Pronun of Forever

I was looking for the right pronunciation of the word "forever" and
both, M-W and Encarta gave me two distinct pronunciations, one being " fo:révvər and the other one fr, fərévvər".

Which one would you, native speakers, say is the most widely used and where?

"Forever" is simply the two words "for" and "ever" joined, thus: faw-evuh or fuh-evuh. The final R is there simply to tell you that the penultimate letter E is pronounced, in contrast to the word "eve", where the E is not voiced.

Similarly, the first R in "forever" alerts you to pronounce the first syllable as "faw" rather than "foh".

I myself say fur-revver. Oddly, I don't have to be reminded to pronounce that penultimate E..... I have to, in order to get to my ultimate R.

At least here, both pronunciations exist, which one being used essentially depending on stress. In unstressed positions, "forever" is generally pronounced as [fR="E:vR=] here, while in stressed positions "forever" is [fo:"RE:vR=].

Note though that my dialect is rather weird when it comes to rhotics; my [R=] is equivalent to GAE [@`] and my [R] is equivalent to GAE [r\] here.

Thanks folks, you're the best of the best.

<<"Forever" is simply the two words "for" and "ever" joined, thus: faw-evuh or fuh-evuh. The final R is there simply to tell you that the penultimate letter E is pronounced, in contrast to the word "eve", where the E is not voiced.

Similarly, the first R in "forever" alerts you to pronounce the first syllable as "faw" rather than "foh".>>

This is the non-rhotic pronunciation. Interesting point you made. I didn't now I understand why you don't pronounce r's, they're there to remind some other vowel must be pronounced. If you put it that way, then non-rhotic pronunciations turn into a very consistent system. What do you think guys?

<<I myself say fur-revver. Oddly, I don't have to be reminded to pronounce that penultimate E..... I have to, in order to get to my ultimate R.>>

uh-uh. That's what happens when you analize a non-rhotic accent from a rhotic-speaker perspective. However, Rhotic pronunciations are also very consistent since the precense of the letter implies it's pronunciation.

Very, very interesting indeed. What's your opinion on this, my friends?

"the non-rhotic pronunciation" ... There is no one non-rhotic pronunciation. I'm stating the obvious only as a lead-in to my pronunciation.

/fO:.r\e.v@/ i.e. as "faw-re-va".

But, yes, non-rhotic pronunciation are as consistent as rhotic ones. That /r\/ is a linking r.

Would it sound wrong if I said that I just say 'fer-ever'? Or is that just me being lazy?

<<Would it sound wrong if I said that I just say 'fer-ever'? Or is that just me being lazy?>>

Not at all. A lot of people (me included) say "fer-ever." That's [f@`"E:v@`] in X-SAMPA. If I were specifically stressing the word it might be [fOr\"E:v@`] for me, however.