523 GG Sightseeing. On Accident Versus by Accident

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2016

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

SIGHTSEEING: A listener asked, “Why is it sightseeing and not siteseeing? Aren't you seeing sites? Sightseeing sounds redundant.” Interesting question! ON ACCIDENT or BY ACCIDENT: A listener asked, "What is the deal with the term on accident? I've always used by accident, but I've noticed a lot of pretty smart people . . . I've noticed them using on accident. So, am I wrong?" Sometimes when I get questions like this I can't find an answer, but in this case, I hit pay dirt! I was lucky enough to find an entire research paper on the topic. SPONSOR http://weebly.com/grammar AMAZON AFFILIATE CODE http://quickanddirtytips.com/amazon FOLLOW GRAMMAR GIRL Twitter: http://twitter.com/grammargirl Facebook: http://facebook.com/grammargirl Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/thatgrammargirl Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl Instagram: http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl HASHTAG Use #WhereIListen to tell me your listening story on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Minyon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl.
0:10.5	This week I have a quick and dirty tip about sightseeing and a meeting middle about kids
0:15.3	who say they did things on accident instead of by accident.
0:20.3	And here's a reminder, if you want to read a text version of the podcast, the transcript
0:24.9	of each segment is always available online at quickandjirtytips.com.
0:29.9	You can search the site or see the most recent posts under the grammar tag, which is under
0:34.0	education.
0:35.7	And now on to sightseeing.
0:38.3	A listener named Jack Rumpel asked, why is it sightseeing SIGHT?
0:43.9	And not sightseeing SIG.
0:47.2	Aren't you seeing sites?
0:49.5	Sightseeing with the GHT sounds redundant.
0:53.1	That's such a good question, and since summer is peak sightseeing season, it's time
0:57.6	for an answer.
0:59.2	The two different spellings aren't related enomologically.
1:02.8	They have different origins.
1:05.0	Sightse comes from words that mean place.
1:09.6	In sight with a GHT comes from words related to C.
1:14.5	According to the Oxford English Dictionary, siteseeing was first used to describe a place
1:21.1	where you find a specific thing, around 1400.
1:25.9	Chaucer was one of the first writers to use it with this line from a treatise on the
1:31.6	astrolabe.
	...

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