Again that’s the difference between “comports with standard grammar” and “is a common idiomatic phrase”.
Within standard US English, “on accident” is grammatical. But it isn’t idiomatic. Yet. Except in some regional areas where ISTM it’s pretty well-established and commonplace.
Huh, this is the first I’ve ever heard that “on accident” is nonstandard.
Clevelander with western PA roots, in case region is relevant.
On Monday, If you asked “Will the upgrade be installed on Wednesday?” I might answer “It will be installed on tomorrow.”, intentionally using this nonsense expression. And then I might see that quizzical look on your face for a moment until you think to yourself “Oh, it’s just TriPolar talking weird again” and forget about it.
You probably use “anymore” in that weird Ohio way, too.
I’m an American living in Arkansas. The first people I noticed this 3-4 years ago from some of my younger African American coworkers who were in their twenties. At first I chalked it up to just an odd affectation of one person, and then maybe something that was limited to my office, but then I’ve heard other people outside of work use the phrases as well which got me thinking. Was this something I’ve heard all my life and only now noticed? Language does change, is this simply new?
Everyone around me (western Pennsylvania) stands in line, but I occasionally hear New York people say they stand on line, which sounds totally crazy to me.
“On accident” is common here (Chicago) , but I’d consider it non-standard vs “by accident.”
“On tomorrow” I’ve never heard.
Probably worth also mentioning that ‘on the weekend’ is also common in UK English. UK ‘standards’ are a bit unstandardised like that; e.g:
USA: ‘Skeptic’ - UK: ‘Sceptic’ or ‘Skeptic’
USA: ‘Organize’ - UK: ‘Organise’ or ‘Organize’
Yeah, I could see people using the ‘on tomorrow’ thing as an affectation, much like ‘I was today years old when I learned…’
Nope, that construction is unfamiliar to me.
To me, “on accident” and “by accident” have slightly different meanings. “By accident” is more likely to refer to an outcome that, while not planned or expected, was nonetheless good. “On accident” is more likely to be a bad outcome.
I can’t remember ever encountering “on tomorrow” before this thread. If I heard someone say it, I’d suspect an explanation like what solost described, especially if there were any discernable pause between the two words.
Hey! We’re inclusive here. What more can I say?
Could someone please use the phrase ‘on accident’ in a sentence? With some meaningful context of course. I don’t recall ever hearing this.
“Your kid hit my car with the shopping cart!”
“I’m sorry … I’m sure he did it on accident. He was trying to help me by putting the cart away and it got away from him.”
…
In local dialects (SE Louisiana), “on accident” and “by accident” are completely interchangeable. “On accident” is commonly heard around here, and has been at least back to my grandparents’ generation (born ~1900).
I’ve never heard “on accident” but it could be a mash-up of “on purpose” and “by accident” that caught on. Or got by.
Outside Chicago. I’ve never heard this.
I think some of the Americans in this thread might be dancing around this point a little bit – around here, use of “on tomorrow” is strongly correlated with local dialects of African-American Vernacular English. No judgment should be implied.
I don’t know if this use of “on tomorrow” is a new thing, exactly … but I have no recollection of the various adult African Americans of my acquaintance in the 1970s & 1980s saying “on tomorrow”. As above, this would be in the New Orleans metro area.
Ok, so no difference in meaning.
Makes sense. If something can be ‘on purpose’ then something can be ‘on accident’ also. The use of ‘on’ and ‘by’ are so exclusively associated with ‘purpose’ and ‘accident’ it sounds odd when they are interchanged.
I will add that, locally, “by purpose” (to mean “purposefully, intentionally”) is never heard.
I encounter “on accident” in the wild fairly regularly. I think of it as common both in the South (ref @bordelond) and in Ohio / Pennsylvania / Indiana dialect. So the old “Midwest” from before the USA got past the Misssissippi.
ETA: Seconding @bordelond just above that throughout my national travels, I’ve never encountered “by purpose”.