For the upcoming house purchase, Jen and I are exploring options for appliances. One such appliance, the refrigerator, has caused some mental frustration.
Annoyance: Refrigerator vs. Fridge
Where did that D come from in the abbreviated form Fridge?
After some research I’ve learned that the reasoning is sloppy. When a G is sandwiched between vowels it often creates a combo sound of d+guh, like refrigerator, regenerate, and gauge. However, sometimes when it’s at the end of a word the preceding vowel is lengthened and the G loses it’s D sound: Think Oblige or Siege. Why? I have no idea. Grammerphils care to comment?
One’s first attempt to correct this might be to remove the E at the end of the word, but that ends up making Frig rhyme with Wig.
The best way to force the pronunciation was to add a D. Think: Ledge, Bridge, Ridge, Fudge, Melissa Ethridge.
Here’s why it’s sloppy: Garbage, Pillage. Neither have the D but both have the D sound. One site suggests that this is because the accent is on the first syllable.
In conclusion: who knows? English is weird.
I’ve often wondered about that ‘d’ myself. Maybe garbage and pillage are different because of the preceding vowel being an ‘a’ whereas fridge has an ‘i’.
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