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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

by 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.