TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

As I posted in the comments on the article, I remember saying “on accident” when I was a little kid. It’s just one of the little grammar mistakes you make when you make the larger mistake of assuming the English language is in any way consistent.

Someday, I should just give up and learn Esperanto.

i’m past 40 and use ‘on accident’ with some frequency. of course, i use it explicitly to mock the young — the same way i use ‘he goed away’… i know many who say ‘let’s went’ — which in my crowd tends to mean something like ‘let’s get outta here *yesterday*’; to express a desire for physics-defying soonerness of departure.

language is just fun to mess with. and it’s changing all the time. those changes rarely being complete, one is free to use all variants to express similar ideas in subtly different ways. it’s all good!

It does seem to be an American English term according to this website which specializes in examining the differences between British and American.

http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2009/07/on-accident.html

My first instinctive question is why the teachers aren’t correcting them. True English evolves and changes with each generation but are not the teachers supposed to educate people with the correct use of grammar? I recall one of my English teachers being very fussy about people using double negatives and correct use of the written form which would always be different to the spoken, he reminded us, but the rules would still apply. ‘on accident’ simply sounds wrong let alone how it would look written in context.

Perhaps I have become a pedant in my middle years?

Ah…and there’s the split infinitive too. The most famous of which is “where no man has gone before”. Noone notices or cares about this one anymore.

As the great Stephen Fry says, language can and will always change always and who is to say what is right and wrong.

My ex-wife when learning English used to complain that unlike other languages which have many rules and few exceptions, English is the other way around. Too few rules and many many exceptions, many of which are simply accepted. American English is now more dominant due to the influence of films and television. I have heard people use the word ‘period’ instead of ‘full stop’ quite often now. Even Tony Blair used it once in a press conference. Hard to stop the changes despite the desire.

I only know I will glare menacingly at anyone who says ‘on accident’.

David Rothman says “Alas, since e-books are more of a grassroots medium than p-books, I suspect we’ll see “on accident” in them first.” However, the appearance of “on accident” in a paper book predates the existence of ebooks. In 1971, the University of North Carolina Press published “Tragedy and Fear; Why Modern Tragic Drama Fails” by John Von Szeliski and it contains the controversial phrase:

Finally, if the tragic race is won or lost on accident or luck, the tragedy is vaporized because there is no motive for admiring a winner (temporary and partial winner though he always proves to be) or sympathizing with a loser.

In 1996, a literary collection associated with the prominent authors Joyce Carol Oates, James Ragan, and X. J. Kennedy titled “Southern California Anthology, Volume 13″ included the criticized phrase:

And later on, when they took off their clothes for the evening, she put it on yet another time, somewhat unknowingly, as if it happened on accident.

Below are some more citations from newspapers, magazines and books. Language is a living organism that is continually undergoing metamorphosis. Sometimes it is not pretty.

Asked if the Angels might be aiming at Giants leadoff batter Kenny Lofton, as the Cardinals did in the NLCS, Appier said, “It may happen on accident. . . . But you can hit anyone on accident.”

Angel’s Notebook by Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 2002.

“The acting thing happened on accident,” Durst said.

“Fred Durst: The Next Martin Scorsese?” by Corey Moss MTV.com, Dec 27 2005.

On one hand, fashion is collective consciousness at work which makes it really tough to design something that has never been done, or won’t be done, on accident, at the same exact time as my wonderful idea.

“Interview: Lindsay Stewart”, Papierdoll Fashion Magazine, August 1st, 2005.

You must be focused on this dream. Because if you want more, you must become more! Success isn’t done on accident!

“Living Rich: A State of Mind!” by Josef Quiroz, CPA & Marciel Quiroz, 2007.

“It kind of happened accidentally. But at the same time, I’m a believer that nothing happens on accident.”

“Plies finds fame through hip-hop happenstance”, Peoria Journal Star, Oct 01, 2008.