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Same reason a whole English speaking country also says "on accident" instead of "by accident" and "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less"... lack

Same reason a whole English speaking country also says "on accident" instead of "by accident" and "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less"... lack of critical thinking and momentum.

SilasX 4y ago
I get the problem with “I could care less” (taken literally, it’s the opposite of what they meant), but what’s wrong with “on accident”? It’s just an arbitrary convention that the common expression is “by accident”, and the other one makes sense by being parallel to “on purpose”. Edit: also “on command”, “on request”, “on occasion”.
- lloydatkinson 4y ago
  On implies that despite being an accident it was somehow intentional. You "arrive on time" but you don't "fall over on accident". By implies some process not within your control.
  - SilasX 4y ago
    > On implies that despite being an accident it was somehow intentional. Sorry, that doesn’t seem inherent to the preposition “on”. > By implies some process not within your control. “We’ll do it, by hook or by crook.” Also, it’s odd that you want to be this pedantic but not out the referenced prepositions in quotes so they’re not taken as being applied to the following word.
giraffe_lady 4y ago
This is literally just dialect it has nothing to do with critical thinking.
- lhartmann 4y ago
  "I could not care less" means: "My interest is already at zero". The other form is wrong, its proponents sometimes cite irony, but that's very weak.
  - giraffe_lady 4y ago
    It's an idiom so the meaning is inherently somewhat divorced from the literal meaning of the words. In this case nearly opposite of it but that's not super unusual itself. It also has an equivalent where the component words are flipped, but the idiom's meaning is the same. Also not extremely rare. If someone says this with the "wrong" meaning, and a listener understands what they meant without thinking about it or considering alternatives. And you crash in saying "you're wrong!"... who is wrong there?
- mixedCase 4y ago
  On/By I can understand being considered dialect, however English is not my first language so my flexibility could be undue. But saying "I could care less" can only indicate you've never given any thought to what the phrase actually means and how it conveys almost the opposite meaning to what you're trying to say.
  - hgsgm 4y ago
    It's internalized sarcasm into an idiom. My mom thinks felines and canines are literally falling form the sky. How dumb is she!

Same reason a whole English speaking country also says "on accident" instead of "by accident" and "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less"... lack of critical thinking and momentum.

SilasX 4y ago

I get the problem with “I could care less” (taken literally, it’s the opposite of what they meant), but what’s wrong with “on accident”? It’s just an arbitrary convention that the common expression is “by accident”, and the other one makes sense by being parallel to “on purpose”. Edit: also “on command”, “on request”, “on occasion”.

lloydatkinson 4y ago
On implies that despite being an accident it was somehow intentional. You "arrive on time" but you don't "fall over on accident". By implies some process not within your control.
- SilasX 4y ago
  > On implies that despite being an accident it was somehow intentional. Sorry, that doesn’t seem inherent to the preposition “on”. > By implies some process not within your control. “We’ll do it, by hook or by crook.” Also, it’s odd that you want to be this pedantic but not out the referenced prepositions in quotes so they’re not taken as being applied to the following word.

giraffe_lady 4y ago

This is literally just dialect it has nothing to do with critical thinking.

lhartmann 4y ago
"I could not care less" means: "My interest is already at zero". The other form is wrong, its proponents sometimes cite irony, but that's very weak.
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  It's an idiom so the meaning is inherently somewhat divorced from the literal meaning of the words. In this case nearly opposite of it but that's not super unusual itself. It also has an equivalent where the component words are flipped, but the idiom's meaning is the same. Also not extremely rare. If someone says this with the "wrong" meaning, and a listener understands what they meant without thinking about it or considering alternatives. And you crash in saying "you're wrong!"... who is wrong there?
mixedCase 4y ago
On/By I can understand being considered dialect, however English is not my first language so my flexibility could be undue. But saying "I could care less" can only indicate you've never given any thought to what the phrase actually means and how it conveys almost the opposite meaning to what you're trying to say.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  It's internalized sarcasm into an idiom. My mom thinks felines and canines are literally falling form the sky. How dumb is she!