Lexical drift

When I was a kid, I learned that you invite people to a party by sending "invitations".

Sometime in the past 20 years (I think) that changed. Now you probably send "invites", with the stress on the first syllable.

Listening to my daughter playing online with a friend yesterday, I heard the word come full circle. Now "invite", still with the stress on the first syllable, has become a verb again, meaning "to send an invite". I wonder if that change will stick.

Another usage I've heard from my daughter - instead of "by accident", she describes things as happening "on accident" - presumably in contrast to "on purpose". Is that just her, or is it more widespread?

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Originally Posted by veti

Another usage I've heard from my daughter - instead of "by accident", she describes things as happening "on accident" - presumably in contrast to "on purpose". Is that just her, or is it more widespread?

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I've heard/seen people using it (though I live in a non-English speaking country so my exposure is mostly through the internet and pop culture), but it seems less popular than "by accident". I did a quick and thoroughly unscientific experiment by searching for either phrase on Google and the result was 10 000 000 results for "on accident" and 57 000 000 results for "by accident", for whatever it's worth.

EDIT: I just noticed that if I do the search multiple times, the amount of hits changes for some reason (maybe someone more knowledgeable about the mysteries of search engines can explain why?) but the numbers seem to stay roughly in the same ball park.

"On accident" is typically more regional from what I understand.

Interesting. I don't think I've ever heard "on accident" in my life.

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Originally Posted by Palanan

Interesting. I don't think I've ever heard "on accident" in my life.

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It seems pretty common in the Rust Belt of the USA, not sure about elsewhere.

Language constantly evolves, and one fascinating phenomenon is lexical drift, where word meanings or usage change over time. For instance, "invitations" becoming "invites" as a verb, or "on accident" instead of "by accident," reflects this drift. It's intriguing how these shifts can be regional or generational, adding layers to the complexity of language.

"Invite" never stopped being a verb. It was becoming a noun (over invitation) that seems relatively new.

And "on accident" has (annoyingly) been a common phrase in the midwestern US for decades. :smallsigh:

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Originally Posted by Palanan

Interesting. I don't think I've ever heard "on accident" in my life.

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Grew up in South Dakota, did college in Nebraska, moved to Kansas and Missouri, then to Phoenix. "on Accident" is how it is used in all of these places.

I'm in the Austin, TX area and I tend to hear both.

I think I've heard "invite" used more often than "invitation" nowadays. Invitations are what kids receive to go to birthday parties or adults to weddings. Invites are for meetings and more casual affairs.

Other drifts:

• Ask has become a synonym for request. This is a big ask, but...
• Queuing versus being in line versus being on line. These may be variations more than drifts.
• Does the shift from using ad hoc text emojis to proper ones count? :P to 😛.

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Originally Posted by KillianHawkeye

"Invite" never stopped being a verb. It was becoming a noun (over invitation) that seems relatively new.

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"Invite", the original verb, puts the stress on the second syllable. The noun form puts it on the first syllable.

What I heard was unmistakably "IN'vite", being used as a verb.

We're witnessing what happens to language when far more of it is written and read than spoken and heard. It's fascinating.