Draw vs drawer

[iliketea]

First step to pedants corner. Can someone please confirm to me that "drawer" is correct as opposed to "draw" as in a chest of drawers. I work with very educated and intelligent people and every one of them writes draw instead of drawer, and i'm beginning to doubt myself. I'm scottish and pronounce the word draw-er, whereas all my colleagues are english pronounce it draw.

I'm pretty sure i'm right, but beginning to doubt myself. So who's right? Me or them?

[HauntedLittleLunatic]

I think you are correct but my spelling is crap.

[SazZaVoom]

You are correct. They are all numpties.

HTH

[BonnyBanks]

Regardless of how you pronouce the word it is spelt "drawer".

I'd never seen anyone spell it "draw" until Mumsnet. I'm reasonably tolerant of typos etcbut this one makes me grind my teeth in annoyance...

[Shodan]

It is indeed drawer.

Not draw. And especially not 'chester draws'. [hangry]

[Shodan]

BonnyBanks- sadly I have noticed 'draws' becoming far more prevalent, particularly in newspaper adverts. It is very annoying.

[CitizenOscar]

It is drawer. I also work with lots of people who don't know this.

[WipsGlitter]

I never saw 'draw' until I came onto mumsnet. The first time it took me ages to work out the poster meant drawer as. Her post was making no sense as I was reading it as draw. I'm not surprised at your colleagues. Someone in my work who was presented as the best thing since sliced bread, Oxbridge etc doesn't know her effect from her affect. I judged.

[HoneyPablo]

I love chester draws. I see it all the time on freecycle

[AgentProvocateur]

I came into Pedants' Corner to start a thread about the very same thing! I've never seen it written as "draw" anywhere except MN, and at first I didn't know what posters meant when they "put something in the draw".

I also think it's a pronunciation thing. I'm Scottish too, OP, and to me it has two syllables - draw-ur.

It's annoying me almost as much as people who write "rediculous".

[Sammiez]

or "definately"

[Red2011]

"Drawer" is the thing in furniture. You draw it out of the body of the cabinet.
"Draw" is what you do with pencils, crayons, pens and lots.

I find it really irritating when they get transposed.

[plupervert]

I once saw "draws" in a real, printed book. It was from a very small press, but it made me very cross, not least because I could see how desperately they needed a proper editor (or editrix - like me! ), yet knew that was impossible, due to their financial state.

[hocuspontas]

Another one here who has never seen it spelt 'draws' apart from here.
How do you spell it when it refers to knickers?

[plupervert]

Probable "undees" or something similarly illiterate, *hocuspontas"! "Pants" isn't too hard to spell, either....

[NormanTheForeman]

Drawers are the things in chests of drawers or are undergarments. Draw is what you do with a pencil, or a weapon.

[hocuspontas]

Aah yes, just checked Urban Dictionary. The word for undercrackers is spelt 'drawers'.

[plupervert]

Do you think anyone will go away from this thread determined to be "correct", and commit the howler: "Hanged hung, drawen and quartered"?

(For added anti-pedant points, one could add an Oxford comma: "hanged, drawen, and quartered".)

[lurkerspeaks]

How funny to find this thread as I have got a reasonably new friend who constantly talks about the kitchen draws.

I'm Scottish and it would quite definitely be a kitchen drawer in my book. Now I'm aware of this mispronunciation/ misuse I've noticed other people doing it. I wonder if there is regional variation - my friend is from the midlands and the other folk I've heard doing it were also from around there.

Does anyone know? I know as a Scot we have some idiosyncratic language usage which would be consider correct here but odd or wrong down South eg. I might say "my Gran stays in North Edinburgh". A more English phraseology would be "my Gran lives in North Edinburgh".

[MirandaGoshawk]

Don't know about that but I too worked with a very competent secretary to the top bloke in the firm who wrote me a note that some file or other was in the bottom draw of the cabinet.

[chickenspots]

draw instead of drawer and brought instead of bought both drive me wild and I see them both used online frequently.

[EmJamGreen]

I've just been looking at a new fridge/freezer on Homebase and the whole write-up says draws not drawers!!!!!
Surely companies such as this should employ someone with a brain and some basic level of education to at least proof such things.
I could go on all day about mis-spellings, my biggest pet hate, however no-one is really interested I'm sure, so now that I've vented my anger I'll get on with something more productive!
Sorry!!!!

[FondaFan]

In case anyone should think that spelling "drawer" correctly does not matter, I recommend the film "The Wrong Man", 1956, starring Henry Fonda.

[princessx]

This has reminded me of what I used to call a chest if drawers: digestive drawers. In my defence I was 5, but I remember thinking why do you get digestive biscuits and digestive drawers, I couldn't see a connection.

I've not noticed the draw/drawer thing, but I'm sure I now will and I'll get duly annoyed each time!