on how it sounds, and now it's stuck.
Example: people are saying "I shouldn't of done that" instead of "I shouldn't have done that"
Wow, English must be a nightmare to learn
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u/EnvironmentalCrow893 11m ago
What the heck ever happened to accidentally*, the very correct adverb? Which is an even shorter way of saying the same thing!
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u/00PT 2h ago
The level of irritation some people have about which two or three letter articles one uses is genuinely insane. It’s so negligible to understanding that it’s only worth a light joking remark, if that.
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u/breadist 1h ago
Everyone's brains work differently. Mine really relies on certain grammatical rules and structures of language for easy comprehension. When I hear something unexpected by the rules of language that I've internalized, it causes a big blip in my automatic language parsing, which is pretty annoying and disruptive.
Some people are more sensitive to this than others. I'm pretty sensitive to it. I realize it's mostly my problem (like anyone else, the rules that bug me are arbitrary, just the ones I've internalized - there are plenty of grammatical errors that I also make, I'm not perfect or anything), but it's also kinda not? Because this is exactly why we have rules of language, so we can easily understand each other. When you make that more difficult, it's frustrating. And just because a certain error doesn't impede YOUR understanding, doesn't mean everyone else has it so easy.
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u/Dismal-Kangaroo6327 6h ago
I hate it. My 23 year old said it recently and I had never heard her say it before.
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u/CallidoraBlack 6h ago
I've always noticed young children and people who don't speak English as their first language and people with poor educational support doing this and then being corrected. It's because it's 'on purpose' and 'by accident' and the two don't match. So if you guess which one it is based on that instead of rote memorization, you will get it wrong. I don't see and hear people doing it any more often than I used to.
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u/sturmeh 2h ago
You may be mishearing "an" as in "it was an accident"
I have never heard "I did this on accident"
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u/latelyimawake 2h ago
No, they’re definitely saying “on”. I hear this all the time, but it does seem to be regional, so that might be why you haven’t heard it.
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u/carozza1 7h ago
I agree, it sounds strange, just as "doesn't disappoint" instead of "doesn't disappoint me".
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u/Neverstopcomplaining 4h ago
I've only noticed Americans saying this and assumed stupidity and lack of education?. Obviously it's by accident, as in X happened by way of an accident because on accident, as in X happened on top of an accident makes no sense.
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u/de_lame_y 4h ago
i imagine it’s usually ignorance and assuming that because you do something on purpose, you would also do something on accident
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u/someonenamedkyle 3h ago
On accident is people speaking incorrectly because they equate it to doing something on purpose. On accident instead of by accident is incorrect and often comes across as someone with poor English or lack of thinking about what they’re saying
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u/indicabunny 2h ago
"On accident" sounds clumsy to me. Like saying "supposably" instead of "supposedly" or "seen" instead of "saw", or "should of" instead "should have".
I can understand the meaning and intent fine, but I personally can't speak like that. I was taught differently but I'm not going to go around correcting people unless I truly can't understand what they're trying to say.
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u/No_Meeting145 6h ago
As a kid we used the term in the 70's. By accident was also used but was reserved for more formal settings.
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u/TristanTheRobloxian3 your local trans gal 6h ago edited 6h ago
thats... always been a thing? language is kinda just evolving and thags just what happens. also i think it comes from on purpose being kinda the opposite of on accident, so they get linked
i honestly think a lot of yall forget that language is one of the least static things out there and that it evolved over time. like, hell i saw someone in this thread be like "me and x" and not "x and i" was somehow the same as grammar being ruined. like are we deadass?
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u/IntelligentSeesaw190 7h ago
Why do people say "Myself and X" instead of "X and I", grammar is ruined.
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u/TristanTheRobloxian3 your local trans gal 6h ago
because it makes sense to the people saying it... and no i dont think grammar is ruined
-1
u/Deep-Hovercraft6716 4h ago
On accident or by accident, what's the difference? They mean the same thing. I'm not sure what part you don't understand.
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u/CreativeAdeptness477 7h ago
They say this because we don't shame and ostracise them from day to day society enough for butchering the language as they do.
It's not a new thing by any means. I'm 47 and people used to say this back when I was a kid. It's a simple opposite to "on purpose" and back then it would be called out and corrected instantly.
Mistakes can't be corrected if they're not addressed, and nowadays people are too tolerant of mistakes, so they proliferate and now here we are.
0
u/Abhoth52 5h ago
You're axing me that on accident right?
I don't know nor care, just don't like it.
0
u/Spiritual-Estate2848 5h ago
My mom would DRILL this into my sister and I as kids, but unfortunately it seems that was not the case for most people lol
0
u/Jaded_Break_7853 4h ago
The word is actually “an” you are looking for and why some mishear it as on but technically the word is an l for example “an accident has occurred”
0
u/Aescwicca 4h ago
On accident has been a regional colloquialism of the Midwest and mid Atlantic my whole life. It's always driven me crazy too. Literally just corrected my 17 year old this morning "it's BY accident! Say it again!"
Oldest version I can think of it appearing somewhere in media... I think Kelso says "on accident" in one of the early episodes of that 70s show... so late 90s.
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u/Dutch_Slim 7h ago
British people say “by accident”. American people say “on accident”.
6
u/GirlisNo1 7h ago
I grew up in America, only ever heard people say “by accident” until the last several years. Maybe it’s a regional thing?
2
u/Dutch_Slim 7h ago
Possibly. It’s a running joke in UK subs.
1
u/TheCloudForest 6h ago
It's regional (although the region is a bit vague... Midwest? Great Plains? Appalachia? The South? Definitely not California or the Northeast) but also generational because younger people are encountering it online with people who don't live near them and beginning to use it as well.
1
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u/Sea-Original-5824 7h ago
I'm American and it was always "by accident." This must be a younger generation thing.
2
u/Cold_Barber_4761 7h ago
I'm American and say "by accident" and so do most Americans I know. I'm not sure where you got this information!
1
u/Dutch_Slim 7h ago
I’d take this post as some evidence it’s happening and others have also noticed it 😂
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u/Cold_Barber_4761 3h ago
Apparently it's definitely happening all over the USA! I live in a bubble I guess!
1
u/FURF0XSAKE 4h ago
As an Australian, in heavily associate "on accident" work the US. Maybe it's a regional thing there but to other countries it does seem rather spread across different US.
Not all people from the US do it for sure, but it's almost always someone from there.
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u/UnfitDeathTurnup 8h ago edited 7h ago
You be reading my mind. I was wondering the same over the past few years.
I had looked it up and apparently it’s to mirror “on purpose”. On purpose is with intention and by accident is unintentional. The grammar doesn’t match, so people adapted (to force it to match).
There are many other english languages paradoxes like “being in” love versus “falling out of” love. Doing something “on time” but we don’t say “off time” we say something like “behind schedule”.