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Food

02nd Nov 2016

We have an official answer as to how to say scone correctly

Apparently it's scone, not scone.

Her

Is it pronounced scone… or scone?

For years the debate has raged about how to properly pronounce the afternoon treat: Do you say it scone, like it rhymes with ‘gone’, or scone, as if it should rhyme with ‘bone’ ?

It was a fiery argument. It was brutal. It caused mass embarrassment if you used the “wrong” pronunciation in a public place. It got so bad that we were tempted to be like Americans and just call it a biscuit.

We longed for an answer… so it’s rather handy YouGov just provided us with one.

According to their latest research poll, the correct (most popular) pronunciation is scone so it rhymes with ‘gone’.

But before you lose all sense of what you know, rest assured that this survey was completed in The UK.

Apparently 51% of the population over there prefer that pronunciation, with only 42% opting for the “rhymes with bone” option.

As for the spare 7%, we can only imagine they’re the type of folk who code switch.

Going deeper into the data, and how your pronounce it has a lot to do with where you live. Northerners (60%) and those from Scotland (80%) prefer the ‘gone’ pronunciation, while those from the Midland (56%) favour ‘bone’.

London is an even split.

People from a middle class background are also more likely to use ‘gone’, where as those from a working class background are more evenly split.

On this side of the pond we’re much wiser and fully aware it’s pronounced SCONE (like bone). No objections.

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