Is the word 'draws' now an acceptable way to describe 'drawers'

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I have read this on a number of threads now, people writing 'I put it in the draw' or I am looking for new 'draws' or the worst yet was a 'Chester draw'

How has this happened?

Is it not corrected in school? Or is it an evolved use of language? I can't get used to it. But I am old..

I've used "should of" before instead of "should have".
Mainly because in real life I would never bloody say "should have" I would say "should've" and in my accent I pronounce them the same.

Just like "would've" sounding the same as "would of"

Chester draws and chest of drawers sound the same too.

I think the main issue is that with text speak and things like facebook, the phonetic, shortened, incorrect spellings and use of language just get absorbed, accepted and then spread like wildfire.
If those same people have never been exposed to the correct spellings or haven't read very much in their lives, they will only have what they hear or see on social media to go on.

The one I hate is gorjuss. Which seems to have been accepted by the yoof as normal. Partly due to those craft kits with the odd little girls on by the same name.

This is my biggest pet hate I actually scream internally when I read or hear it!

I bloody loved that ShakeofFara thread! Cried laughing.😂

Yip i also say draw and drawer differently. Draw and drawER. Scottish too.

As someone up thread said - if a child spells it draw it will be corrected (if that is what the marking policy of that particular school states - all are different)
It's not a commonly used word though.

Svmer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu.
Sing cuccu!

English has been evolving for centuries. It grows, adapts, and changes according to the social and political situation of the time. This is partly why English has such a rich literary history. So I can't get too angry about common mistakes in grammar and spelling because it's part of a process that is centuries old. Even Shakespeare couldn't work out how to spell his own name...

Ugh. I cringe every time I see draw written. I'm Scottish and do pronounce the -er. Don't ever read something like the Argos website reviews of chests of drawers. It will make your eyes bleed. It's baffling because these people have actually bought an item called, say, Bramlington Chest of Drawers but still manage to refer to draws.

It's lack of observation and misspelling.

Plus in this day and age we are exposed to the misspellings of hundreds of people daily online and on social media. Pre internet we just weren't exposed to it. The written word was usually edited, proof read and printed. Maybe the occasional draw would be misspelled in a for sale ad in the newsagent's window.

Aibu to say that now I'm wondering when we'll be having an Easter tat page? Secretly enjoyed the Christmas one!

I have a Master in Eng Lit and tbh have never said 'drawers' in my life ... no one in Yorkshire does I think. I think I would write 'chest of draws' and it has never really occurred to me to use drawers. But I also say droring rather than drawing ( obviously don't write that one incorrectly). Oh god ... I never realised I was so wrong all the time 😂the W sounds just aren't natural in my mouth

Although this is one case where some judges in these comments need to realise that Britain does have a variety of dialect and in some of those the word drawer and draw are pronounced exactly the same or only with a slight tonal difference. We don't all speak in RP.

Of course language evolves - that is the beautiful thing about it. In today's day and age where so many different languages are casually rubbing shoulders and shaking down together in countries where once never the twain would have met, this is doubly true. It's a truly lovely thing, to hear language marching on.

But there is a world of difference between legitimate evolution and being wrong.

The word f*ggot going from meaning a bunch of sticks to something very offensive - evolution. (Not condoning the use of this word as an insult at all)
The word gay going from happy, to homosexual, to today's indult du jour, evolution. (Not any happier about this, ftr). Also gay, iirc, had yet another connotation BEFORE it meant happy.
There are more examples, but this is already edging out of "rant" territory and into the realm of "diatribe".

But draw in place of drawer? Is wrong. It's like confusing you're/your and there/their/they're - they are not interchangeable, you are not contributing to evolution, you are just wrong.

Sometimes pedantry is less a "big up to yourself" and more an expectation that your fellow human can, should, and must do better. The sheer laziness that contributes to the vast majority of poor spelling and grammar is the problem here. Of course there are those who have their particular challenges and struggle with these things, but they are the minority. Far more often the problem simply is that people can't be bothered doing it right. For me, it's the laziness that bothers me more than the error itself. Fair call if you make a bit of a bish with your typing, we've all done it. It's the people who blatantly say "oh, I can't be bothered with all of that" that bothers me.

And of course, because Murphy's law, I typo'd in my own rail against poor spelling and grammar D: That should, of course, have said insult. Not indult.

Pack lunch instead of packed lunch.

Mash potato instead of mashed.

"He text me" instead of texted.

Just, why?! It's basic past tense!

Also, why oh why join words together when writing them? For example: thankyou, alot, everyday....!

It's not acceptable and I judge people that do it.

I admit I get annoyed when seeing the mistakes mentioned in this thread, but:

1. Poor spelling and grammar are nothing new. There was no halcyon era when everyone spelled and wrote properly. We just get the opportunity to see people's errors much more now than we did due to social media. Those who think there was a 'good old days' are deluded.

2. If communication is not compromised by the error, it doesn't really matter. There are no 'rules' in English, only customs that have become generally accepted.

3. It equally annoys me how superior people can get who identify such errors, as though they are a better, more virtuous person because of it.

Is that the same for people who struggle with maths and other things then? They just can't be arsed? I think the people who can spell drawer but choose to spell it draw are in the minority. Maybe the poor spellers that irritate pedants so much have other strengths such as the emotional resilience not to get worked up about spelling mistakes made by other people
It just strikes me as a bit pathetic really. You can spell drawer - well done. So can my 7yo.

Can anyone tell me when did TOILET become a verb?

My DC regularly say "I'm going to toilet" and it doesn't matter how many time I say THE, they still use it as a verb - it totally wrecks my head.

ShakeofFara I think that makes me your mumsnet maw! I might start a thread in baby names about it 😂

There isn't such wiggle room in math as there is in English/language, though.

2+2=4, and that's a fact, and so if you say 2+2=5, you're just wrong lol. So there's no wiggle room for "math is evolving".

Drawer is correct, draw is wrong (in this situation, when referring to a chest of drawers), but if I point that out, I'm a pedant and "language is evolving".

As to laziness in math vs. laziness in written English, I think it's because like a PP said, we're seeing more written language because of the internet. So the laziness is more obvious. Laziness in math has more real-time, real world repercussions, too - easier to get ripped off at the supermarket if you can't work out how much change you ought to have been given, for example. With English there's this set who are making excuses for the laziness, by calling those of us who are putting in the effort "pedants".

If caring makes me a pedant, then I guess I just have to wear my pedant badge proudly. Because I do care. It kills me that I take the time to have pride in my written expression, that I truly believe that most people (those without genuine learning disabilities, that is) could also attain a superior level of written communication if they just bloody try - I have faith in and expect the best from my fellow human beings, no matter how naive that makes me - and the person in this equation being ridiculed isn't the lazy ones not bothering to try, it's me, because I'm a pedant.

For the record, I never for a moment intended to criticize or bag out people who genuinely struggle - my mother is dyslexic, and she tries, and she tries, but she makes a lot of mistakes. But for me, that's the difference. She isn't pooh-poohing correct spelling and saying she can't be bothered. As I said before, those are the ones that bother me.

Three story house is the usual American useage. American spellings and useage are another way the Queen's English is corrupted.
I attended a Anglomanic school, and read lots of British books, so am a bit midAtlantic at times.

Interestingly, current Linguistic research suggests that the English that came over with the colonists has been preserved in some small way, while the English in the UK has continued to evolve.

This is borne out by the similarity of dialect and pronunciation of certain phonemes in places like, Ireland for example, to places like the deep South of America (I think. I don't have the study close at hand right now!)

So I think words like "corrupted" are a little harsh.

(I know Ireland isn't part of the UK, that was poorly phrased and I own that)

What an earlier poster said, it's wrong and lazy. It will come back to bite the user when they get into a business environment where, e.g., emails are formal business documents and not just at least partly conversation.

Language evolves, but as someone else said, there's a difference between being acceptable and being wrong. English is still, and will remain, the dominant international business language although bastardised by American usage, so it's important that people speak and write it correctly, otherwise it will reflect badly on them, especially in the view of people whose first language is something else.

I'm a retired typographer, typesetter and proof reader; and along with that, a bit unwillingly, a copy editor. My German, Italian and French-speaking clients were particularly insistent on correct usage. I don't think that's going to change.

Trout you're right! Hi Maw!!!

So you don't accept that people have strengths and weaknesses in different subject areas unless an actual learning disability is involved then? I don't agree that most people know how to spell drawer but can't be arsed with the er. Most people who write draw think that's how it's spelled. They are wrong but I don't think anyone deserves such bile for not knowing something. As others have pointed out it is pronounced draw in a lot of the country so an easy mistake to make.