on accident

[Peter Richardson]

I'll confess that I've never heard "on accident" before--that is, until
this morning, when I asked about 20 students after seeing the ADS posting.
They all agreed that one would say, "I did it on accident," but that it
would have to be "It happened by accident." Presumably the difference
involves a personal subject vs. an impersonal one, although I didn't
question the reason for the difference. They did say that "I did it by
accident" would sound odd.

Now, Fritz Juengling may well be right: perhaps there's an isogloss
between McMinnville and Salem (our 2 towns in Oregon), for he seems
comfortable with the "on." Or maybe the difference is purely generational,
with me representing the aged and infirm.

PR