To Avoid Linguistic Confusion.

With reference to the post On Being Mostly Inconsequential below, I thought I should point out for the benefit of any reader to whom English in not their native language (and even plenty to whom it is) that there is no such word as ‘drownded.’ The past tense and participle of the verb ‘to drown’ is ‘drowned.’

It’s just that in certain northern English dialects, some of the great unwashed prefer to pronounce it with the extra D. Furthermore, the phrase was taken from the monologue Albert and the Lion – in which the titular character is a member of the northern English great unwashed – and two syllables are required at that point to maintain the metre.

I might also stress that I, too, come from the ranks of the great unwashed who prowl the northern half of England with their rough speech and even rougher manners, which is how I know about such things. I probably pronounced it ‘drownded’ when I was a kid, although I don’t honestly remember. And still I wonder why I bother.