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?

I’m in Ireland and aural is said as ow-ral where I am. So au makes the same sound it does in Strauss or Faust. Maybe this pronunciation was just adopted for clarity though, I’m not really sure.

Yep I say it the same

Just say a really deliverate 'er' at the end of draw, as if you were puzzled by something: er...

More like the American English here:

Not exactly that, but closer. Very definite two syllables. If I was deliberately enunciating it would be draw (with aw like awe) and er like I was a confused comic book character.

Having written that I don't know how other pronounce awe 😂. I would describe it as quite a hard sound, not soft as it pour.

That's mad because they couldn't sound more different to me!

@CatCaretaker
Nah I've never heard anyone say it like that.

I asked about how you pronounce Book because my MIL pronounces it in a really weird way. Bewk.

That's a bit like trauma then ?
It's usually tr or ma is standard southern English.
But I think Americans say tr aw ma?
Is it the same in Ireland?

You've never heard two syllables in the pronunciation? Really odd to me.

I pronounce book like hook, took (rhymes with tuck).

Thank you, this exactly reflects my bafflement.

Same pronunciation for both here but it doesn't explain the wrong spelling.

No, aural has a different vowel sound to trauma.
Aural has the vowel sound in Strauss, more an ‘ow’ sound (to me, Irish). The first syllable of aural rhymes with how, cow.

Trauma is trawma, yes.

I don't mean to be horrible. Unlike many other spelling / grammar mistakes this one is so odd to me because both the meaning, the spelling and the pronounciation of the words are worlds apart (unlike affect / effect for example, whose meanings are related, or their, there, they're, which are pronounced similarly).

What I'm learning is that they're not worlds apart at all, to some. It's interesting.

Pour and paw definitely don't sound the same in my Scottish accent for the simple reason that there's an r at the end of pour and there isn't in paw.

I hated reading books to my pupils that had rhymes like farmer/pyjamas, scarf/giraffe because you just can't make them rhyme in my accent.

I always think that I have quite a neutral accent, but with all this repetition of drawer I think I can hear my irishness. I definitely don't sound American when saying 'drawr'.

Sorry, farmer and pyjamas is meant to rhyme? Just ... how?

Scarf and giraffe?? I'm back to being baffled.

Thanks for that. I did (obviously) and it still sounds the same. Like I’m just extending the w. Drawwwww.

I have but in Scousers not people from Oldham.

I can’t make scarf rhyme with giraffe but farmer and pyjama do rhyme for me and any elongation of the er sounds disastrously false in my accent. And that’s just accents not necessarily a quality of speaking. I am also well spoken in a midlands scale anyway.

@CatCaretaker I think you can make them rhyme if you have an accent that misses out the letter r.

We had the same issue in Alice in Wonderland where there's meant to be a pun about "tortoise" and "taught us" sounding the same. They do if you pronounce tortoise as tawtiss but not tor-toyz as we would

But (most) English accents say er differently to Irish or Scottish ones.

We had to ignore the English accents saying er, ar etc on the phonics recording used in school (Ireland) and teach the children the local rhotic pronunciation, which is different.

Maybe imagine a pirate sound (arrr) at the end of draw @ProfessionalWhimsicalSkidaddler. It’s not exactly that, but closer maybe?
Or there’s a link upthread with drawer said in various accents.

Me to

Same here, but aural and oral are sightly different - awe-rul and or-ul.

Ha, that’s exactly it @Sunnyout - I do sound rather like a pirate when I try and that’s not what I want to sound like 🤣

Well, it just doesn’t sound natural in your accent I’d say 😂

Chester Draws* 😉