Weary or wary?

[Flippetydip]

On loads of threads at the moment I'm seeing people being "weary of doing things" meaning they are slightly anxious about doing things rather than they are knackered.

I always thought that weary meant tired and slightly fed up and wary meant slightly anxious.

Am I wrong? Not that I care but if I've been labouring under the wrong illusion for 46 years I'd like to educate myself! Or is it a regional thing?

Can I mention the sudden use of ‘gotten’ when plain, old ‘got’ would do just fine.

I thought "gotten" was the older version - the one we exported to the American colonies way back when.

I don't use it myself, but I have no problem with other people using it - as long as they do so correctly. (I got; I have gotten.)

‘Get off of me’ is also an annoying American phrase. The ‘of’ seems redundant.

I always thought that people were just getting confused with "leery", and somehow amalgamated "wary" and "leery".

"Get off of me" is also used in Scotland. If my younger brother jumped on my back, I'd yell it at him. Somehow it is stronger than just "get off me!"

It's funny how some people react with annoyance to dialect variations, and others just find it interesting, or don't really bother at all.

You are 101% correct

I always assumed they said on Christmas as they only really have the one day. I hate the phrases I visited with instead of visited. Surely if you visit with that person comes with you.

People seem to be weary of anyone they think is flaunting the rules.

I'm weary of wary people.

@TheRoqueforteFiles the proper spelling is leery in American English

I love that I'm 101% correct - that has made my day. Well, let's face it, life is quite dull at the moment. Get your kicks where you can.

@thecatsthecats What else are we suppose to use? Christmas is only one day. So we open presents on Christmas. We have a big meal on Christmas day etc.....How would ot be anything else. The only time I have heard "on the weekend" was from the English while we were living in Newmarket and Thetford

@Leeannb I never claimed to know educated folk from the US It’s the least of their spelling issues !

Don't get me started on the American usage of 'on' instead of 'at' - 'on Christmas', 'on the weekend'.

Neither are as bad as "on accident"

I will stick up for the word "gotten" though. I use and hear it a lot - maybe a Scottish thing?

I put most of these errors down to less reading. People don't see the words in their context and correctly spelled. Instead they hear a mispronunciation and it gets in to the writing. With social media, far more people write than used to, so the errors proliferate and gain a wider audience.

As an example, "should of" for "should've/should have" simply did not exist as an error when I started teaching 40+years ago. "Their/there and they're" were commonly mixed up and still are.

My particular bugbear is the misuse of prepositions, e.g. hostility "against" teachers on MN should be hostility "towards" teachers. It really is one that only wider reading will sort out.

I blame the teachers.:o

"Non" and "none" is another one people are forever mixing up on here. I don't think anybody reads any more.

This annoys me too. You are correct with your definitions OP. Wary = suspicious or nervous,wary = tired.
Now. Shall we start on what the difference is between 'effect' and 'affect'?

So we open presents on Christmas. We have a big meal on Christmas day etc.

See for me that should be "we open presents AT Christmas. We have a big meal ON Christmas Day". I think it's because "at" is a general time of year and "on" is for a specific time of year.

I can’t work out if people who write “weary” think it is actually how you spell “wary” (because of the word “wear”) or if they’re genuinely confusing the words.

YANBU.

See also "lose" and "loose".

And related to the Christmas thing, I can’t stand the predominately American use of “New Year’s” - as in “What are you doing for New Year’s?”

Oh, and while we’re at it - if you’re just talking about something that will be happening in the new year, it doesn’t need capital letters.

You are right. Irks me when people say stuff wrong.

Nobody reads any more. So everyone is taking their SPAG from what they DO read, which is forums and online stuff which is full of people who have no SPAG knowledge. It just continues...

Never mind 'man hands on misery to man'..man bloody well hands on misuse of words to man...

Nobody reads any more.

And very few seem to care any more. Language is one of the most important things we, as humans, have. But it’s seen as snobby and pedantic to care about it.

Self-improvement is a multi-billion dollar industry - people care passionately about getting fit, learning to bake, plumping up their lips etc. But does anyone ever spend any time improving their spelling and grammar? Many people actually seem to enjoy not being able to write properly - it’s like a badge of status.

It baffles me!