Scone or scone

[vin_petrol]

Seeing as I'm going to be baking some of these on Sunday, and I've already had one argument about how this word is pronounced...
[Poll #318194]
Yes, I have finally got a paid account.

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

bun

[vin_petrol]

TAKE MY POLL SERIOUSLY!

*pouts* and *stamps foot*

[steer.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I'm in Mel's camp -- I don't know which way I pronounce it. I pronounce it whichever way childeric doesn't. He always pronounces things wrong.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

[x] Either, at random.

(It's not a word I use often - actually I only use it when there's a sushidog tea party coming up).

Oh, and...

So how do you pronounce 'either'?

[ ] to rhyme with -- eye ther --
[ ] to rhyme with -- eee ther --

[steer.livejournal.com]

tom-ah-to

[vin_petrol]

By upbringing, -- eee ther --, with a faint idea I was saying it incorrectly. My Midlands upbringing gave me all sorts of slightly off pronounciations, so this was no surprise. I did lots of amateur dramatics, and a lot of them were beaten out of me there. Finally, in the Iron Maiden song Infinite Dreams, Bruce Dickinson pronounced "neither" -- nye ther --, so he finally convinced me of the 'correct' pronounciation, and I've been an "eye" pronouncer ever since, when I remember (so sometimes I say eeether).

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

The worst thing I got from the Midlands (Stoke-On-Trent) was the use of 'me' instead of 'my'. I'll get me coat. I hate it, but to speak "I'll get my coat" seems entirely unnatural and deeply wrong.

[ellenscult]

I say 'eether', but occasionally, for no good reason, I say 'eyether'. Scone is always to rhyme with 'gone', though. And there's no 'r' in bath, and certainly no second 'r' in grass. *grin* Just as buried isn't 'berried'. Eeee, ain't talkin' grand? *giggle*

Just fyi, my concise oxford dictionary gives both pronunciations for 'either', but remains stubbornly RP-centric (true to its origins) for the others. But it's wrong. I know it. *big grin*

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

And there's no 'r' in bath, and certainly no second 'r' in grass.

My mother says these things, which is a bit posh, and surprising because she was born and brd in Cannock which has a broad Black Country variant. Where are you from? I realised that I'd been left the Potteries for a long time when I stopped talking about "catching a buzz".

I don't trust the OED, as I once bought a pocket edition and it wouldn't fit in any of my pockets.

[ellenscult]

My parents have a fairly 'pash' northern accent. Which is odd, considering my Mum's from near Castleford, and my Dad's from a village in Huddersfield. Which is where I'm from. My accent changed a lot when I got to uni and the French girl and American girl on my corridor couldn't understand what I was saying. ;) I get a lot of queries about where I'm from, now. And when I went to Texas, they thought I was from the (US) East Coast. *grin* Confusion reigns! My work here is done. *satisfied sigh*

You need bigger pockets. Or a man-bag. *grin*

I don't trust the OED simply because the I can't afford to subscribe online, and the entire thing in books would fill a large room. Which makes me wonder just how much they've left out of my one-volume copy.

And why is the Shorter longer than the Concise? What sense is that?

[ellenscult]

That would be *pash* pronounced 'posh', of course... *sheepish grin*

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

They should have six variants - short, shorter, shortest, and long, longer, and longest. Man bags... well, there's a thing - in the 80's the alternatives, male and female alike, all had standard issue kahki shoulder bags - just big enough for a compact can of hairspray and some eyeliner, and covered in badges and DK logos in biro. You don't really see them any more.

[ellenscult]

I have a khaki shoulder bag. It fits quite a lot, though, and it came from Tescos (in the sale). And the biro is inadvertant, and there's no badges cos I'd only stab myself with them. But I like it. ;) I think you can still get those bags from the Army Navy stores...

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

There isn't such a store in Coventry any more. The times they are a-changin' (Hell, I work with art students and most of those shop at Gap it seems - there's no hope).

[blue-jez.livejournal.com]

Ditto on both counts - the two ways are interchangeable, and while I lean towards the northern prononciations when in doubt, sometime the alternative will turn up instead. I.E. Usually Grass, occasionally grars. eyether / eeether is a more ambiguous case than most.

[sarcaustik.livejournal.com]

Sc-own is falsely posh. Dreadfully new money, dahling.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Hold on - you mean both answers are posh... no wonder I don't know which to say.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Sc-own? Is that yomer?

[sarcaustik.livejournal.com]

Sc - cone.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Ah, thought yow'd gone Black Country.

[vin_petrol]

Sc-own is falsely posh. Dreadfully new money, dahling.

Really? Dunno where that came from then 'cos we had no money (new OR old) when I was growing up!

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you were too poor to have scones when you were a lad :-P

[vin_petrol]

I'm sure you were too poor to have scones when you were a lad :-P

Oooh, no. They can be easily home baked so we had LOADS of these. Scones, jam tarts, mince pies, victoria sponges, oat cakes, etc. Vast quantities of these were cooked and consumed.

We didn't have nice cream with the scones though - just margerine and jam.

When the victoria sponges started to go a bit soggy, we would have them for pudding covered in custard, something I have very fond memories of.

[pelicanzed.livejournal.com]

Why not scoon? I always thought the Stone Of Scone pronounced scoon. (Which seems rather a shame, it having a famous stone and all. Unless stoon is a valid pronunciation too.)

[vin_petrol]

Why not scoon?

When I was a sprog, my best friend at the time pronounced scone (to rhyme with -- gone --) that way, and told me it was because the Stone of Scone was *also* pronounced to rhyme with -- gone --, and so this made it the 'correct' pronounciation!

So are you sure Scone as in Stone of Scone is pronounced scoon? Is there some disagreement over how to pronounce that word too - scoon or skon? That would cause confusion. :-)

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

Scone is a place with a set pronunciation that isn't to do with accent IMO.

[suebeedoo.livejournal.com]

I pronounce it to rhyme with prune.