I’ve always thought the same, but one day I realized the opposite of ‘by accident’ is ‘on purpose’. They’re both prepositions and nouns, so why couldn’t we say ‘on accident’ and ‘by purpose’? They’re at least grammatically correct if not socially.
Do those have different definitions though? If I do something ‘by purpose’, I don’t think it means anything different from doing it ‘on purpose’. What other meaning could we derive from that?
I mostly agree, but language is mostly descriptive and we’ve just agreed on these combinations; for now. Also, would just any ol’ preposition do, in your view? Against purpose, over accident? Those are pretty fetch.
It’s “by accident” not “on accident”, you uneducated fools.
I’ve always thought the same, but one day I realized the opposite of ‘by accident’ is ‘on purpose’. They’re both prepositions and nouns, so why couldn’t we say ‘on accident’ and ‘by purpose’? They’re at least grammatically correct if not socially.
You have made an enemy today… lol
Because English is fucking weird
Because prepositional phrases can have distinct definitions from those of the individual words that comprise them.
Do those have different definitions though? If I do something ‘by purpose’, I don’t think it means anything different from doing it ‘on purpose’. What other meaning could we derive from that?
I mostly agree, but language is mostly descriptive and we’ve just agreed on these combinations; for now. Also, would just any ol’ preposition do, in your view? Against purpose, over accident? Those are pretty fetch.
How about “on the weekend”?
On the weekend happens on the saturday/sunday.
By the weekend happens at any point between now and the weekend.
I prefer “at the weekend”.
But is that really a “hot take”?
Whatever.