• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    They mean two different things…

    The airplanes engine went out by accident when a part failed.

    Or

    The pilot forgot to deploy landing gear which caused a crash landing on accident

    It’s about if someone made a mistake or if it was random chance.

    People don’t understand it means two different things, and use them interchangeably. It was used incorrectly here, it should be “by accident” because that implies a human was at fault, “on accident” absolves everyone involved from blame.

    • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      Never thought of it that way. Makes sense, now I don’t have to think it was the Mandela effect.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Yeah, it’s honestly super interesting how language and word choice change perception.

        I remember reading something a while ago that just due to the English language’s structure and various idiosyncrasies, just using it makes people more selfish.

        And it’s happening on such a basic level, it’s almost impossible for people to notice. It just colors every communication in a veneer of “me first”.