Division in the UK – even on scones

The eternal debate over how to pronounce scone has been going on for generations. Is it scone (as in ‘bone’) or scone (as in ‘gone’)?

Pollsters, YouGov, have just released the results of a UK survey into how we really pronounce the word scone, and where. 54,400 Brits were quizzed on the subject and the result ended up looking very similar to a certain referendum result. 51% were insistent that you pronounce it scone (like ‘gone’) while 45% voted for scone (as in ‘bone’).

UK’s geographical divide on pronunciation

There are some geographical trends, as can be expected, and the ‘gone’ sounding scone can be found predominant in the most northerly reaches of the UK where almost 90% of respondents wouldn’t budge on the issue of pronunciation. From Northumberland, Durham and Cumbria, up to the most northerly reaches of Scotland, don’t waste your time pronouncing scone like ‘bone’.

A little further south around Merseyside, Lancashire and North Yorkshire, that number dropped to just 70% in favour of the ‘gone’ sound. Only Essex (68%) and Cornwall (58%), home of the cream tea, showed that scone as in ‘bone’ outweighed any other pronunciation of the word. Most other areas of Southern England were almost 50/50 on the issue. 

Cream and jam, or jam and cream?

The highly controversial hot potato of scones didn’t stop there. YouGov also took it upon themselves to ask the British public whether one should put cream on scones first before the jam, or if it must be jam first followed by the cream! Provocative talk from one of the UK’s biggest polling companies.