weary~wary

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Dec 8, 2011, at 1:44 AM, Damien Hall wrote:

>
> David said:
>
> 'I've heard just a few minutes ago (and for at least the second time in a
> week) the use of _weary_ where clearly the word should be _wary_.  The
> speakers were being interviewed on NPR.  They seemed otherwise to be
> well-spoken.'
>
> Not saying it ain't so in these cases, but, in general, mightn't you get this impression from some speakers who raise /ae/ before /r/?  The raising usually only goes as far as [E] and not to [I:], but, as Wilson says, youneverknow.

it's been reported a number of times from print; there are several reports on the Eggcorn Forum, though they haven't made it into the database.  one commenter suggested "weary" is a blend of "leery" and "wary".  (there might also be some influence from "weary of" 'tired of'.)

it's hard to know what to do with this one.  as Damien suggests, some speakers might just be raising /ae/ before /r/.  but then, other speakers might interpret this raised vowel as a token of /i/, in which case /wiri/ would be spelled WEARY.

arnold

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