I already do this with the word "solder" which confuses my fellow Americans greatly. They seem to think I'm lying that the L is sounded out in some other English speaking countries.
I just think the American pronunciation (SAW-dur) sounds wrong.
It was friends and YouTube content creators from the UK that made me realize that dropping the L isn't done everywhere else. I grew up thinking that it was just one of those English words that break all the pronunciation rules.
You say that, but there's the anachronistic nautical slang "soger" for an inept or lazy sailor. It came from the soldiers assigned to British navy ships, who did not participate in the sailing of the vessel.
I'm in the US and I've never heard anyone pronounce it "SAW-dur" in person or in any form of media. You are supposed to pronounce the L in the General American accent.
If you use Google's word pronunciation tools, both General American and Received Pronunciation pronounce the L in soldier.
Edit: I like the downvotes to all my comments without anyone showing me people pronouncing it that way.
I think this is a misunderstanding. The poster you're replying to is talking about solder, not soldier (which you wrote, assuming that's the word you meant). Solder, as in a soldering iron, is pronounced Saw-dur in the US. Ya dingus 😉
Can you link me a to a clip or a pronunciation source that has someone pronouncing it like that? I've never heard that anywhere in my life. I'm guessing it's a less common accent.