Keeping socks in a draw

[CatCaretaker]

Where did draw as a misnomer for drawer come from? I never heard it until I joined Mumsnet (though I'm Irish so maybe it's not a thing here). Is it that a certain accent masks the 'er' in drawer? It drives me bonkers.

There's a trending thread right now, but the OP said draw instead of drawer, and all I want to do is reply correcting her (I won't obviously)! How has she reached this age (middle aged from context in the thread) with nobody having asked her why she is saying draw instead of drawer?

Common misspelling in deepest Naaaarfak. (Norfolk!)

if somebody said 'chest of draw-ERS' I would think they were a bit weird, I've never heard anyone pronounce the 'er'.

Shouldn't that be Chester Draws?

🤪🤪

Well it's because people don't read books so never see the written word. With the exception of those with dyslexia, poor spellers are generally those who don't read books (I don't include newspapers as some of the spelling in those articles is shocking).
It's pronounced 'draw' so unless you'd seen it written down, how would you know how to spell it correctly?
English is a very odd language.

In my accent drawer and draw are pronounced the same.

It's because they're thick as shit and can never have read a book, article or even read the description when buying one. My 10 year old granddaughter has known the difference between draw and drawer for years.
Presumably only a few accents pronounce the end syllable, I've only ever heard drawer pronounced like draw.

I think the Irish pronunciation is different. My Irish friend can't believe that English people produce the -er at the end of a word the same as an -a. Eg creeper and pizza.

They aren't, at all! This is what I'm misunderstanding I guess. The obviously are pronounced the same way in some parts.

I've never heard anyone not pronounce the 'er'!

Consensus seems to be that it's pronounced draw, which it absolutely is not here, so that's the answer I suppose. I genuinely did not realise that the 'er' was not pronounced in some parts.

Mine too!

we Scot’s pronounce the second syllable. It’s not a long ‘er’ but we certainly roll some rrrs after draw so it’s like draw-rrrs

and it doesn’t sound the same as draw

How is draw pronounced? One syllable or two? I'm not sure where a second would come from but I'm just trying to understand. Is there only one syllable in drawer?

Seeing "draw" when you mean "drawers" physically pains me!!!! Drawers!!!!

Yes. Regular southern English and they sound exactly the same.

In my accent the ‘aw’ sound is the same at the end of draw, floor and store. In drawer the ‘ee’ at the end isn’t pronounced at all.

Yes, in my accent the “er” at the end of drawer is effectlvely silent.

i do pronounce “creeper” and “pizza” slightly differently, though!

One syllable for both.

Drawer is two syllables in my world.

And mine.

My socks are in a basket, on a shelf, so no drawer needed.

We like our r's in Scotland. If we mumble drawer or say it fast, we still don't drop the r, instead it becomes more like dror.

Draw and drawer sound the same here too - I've a generic southern england sort of accent.

One syllable. Rhymes with for/four (which are also the same), law, more, pour (which is the same as paw), door, gnaw (same as nor), or (same as ore)... Can't think of any more -or sounds, but I'm sure there are some I've missed! 😂

I'm English. I wouldn't pronounce the two words very differently. I might just hold on a little bit longer for drawer but it would sound much like the way I say draw.

I typed this last night and forgot to send it, so I will now. It doesn't add much but MN always seems to get upset if I start to write a post and then decide not to push it.

Thanks everyone! At least I can understand now why the mistake is made, and I think it'll irritate me less for that reason!