Accident of nature

Posted by R. Berg on September 13, 2003

In Reply to: Accident of nature posted by Sasha on September 13, 2003

: What does the phrase "the accident of nature" mean when it refers to a man in a derogatory sense?

It isn't a commonly used phrase. I can think of two things an author or speaker might mean by it. The man was born from an unintended pregnancy, or he's so far from ideal that he must be not quite human, like a mutant. In either case, the idea is that he shouldn't have come into being.