Why is there an 'D' in 'Fridge' but not 'Refrigerator'?

I am old enough that I actually remember this moment in the life of our family. My father came home to announce that he had purchased a large white Frigidaire to replace the squat white and red icebox in our kitchen. That made us both sad and happy. For one, it meant that the iceman, Mr. read more

There are many examples of this: badge, ridge, ledge, lodge, budge (If the adding of a D seems odd, notice that j/soft g is actually not one sound, but a combination of two: d + 'zh'; a related sound, only not using the voice is the combination t + sh, which we commonly represent with"ch". read more