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The one that always seems to grab my attention is the British "by accident" versus the frequently-used American "on accident". Whilst I can understand the argu

The one that always seems to grab my attention is the British "by accident" versus the frequently-used American "on accident". Whilst I can understand the argument for the latter being similar to "on purpose", it will never stop sounding wrong to my British ears.

mehrdadn 6y ago
Huh, I speak AmE and "by accident" sounds more natural to me too.
kelnos 6y ago
In America it's a regional thing. "By accident" is east coast, "on accident" is more midwest and west coast (though given that the west coast is full of transplants, there's a mix in usage". I've lived in CA for 16 years, but grew up in NJ and MD, and "on accident" still sounds weird to me.
- TulliusCicero 6y ago
  I'm from CA and I hate "on accident", it sounds dumb and wrong.
dragonwriter 6y ago
Honestly, as an American (California n almost all of my life), I find both “by accident” and “on accident” to generally sound stilted, though “by accident” seems natural in certain broader constructions, and “on accident” fits in the unique case of a direct contrast with “on purpose”. Generally, though, “accidentally” is the term that sounds right.
waylandsmithers 6y ago
To my ear "on accident" sounds wrong and kind of unsophisticated for lack of a better word
OJFord 6y ago
You should eschew both and say 'accidentally'. I do hear 'by accident' but always (as a native speaker of British English, born and living in England) consider it an error. I have at least heard of 'on accident' too, but interestingly it barely registers on Google's ngram viewer, even with 'American English' selected: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=accidentally%2Cby+accident%2Con+accident&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=accidentally%2...
333c 6y ago
I'm being prescriptivist here, but to my (West coast American) ear "on accident" is wrong, caused by confusing "on purpose" and "by accident."

mehrdadn 6y ago

Huh, I speak AmE and "by accident" sounds more natural to me too.

kelnos 6y ago

In America it's a regional thing. "By accident" is east coast, "on accident" is more midwest and west coast (though given that the west coast is full of transplants, there's a mix in usage". I've lived in CA for 16 years, but grew up in NJ and MD, and "on accident" still sounds weird to me.

TulliusCicero 6y ago
I'm from CA and I hate "on accident", it sounds dumb and wrong.

dragonwriter 6y ago

Honestly, as an American (California n almost all of my life), I find both “by accident” and “on accident” to generally sound stilted, though “by accident” seems natural in certain broader constructions, and “on accident” fits in the unique case of a direct contrast with “on purpose”. Generally, though, “accidentally” is the term that sounds right.

waylandsmithers 6y ago

To my ear "on accident" sounds wrong and kind of unsophisticated for lack of a better word

OJFord 6y ago

You should eschew both and say 'accidentally'. I do hear 'by accident' but always (as a native speaker of British English, born and living in England) consider it an error. I have at least heard of 'on accident' too, but interestingly it barely registers on Google's ngram viewer, even with 'American English' selected: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=accidentally%2Cby+accident%2Con+accident&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=accidentally%2...

333c 6y ago

I'm being prescriptivist here, but to my (West coast American) ear "on accident" is wrong, caused by confusing "on purpose" and "by accident."