diff --git a/pkg/cmd/get/get.go b/pkg/cmd/get/get.go
index f1658699..31d4cbdb 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/get/get.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/get/get.go
@@ -267,9 +267,13 @@ func (o *GetOptions) Complete(f cmdutil.Factory, cmd *cobra.Command, args []stri
 	}
 
 	switch {
-	case o.Watch || o.WatchOnly:
+	case o.Watch:
 		if len(o.SortBy) > 0 {
-			fmt.Fprintf(o.IOStreams.ErrOut, "warning: --watch or --watch-only requested, --sort-by will be ignored\n")
+			fmt.Fprintf(o.IOStreams.ErrOut, "warning: --watch requested, --sort-by will be ignored for watch events received\n")
+		}
+	case o.WatchOnly:
+		if len(o.SortBy) > 0 {
+			fmt.Fprintf(o.IOStreams.ErrOut, "warning: --watch-only requested, --sort-by will be ignored\n")
 		}
 	default:
 		if len(args) == 0 && cmdutil.IsFilenameSliceEmpty(o.Filenames, o.Kustomize) {