Some usage rules have the potential to annoy people when the rules are not followed; Those who adhere to this rule get annoyed when people don’t use the word the way they think it should be used. Other usage rules are annoying to those who don’t follow the rules; Rule-breakers think that people shouldn’t tell them how to use certain words. And some try to merge these two groups in anger; both rule-followers and rule-breakers find the behavior of their peers offensive. accidental is a great example of this.
How lucky you are to read about this today.
For those who are in the ‘uncle-my-Bob-suck-two-packs-of-random-one-day-and-live-to-106’ camp, and see no problem What’s with this word is, you should know that some people get annoyed when accidental used to mean anything but “happens by chance.” We give two additional definitions for accidental: “fortunately” or “to come or happen by chance,” and although criticism of such use is not as widespread as it once was, it can still be found in some directions. manuals and manuals.
accidental does not mean “lucky” and accidental does not mean “by chance,” but a growing number of speakers and writers seem to be unaware of this.—James Cochrane, Between you and me2004
By chance does not mean lucky, It means by chance, by chance.— Paula LaRocque, Writing Championship2004
By chance means to happen by chance. It doesn’t mean luck.— The New York Times Handbook of Style and Usage2015
accidental has been used in English for over 400 years now, and originally (and for the next several hundred years) had a single meaning, that of ‘happens by chance’. This opportunity was not luck or luck in any way, and something was accidental can be uncomfortable.
See other specifics: Defilements and external afflictions; What amenities do they have? Forsooth, either they are fatal, and cannot be avoided; or incidental, and therefore disregarded.— William Scalate, Presentation with notes on the First Letter to the Thessalonians1619
Because, these random things, Prouidence can’t be foreseen: & therefore unforeseeable. Who could have foretold that at that time such a man would fall?— Martin Fotherby, Atheomastix erases four truths, against atheists and pagans1622
Part five such as their endings are random or random; like, Play, hunt, follow prisoners, buy, sell, give money to the prosecution.— William Ingpen, Secrets of numbers according to theological, arithmetic, geometric and harmonic calculations1624
In the early 20th century, people began to use accidental in a new way, it is ‘happens by a happy chance’ (a kind of meaning ‘by chance, but with a happy soup thrown in’). Soon, the word began to be used to simply mean “luck”. accidental And lucky share some of their origins; both words can be traced back to Latin fors, meaning “opportunity”. It is thought that the original spelling similarity these two words share, combined with the fact that accidental And happy (“pleasant, enjoyable”) share an ending, causing people to assign new meanings to accidental.
But if these new meanings of the word were formed by mistake, and some books on scolding language continue to assert that the meaning of “luck” is false, then why do we define the word as such? So? The first reason is that ‘people get it wrong’ is just one of the many ways in which language changes; If we refused to enter all the new words because people mistook them for some other word, our dictionary would be significantly smaller. Another reason is that people have been using accidental has meant both “fortunately lucky” and “lucky” for a number of decades now, and these meanings have become part of our language. Our job is to document that language and as proof of current usage accidental used to refer to something other than “happens by chance”, we can switch to New York Timesa publication where writers seem to happily disregard the maxim in their own style book about the word.
It’s one of the most fortuitous marriages in recent college sports: a proud power humbled by a memorabilia scandal, matched by a smart native son who is need a change of scenery.— Marc Tracy, New York TimesDecember 4, 2018
Her timing was coincidental. In 2012, when Ms. Blank started selling plants in her apartment, Pinterest and Instagram were only two years old.— Penelope Green, New York TimesNovember 8, 2018
Theirs is a casual match, a lasting duet. “How interesting you write!” he wrote her a letter. “Darling, I love you for your literary talent. That’s why 27 I think or more.” — Dwight Garner, New York TimesOctober 1, 2018
Categories: Usage Notes
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