on accident

[A. Maberry]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2003, David Bergdahl wrote:
> 2.  My daughter in Seattle writes "people on this coast say 'on accident'
> instead of 'by accident' which sounds really weird to me. Have I mentioned
> that to you before? For example, 'I went to the wrong classroom on
> accident.'" I, personally, have never heard this--is it west coast or just
> NW?
> _________________________________________

If I remember correctly this came up a couple of years ago.
I don't think I've ever heard anyone in Washington or Oregon use "on
accident" instead of "by accident". On the other hand, so many people have
moved to the NW especially to Seattle over the 25 years or so, she might
hear "on accident" regularly--just not from natives.

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu