"bored of... "

Is "bored of... " replacing "bored with" and what about "bored by"?

It seems so. See More bored of than before and some other Language Log posts for some evidence — try a site search for "bored of".

Interesting. As a relative youngster, this is the usage I've always known. Thanks for enlightening me:)

This was a usage I had as a tween (before that was a word) in the late eighties/early nineties, but which I've since... outgrown? My mother found it particularly ridiculous, being of the school of thought that only boring children were bored and therefore having little or no sympathy for the condition, and having in general even less sympathy for unidiomatic/ungrammatical usage. I do seem to hear it more often these days, even from non-tweens, but it bugs me now, because I am slowly but surely turning *into* my mother.

I can't exactly comment on this (this post is clearly a counter-example to this claim...) except to say since I have no recollection of ever being bored, I don't need to know how to say it. :)

Oh, I've been bored by boring things like teacher "in service" nonsense and faculty meetings, but I've graduated from all that and can now simply avoid potentially boring situations. "bored of" just strikes me as rather dumb and weird.

This conversation is really scrambling my brain. I've heard "bored of" many times, and it doesn't sound weird at all. In fact, my anecdotal experience with it had led me to believe that it was an old usage that was phasing out, whereas the comments here make it seems as though it's a new usage that's being phased in. I am thrown for a loop.

The logic must come from "tired of." If you can be tired of something, of course you can be bored of it... happy of it? Pleased of it?

Interesting thought, ambushed.

Here's what was written to her mother by an adult daughter (who has recently completed her primary-school teacher training) regarding "bored of"/"bored with":

"maybe it's a plural thing? If i was bored with computers in general but my computer is my friend and i am bored of it?"

I despair.

And then there's Bored of the Rings ... could it have all started 40 years ago?

11: It's so funny you should mention that. Until now I never got the reading of "bored with the Rings" from that title...always just thought of it as a word substitution that made a meaningless phrase only indicating a general dislike of the trilogy.

Thrin
I think I agree with the daughter's phrasing. Let me try to elaborate, if I can. (This is a usage I've never consciously thought about until now, so please bear with me if this is a bit murky.)

To me, bored by seem to indicate that something/someone has actively bored me, while bored of (like 'tired of, as ambushed points out) simply means that I have lost interest.

Thus I use bored of when refering to an action (eg. bored of waiting, bored of (playing) this game, ...), but I might used bored by to refer to a person or inanimate thing (eg. bored by her, bored by his speech, ...).

And an additional note: As a general rule, I don't use 'with' phrases much at all, and they seem somewhat dated to my ears, as if they embodied a way of thinking/speaking that isn't very common among my 20-something generation (I'd subsitute usages that seem less passive: vexed with - vexed at, pleased with - proud of, etc.)

Very interesting, monarchi. Thank you for taking the time to elaborate on the thinking behind these usages. I had absolutely no idea what 'the daughter' in Message 10 meant. I'm glad I've lived long enough to see/hear all these fascinating developments in the English language (even if the newer language is sometimes utterly incomprehensible to some of us in the older generations).

I would hate to set myself in opposition to Samuel Johnson on this one, but was not his statement:

"... when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life ..."

essentially a justification of using 'bored of' in a similar context?
.

Sick of it and tired of it but bored with it.

Sick to your stomach? or Sick at your stomach? I grew up saying the first. But now I avoid the construction entirely and say "My stomach is upset."

Sick to your stomach. I've never heard the other.

I've never heard "sick at your stomach," either.

"Just thinking about how that poor man was treated makes me 'sick to my stomach'."
Yes, I've used that expression, but not for some time. Never heard 'sick at my stomach' though.

Neither of the above are meant literally of course, whereas surely 'My stomach is upset' is, or is it?

Sick in my stomach?

Sick to my stomach is only metaphorical to me. Otherwise it's "I'm sick in my stomach", or more likely, "My tummy's sore/upset" or "I feel sick".

Just a couple instances of "sick at stomach" I found searching the web. I think I may have first encountered it in some British drama or other. I can hear a Yorkshireman saying it in my head.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address...

http://www.justanswer.com/questions/gowt-feel-sick-stomach-often-number

Maybe there's some suggestion bias here, but I'm pretty sure I use "bored of" and I've never been criticized for it.

Reminds of how I somehow picked up being "excited for" events.