Eggcorn? Weary/Wary

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:28 AM -0400 6/12/09, Baker, John wrote:
>         A building security email from our landlord today includes the
>line, "Be weary of people working in pairs, as most delivery personnel
>work alone."  Google indicates 332,000 hits for "be weary of," with the
>first few examples clearly meaning "be wary of."
>
>         Is this an eggcorn?  I'm not sure whether it includes the
>necessary element of reanalysis.  Probably some people do think it means
>"be tired of," but I would think most people would realize that's not
>exactly what the phrase means, even if they're unfamiliar with the word
>"wary."  Presumably it's also influenced by "leery."
>
It would help to know how they pronounce it.  It could just be a
misspelling (cf. "wear", "wearing"), but it's pronounced as a
homophone of "wary", it could be an eggcorn.  And of course a
misspelling can result in a reanalysis.

LH

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