When did everyone start writing 'where' instead of 'were'?

[HardStareBear]

It seems to be everywhere at the moment. In my accent they sound completely different. I know that they're more similar sounding in other accents, but 'were' is a word that we see frequently in books, magazines etc. so why do people think that it is written 'where'?

Probably around the time they started using 'weary' and 'wary' interchangeably.

They sound the same in Scouse - both rhyme with 'air'. (See also 'furry fairy' and 'stir/stare')

Oh, plenty of people say it doesn't matter when these kind of threads come up. Not on this one maybe, but you see it frequently.

I see it loads and it bothers me a lot.

Unfortunately, I live in Liverpool where both words sound the same in the Scouse accent, so the local social media I follow is full of it.

Others also quoted, esp weary/wary also irritate.

@Watercoloursky I love teasing my youngest with the fairy/furry one! The funny thing is, he thinks he sounds like me (home counties) and not Scouse at all!

They sound different in my accent but I think for different reasons than people have mentioned. It’s the wh that differentiates them. Were and wear are identical. Where is similar but with at wh sound at the start…it’s a softer sound.

@ChiefWiggumsBoy it's my partner who's Scouse, and I love to tease him too 😅(in a nice way; he teases me for sounding posh - or for being a nesh southerner! - too).

My favourite is when we're cooking together, he'll ask me to give something a good stir, and I will do my best Paddington hard stare at the pan until he laughs ... oh, the hours fly by 🤣

Totally different in my accent. Were is more like wuh, wear and where sound the same, you don't hear h in any of them.

See also
Alot and abit

Autocorrect! Even when you correct something once it recorrects it to the word you didn't want. Used to be an apple thing but androids started doing it too!

Nigh on impossible to type 'we're' without it becoming 'were' so can believe all kind of weird phrases being caused by Mr Autocorrupt!