Query: "on accident"

Mon Jul 25 02:24:38 UTC 2005

I use it all the time (born 1966) and would have thought it's considered
standard by now. I've lived in Seattle and California.

Benjamin Barrett
Baking the World a Better Place
www.hiroki.us

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Cohen, Gerald Leonard
> Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2005 6:32 PM

> Today I was asked about the phrase "on accident" by a mother
> whose three grown children (in their twenties)  use it rather
> than "by accident."  Is this a regionalism? Is it a feature
> of the younger generation?