Scone or scone?

Duck59

Duck59

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It is English Language Day and linguists have revealed that the pronunciation of 'scone' has nothing to do with being posh. It's entirely a geographical thing.

So, long o or short o? Me? Short.
 
Because of the e at the end, we say it with the long o, as in sk-own.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone call them sk-ah-ns.
 
buckytom said:
Because of the e at the end, we say it with the long o, as in sk-own.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone call them sk-ah-ns.
Click to expand...

The short 'o' is as in 'pond' or 'gone'. I say both long and short version, depending on - well I'm not sure what it depends on! I am struggling to remember how my parents pronounced it (they were from Hampshire and West country). I think they pronounced it with the long 'o'. So this must mean that I grew up with that and then got posh! I associate the short 'o' with posh whatever linguists might say.
 
"Scoan".

Not that I eat them.
 
Here is a map showing the areas of pronunciation. As we see, the north of England and Scotland pronounces scone to rhyme with gone. Interestingly, to me at least, there is a strong scone-to-rhyme-with-cone around Yorkshire and the north Midlands. The differences in Ireland are especially notable. (Sorry, I studied linguistics and find these things fascinating.)

scone_rhyme_with_gone.png
 
Its also a class thing I believe. I always thought scone rhyming with gone was the posh version. But that was me growing up in the South.
 
I cannot believe that someone found the time to do that. :eek:
 
Duck59 said:
On that theory, just about the entire population of northern England, Scotland and the six counties would be posh...
Click to expand...

Does that cover "Shotts"?

["Shotts is a small rural town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow (21 miles) and Edinburgh (29 miles). At the 2001 census, the population was 8,235. Of these, 4,240 were confirmed alcoholics, 2,520 were psychopaths, and the rest were in jail"]

Only joking, it's a lovely place. They have bars with mesh on the inside and the outside of the pub windows.

Shotts-murder-Glasgow-Scott-Mackenzie.jpg
 
Last edited:
In fairness to the researchers and the study, it was about how regional dialects change, which is a huge subject, so it wasn't simply a case of finding out how people pronounce one particular word.
 
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