wear/put on

[kukinecka]

Hello everybody,

in a sentence: I've got red hair, so I never put on/wear red clothes or I'd look silly.

Why is wear better than put on?

Thank you!

[magdalena]

I would say both are ok.

[BobK]

I would say both are ok.

(except for the 'never').

Hello everybody,

in a sentence: I've got red hair, so I never put on/wear red clothes or I'd look silly.

Why is wear better than put on?

Thank you!

'Wear' is habitual or descriptive (habit - 'he always wore'/description - 'he was wearing')
'Put on' refers to an event. (To make it descriptive, use 'have on' - 'She had a red coat on' = 'She was wearing a red coat.)

So the red-haired person doesn't wear red clothes. But on any particular day s/he doesn't put on red clothes either. But as s/he is unlikely to have bought any red clothes in the first place, 'put on' is unlikely to be used. It could be though, with - say - borrowed clothes.

b