Lion in Winter

Another annoyance:

"First come, first serve."

That means that if you arrived first you're going to get put to work as a waiter.

What happened to "first come, first served"?

Egg and Cress

Maybe what is meant is "if you are the first to come, you are the first one we serve" ??

another bloody yank

Sure, that's the intent, but look how the ignorant bastards have mangled it.

nethead

My kids have a habit of saying something happened 'on' accident instead of 'by' accident which doesn't sound right to me. I thought it was just them and some type of kid talk then I heard an adult the other day say it, so don't know whether it's an American thing or a regional thing??

another bloody yank

I've heard of doing something "on purpose". Maybe it's related.

nethead

Yes, I think maybe that's where they get mixed up, but like I said I heard an adult say 'on accident' recently that's when I wondered if it's more widespread than I had thought. You would say 'by accident' wouldn't you?

cindyabs

Indeed and you are gonna sing for yer supper............thereby becoming a singing waiter.

another bloody yank

I honestly don't know what I would say/have said anymore.

Leslie

I know exactly what you mean.

Sally Redux

They put that on letters from our school

nethead

Sorry!

General Tojo

On accident? Very odd. Do they say something is 'on the cards' or 'in the cards'? I'm thinking I might have heard Americans use the latter.

cindyabs

Survey sez...........ding, ding, ding- in the cards

SultanOfSwing

I heard this method will be replacing the coin toss at Wimbledon next year.

avanutria

I think I've heard both depending on context, but "on the cards" sounds more 'normal' to me. Linguistic background, western NY state with smatterings of Long Island and northwest states.