Scone -- rhymes with "John" or with "Joan"?

[pne]

If you are from the UK, how do you pronounce "scone"?

Comments

[swelegant.livejournal.com]

I have quite a few English friends, and I've heard them pronounce it both ways. I reckon it's one of those pronunciations that comes down to personal preference.

IMO, the correct way to pronounce it is skon.

Speaking of ways to pronounce words, what really irritates me more than almost anything is when people pronounce vase as "vayze" instead of "vahhz".


How are you and your lovely family going?

[pne.livejournal.com]

Speaking of ways to pronounce words, what really irritates me more than almost anything is when people pronounce vase as "vayze" instead of "vahhz".

I think "vayce" is also common, especially in the States. Sounds strange to me as well. It's always "vahhz" for me.

How are you and your lovely family going?

Thank you; well, for the most part. Stella was a little ill earlier this week but seems to have have the worst of it behind her. Amy is growing and discovering new things (such as sucking on her sleeve!) and making us happy.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I say "vayce." The rest of my family (mother, sister—never heard my dad say it!) says "vahz" though.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

Hearing "vahz" in these parts (Mid-Missouri) is sufficiently rare that I take notice when it happens. In my experience, the people who say it are usually being pretentious; born and raised with the same accent I was, but trying to sound sophisticated.

[swelegant.livejournal.com]

I'm glad Stella is getting better :) Good to see that you're all happy :):)

And vayce? Arrgh! That's just as irritating as vayze! >:(

Now, because I'm a bit bored, I went to a forum I post on and asked the same question. The thread is here (http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=95972). Although, only people registered with the forum can read the threads. If you don't want to register, I'm happy to keep you updated on the poll results.

[pne.livejournal.com]

only people registered with the forum can read the threads.

That's OK; BugMeNot had a username/password pair for the forum. I shall have to read it when I have more time.

[swelegant.livejournal.com]

Do you know of any other sites that are like BugMeNot?

[pne.livejournal.com]

You mean, that offer username/password pairs for sites that require free registration? No, I don't know of any others.

[pne.livejournal.com]

I went to a forum I post on and asked the same question.

Thanks! A little bit of interesting information, a lot of off-topic squabbling, and a link to an extremely interesting document (http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/scone.pdf).

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Scone rhymes with stone

[pne.livejournal.com]

Oops, I just saw that the link I had was to a particular comment thread rather than to the entry itself. There are two polls at the top of that entry (depending on where you grew up); perhaps you can cast your vote as well.

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

Exactly!:)

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Gareth pronounces it to rhyme with "John" except that all his pronunciations (and vocab) are getting more Americanized so I've heard him pronounce it to rhyme with Joan a few times.

On an almost-unrelated note, our local supermarket (best known for having inedible fresh produce) has a bakery that makes credible British crumpets. Gareth is very happy.

[pthalo]

i'm from the US, but it rhymes with Joan.

[marikochan.livejournal.com]

I'm from the U.S. and I say "scone" rhyming with "Joan" and "vayce."

[robnorth.livejournal.com]

I'm Canadian and I rhyme it with "John". But in my experience, Canadians are about 50-50 on "John"/"Joan".

As for "vase", most Americans I've met say "vayce", and most Brits say "vahze". Canada, as always, goes down the middle; some say "vayce", some say "vahze", and a surprisingly large number split the difference and say "vayze". I usually say "vahze", but it's common enough in Canada that no-one blinks.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm a "John"-rhyming Canadian. And vase rhymes with flaws.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Grr, not thinking straight. Scone rhymes with "Joan", not "John" for me.

[pne.livejournal.com]

vase rhymes with flaws

First time I've heard that pronunciation!

(Unless you also rhyme "father" and "bother", I suppose, so your "long-ah" and "long-aw" phonemes are not separate as they are in my idiolect)

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Yes, I rhyme father and bother. They're both /A/ (or possibly /Q/, I've never gotten a clear handle on the difference between those two sounds). I never know which words have which vowel that other people distinguish.

[robnorth.livejournal.com]

Yup, us Canadians are pretty lazy with our vowels. "Father" rhymes with "bother", "ant" rhymes with "aunt", "lot" rhymes with "caught", etc. etc.

And we don't say "oot" and "aboot"! We just don't emphasise each vowel in the "ou" diphthong as much as Americans do; we sort of gloss it together into one compromise vowel sound that isn't "short oo". For me, I think it's a kind of "eh-oo" diphthong, rather than the "ahh-oo" that (I think) most Americans use.

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

I'm not British either. But I've got an interesting pronunciation set, so I thought I'd share. A scone from a bakery or coffee shop, etc., rhymes with Joan. A homemade scone rhymes with John, but the plural of homemade scones varies erratically.

[angelsk.livejournal.com]

rhymes with John, but I can say either - depends on my mood.

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

Almost everyone in Australia pronounces it to rhyme with "John". Those few who don't are usually British tourists... :)

In the same way, "vase" is definitely vahz in Australia, not vays.

[xtremesaints.livejournal.com]

totally pronounce it like "joan" but I think the posh people does so with
"john" :D

[alsatia.livejournal.com]

So making a reference to "Scone Cusack" would be very confusing? ;)

[pne.livejournal.com]

Potentially, at least -- since people seem to be rather divided :)

vase vs vase

[(Anonymous)]

Since at least the 50s: if it costs more than $50 it's pronounced vahhz, otherwise it pronounced the other way.