The contrition and shame of inappropriately creaming your scone

March 12, 2018 1:52 PM

Hello. Do you eat correctly? Do you spread or dollop your cream? Do you use science? Do you have no shame? In Cornwall, the jam is applied first. But in Devon, the cream has been applied first for the last 1,021 years. While all this may confuse German tourists and future Royals (say it like this), issues are further muddied by opinion pieces and afternoon/cream tea differences. However, to widespread disgust, a person in Cornwall recently used the Devonian approach, continuing the conflict (more). Unfortunately, in apologising (Facebook) to dissuade a boycott or membership cancellations, a photograph of a scone containing sultanas exacerbated tensions. (compromise) There is - currently - no hard border between Devon and Cornwall, despite the recent conflict. God Save The Queen.
posted by Wordshore (69 comments total)

You wouldn’t put cream on the bottom of a fruit salad.

what is happening
posted by grandiloquiet at 2:00 PM on March 12, 2018 [6 favorites]

Those people (points in that direction) disgust me.
posted by Wordshore at 2:01 PM on March 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

NO! NEVER!!

Your list is invalid. Tea goes in after milk.
posted by joelf at 2:04 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Team JamFirst here. Would totally eat dairy despite its effects if I could have Cornish Clotted Cream which I have not thought of in years, and, dang, that's the stuff.
posted by theora55 at 2:05 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

I thought about posting this Lanhydrock controversy, but I knew Wordshore would do a better job of it! Thanks for the links.
posted by stillmoving at 2:18 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

All I know is that scones, jam and cream can lead to violence, double crossing, heartbreak, and suicide.
posted by zamboni at 2:22 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Just a regular coffee and a chocolate glazed donut for me, thanks.
posted by ardgedee at 2:22 PM on March 12, 2018 [7 favorites]

Your list is invalid. Tea goes in after milk.

Milk goes in last if you're a hoity toity upper cruster who will fire your footman or whatever if he brings you spoilt milk for your tea.

Milk goes in first if you're a frugal salt of the earth working class type who needs to have a sniff to make sure the one jug of milk he shares with his twelve closest relatives hasn't gone off.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:23 PM on March 12, 2018 [5 favorites]

I'm guessing that most of these folk would be horrified to see what we call a scone here in the states.
posted by octothorpe at 2:24 PM on March 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

After the election of Trump, I took down my U.S. flag and burned it. Now I fly the flag of Cornwall, not just on St. Piran's day, but every day. I make pasties a couple of times a month (always with swede, never carrots). And every now and then I'll make some clotted cream. Jam first for me, the great-great grandchild of Cornish tin miners.
posted by rikschell at 2:28 PM on March 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

I remember when Helen and Olly did their series on Britain, the subject of jam/cream order came up and it was question fraught with peril.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:30 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Wait, a tea is a scone? This is like pants and fanny all over again!
posted by rodlymight at 2:34 PM on March 12, 2018 [5 favorites]

An Englishman I worked with many moons ago let me know about the jam-before-cream thing, and I have to say I've been a fan ever since, despite the relative difficulty of application.

British scones are more or less like American biscuits.
British biscuits are American cookies.
American scones are an abomination.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:38 PM on March 12, 2018 [9 favorites]

Wait, a tea is a scone?

Tea is both a beverage and a meal where the beverage is consumed.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:40 PM on March 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

If British scones are more or less like American biscuits, why are you bothering with jam and cream? Classic shit on a shingle recipe. Mmm hmm, that's the Army's way of reminding you how much Uncle Sam loves you.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:48 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've never understood the milk-first logic. It scalds the milk -- slightly, but noticeably, producing an off-texture on the palate. And the ratio's never quite right -- I always end up with too much, requiring me to top off again with tea. And if one is reduced to mug-and-tea-ball/bag service, as one often is, milk-first means your cuppa will never brew quite properly. The only practical reasoning I think I've ever seen is tobascodagama's above re: spoilage concerns. Otherwise... why? It's just not sensible!

Also, butter > jam+cream in either order you please fite me

Also also who can get exercised about inappropriate order-of-condiment-operations when there are MONSTERS afoot putting sultANAS IN SCONES
posted by halation at 2:50 PM on March 12, 2018 [7 favorites]

Mother from Greenock, Scone like gone for me and she made the BEST. Miss you Alice.
posted by markbrendanawitzmissesus at 2:53 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

If British scones are more or less like American biscuits, why are you bothering with jam and cream? Classic shit on a shingle recipe.

Shit on shingles is on toast. That's what the shingles are. The toast. That you ladled the shit over.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:06 PM on March 12, 2018 [16 favorites]

MetaFilter: like pants and fanny all over again!
posted by nickmark at 3:06 PM on March 12, 2018 [8 favorites]

This is getting too complicated. I can't drink in a pub with a flat roof, I can't put milk in my tea first, or maybe I can? And I need to consume "jam" now? Christ, I'd hate to think what would happen if I'm wearing the wrong football jersey.

Tell me more about the French Fry sandwiches again.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 3:30 PM on March 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

I guess us "on the side please" folks would cause an international incident.
posted by sammyo at 3:33 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is getting too complicated.

You're right. Forget about it. Here, have a hotdog. With ketchup on it.
posted by Splunge at 3:49 PM on March 12, 2018 [7 favorites]

Milk goes in first if you're a frugal salt of the earth working class type who needs to have a sniff to make sure the one jug of milk he shares with his twelve closest relatives hasn't gone off.

I just sniff the jug. I'll suffer vlack tea if it's sufficiently off.
posted by Dysk at 3:49 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

We took the QM2 to and fro a few years back. Most people put on a pound a day from a cruise's buffets, I put it on from the daily scones and clotted cream.

My goodness. Zero comparisons to SoS. Like, at all.
posted by hwyengr at 3:54 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Tea also means supper, in addition to a drink and an activity.
posted by stillmoving at 3:55 PM on March 12, 2018 [5 favorites]

Tea is both a beverage and a meal where the beverage is consumed.

It's also the dried leaves of a plant which you dump wholesale into a harbour shortly before going off on a massive sulk, like a hormonally-raging teenager to his bedroom, that is 242 years and counting. But, anyway.

I can't drink in a pub with a flat roof

You can, and it will be cheap; you just don't put any of the barbeque sauce on the food in there.

I can't put milk in my tea first, or maybe I can?

Not in polite company, or if you are trying to impress an English lady.

And I need to consume "jam" now?

Daily.

Christ, I'd hate to think what would happen if I'm wearing the wrong football jersey.

That's fine. But you may want to avoid doing it in the flat roof pub unless you can run really quickly.

Tea also means supper, in addition to a drink and an activity.

Yes. So it can be eaten in the evening, so long as it is not dinner, or drunk during the afternoon during an activity with the same name, or a different name (cream tea) where the cream is in the scone (but there can also be an optional different kind of cream in the drink). Hope we are all good, now.

Fucking hell, this is hard work. MetaFilter is going to lose its shit when we have to do the cob/bap/roll thing.
posted by Wordshore at 4:11 PM on March 12, 2018 [25 favorites]

Tea also means supper, in addition to a drink and an activity.

It's rather more complicated than that. Broadly speaking, there's a linguistic divide that is regional and class-based. In the North, and amongst the Working Class in the South, the meals of the day are: Breakfast, Dinner (at midday) and Tea (on arriving home from work around 5:00pm). In the South amongst the Middle Class the meals are: Breakfast, Luncheon (at midday), Dinner (around 8:00pm)

Amongst the leisured wealthy the full list is: Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, High Tea, Dinner/Supper (depending on time and complexity of the meal). Nobody actually does this any more.

The words you use for the meals you eat are a very broad class signifier. Everyone in Britain is giving off class signals all the time. The broad divisions are somewhat visible to outsiders. The subtle, tiny subdivisions of class and status are almost invisible to people who didn't grow up with immersed in this stuff. Every culture does this, but the British have an astonishingly fine-grained and opaque version.

It's one reason I emigrated.
posted by Combat Wombat at 4:16 PM on March 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

Jam on the bottom (ooh er, missus), cream on the top, BUTTER to seal both cut edges. Milk after tea and don't give me any of that "poshos drink it like that" nonsense; my mother was the daughter of a transplanted Yorkshireman and herself was a tea ninja and would have it no other way.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 4:32 PM on March 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

The more I learn about the UK the more I think it should be banned until we figure this whole thing out.
posted by runcibleshaw at 4:37 PM on March 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

In the South amongst the Middle Class the meals are: Breakfast, Luncheon (at midday), Dinner (around 8:00pm)

It's rather more complicated than that. As you rightly say, the British give off class signals all the time. Whether you say Lunch or Luncheon is one of these indicators, the class boundary of which changes according to which part of the South (and, arguably, the South West) you are in. So in one area, people right up to lower middle class might say Lunch, with those of a higher class saying Luncheon, whereas in an adjacent area Lunch might only be uttered by people from upper working class and lower, or even lower classes than that.

Also, we have (or had) Luncheon Meat, which can complicate issues if it is eaten by someone having Lunch and not Luncheon. Though whether he or she puts it into their sandwich or sarnie will also provide a useful clue as to their class and sub-class.
posted by Wordshore at 5:29 PM on March 12, 2018

Breakfast... luncheon... dinner....
The real question is: just how definitive is Tolkien on this?
posted by TrishaU at 5:39 PM on March 12, 2018

I've never understood the problem with cream teas. There are five unarguable reasons why the proper - nay, the only - order is scone, cream, jam.

1. Jam is runnier than clotted cream. (And don't even THINK of using any other cream format.) Thus, if you - shudder - put the jam on the scone and the cream on the jam, the cream will slide all over the ruddy place, as the jam being lighter and flowier will act as lubricant. Jam-on-cream, not having to support the weight of the denser medium is inherently more stable.

2. Interstitial dental stickage. Again due to the relative viscosities of the component parts of the stack, putting the jam on top means a much easier removal of any residual shards of cream tea from between the teeth - less adhesion between the top of the stack and the upper gum, and the base-of-stack scone will easily crumble away from the lower mandible. The stickiest, most dentally troublesome layer - the clotted cream - is held away from gums altogether, and thus post-consumption dental cleanliness is facilitated.

3. Seepage. Again, the higher availability of solvent in the jam will lead it to seep into the scone, if it is allowed to come into direct contact. This invites catastrophe. The structural integrity of the scone, which has to provide the basic framework on which all depends, will be compromised; the distinct multi-textural mouthfeel of a well-constructed cream tea diminished, and frankly you might just as well liquidise the whole flipping lot and spoon it in like baby food, suitable only for a less developed, more infantile and perhaps more fractious people than the sturdy Devonians, who are not afraid to experience things with variety and challenge.

4. Jam degrades more slowly under UV rays and is less prone to attack by pathogens, and thus makes a far safer and more stable shield for the cream tea, enabling a more leisurely and pleasurable period of consumption under the permanently sunny, cornflower-blue skies for which Devon is famous, and a healthier experience in the germ-ridden, fly-blown, fungus-spore-laden air of some other placesl.

5. In all matters, deferring to the unparalleled good taste, superior perceptions and technological excellence of Devon has proved the safer, wiser, and generally more civilised path since aurochs trod the moors.

My first cream tea was taken on Widecombe-in-the-Moor at the age of five. It was not the last, and I can attest personally to all matters submitted above.

I hope this brings matters to a seemly conclusion.
posted by Devonian at 5:51 PM on March 12, 2018 [32 favorites]

posted by Devonian

Don't make me say it.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:59 PM on March 12, 2018 [16 favorites]

I seem to recall being told that putting the milk in before the tea causes your children to have red hair, but I have no idea what the mechanism of this might be.
posted by Fuchsoid at 6:13 PM on March 12, 2018 [5 favorites]

I seem to recall being told that putting the milk in before the tea causes your children to have red hair

That is biologically correct, and Ed Sheeran's mother confirmed that she always made tea in this unconventional manner.
posted by Wordshore at 6:18 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

If British scones are more or less like American biscuits, why are you bothering with jam and cream?
What is wrong with you


Devonian, it does not.
posted by glasseyes at 6:27 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I put the cream on first because I'm gonna be having about an inch of it and that's just not structurally stable on jam.
posted by lucidium at 6:28 PM on March 12, 2018 [6 favorites]

That problem, like many, is solved by butter
posted by glasseyes at 6:30 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

proved the safer, wiser, and generally more civilised path since aurochs trod the moors

yes but if you're having an auroch for tea you must put the jam on first as the cream will slide right off its hair
i seem to recollect a passage in one of the Nesbit books that covers this
posted by halation at 6:36 PM on March 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

Amongst the leisured wealthy the full list is: Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, High Tea, Dinner/Supper (depending on time and complexity of the meal). Nobody actually does this any more.

*waves from the Commonwealth*

Mind you, over here it's less than a wealth thing, so it's always tea time somewhere for someone. I actually remember a notice at the national library listing all the break times and it included morning tea (10ish after breakfast) and afternoon tea (4.30ish). And in other situations, going for high tea used to be a popular option for a fancy day out.
posted by cendawanita at 6:39 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

On the subject of clotted cream, does anyone know about this "cabbage cream" dish mentioned on the wikipedia page? It seems to suggest something like multiple sweetened layers of clotted cream skin, but trying to trace the reference back to what I could google of the recipe book online I could only find things that were more like regular trifle recipes.
posted by lucidium at 6:41 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

does anyone know about this "cabbage cream" dish

There's a version in The Queen-Like Closet, along with a great many other dainty curiosities. I think I may have run across it in a few other slightly later cookbooks. I suspect it would be something like a Viennetta, but squashier?
posted by halation at 6:55 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

As an Australian in a working class family I grew up with breakfast, lunch and tea being the three main meals, as noted in the vegemite ad. For whatever reason tea has now changed to dinner for basically everyone I know, so I associate calling the evening meal "tea" with the 1980's rather than with class.

I have no idea of the mechanics of any of this.
posted by deadwax at 7:16 PM on March 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

Well this American can't even get past the word "cream," which in the U.S. means the heavy, fatty part of milk. Which I assume is true in the U.K. as well, but here it means clotted cream, yes? Ok. I'm guessing it's something in between (unsweetened) whipped cream and cream cheese. Fair guess?

BTW the U.K. has more interesting dairy products than the U.S.
posted by zardoz at 7:33 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Social signalling in the UK is a fascinating exercise in anthropology. I understand it from an English perspective.

The single worst thing that can happen to an English person is to commit a social faux pas. We can tolerate world wars, poverty, slightly inclement weather, and the French, but a single moment of social embarrassment is death.

One of the worst ways to commit such a faux pas is to act outside one's station. Every English person knows precisely where they fit in the social web. One simply knows ones place. Relative class privilege drives every single human interaction. It would be a serious social crime to act with the wrong degree of privilege, status, and formality.

A worse crime would be ever to admit that this entire structure exists. We all pretend it's simply not there. This causes a challenge. How to signal one's status with absolute precision, and how to identify the exact status of everyone you interact with without admitting you're doing it? This has to be achieved without error in a matter of seconds.

This is why social signalling in the UK is so utterly fascinating, and it's the reason why we pretend to care about jam on scones. It's because, while it all seems terribly amusing to outsiders, it really fucking matters.

Jam before Cream means "I am proud of my Cornish heritage and understand the history of Cornwall's relationship with England. In particular, I am thriftier and better at managing scarcity than those profligate idiots from across the Tamar."

Cream before Jam means "I am from Devon and have the wealth of our dairy industry to lavish on an afternoon treat. Unlike those miserly and, frankly, untrustworthy, people to the West, I can afford some luxury."

Serving it outside of Devon and Cornwall while calling it a 'Devonshire Cream Tea": We will not speak of such people here.

The British - and the English in particular - pretend this whole thing is a bit of a lark. It's not. It defines our identity.

I will note that I moved 17,000kms to get away from the whole thing.
posted by Combat Wombat at 7:39 PM on March 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

Ok. I'm guessing it's something in between (unsweetened) whipped cream and cream cheese.

What it is, is pure delight.

Oh, you privileged, to be arguing about which way to routinely apply it to your baked goods. (We have it in the U.S., obviously, but it's a relatively pricey semi-specialist item.)
posted by praemunire at 8:21 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

I will note that I moved 17,000kms to get away from the whole thing.

And yet.
posted by Devonian at 8:25 PM on March 12, 2018 [10 favorites]

Basically, your cream stance depends on whether you think of the clotted cream as analogous to butter (which goes on first) or to whipped cream (which goes on top of things).

I think of clotted cream as basically *almost* butter, so I spread it on the scone and put the jam on top. Raspberry for preference-- its tartness complements the cream, while strawberry is too sweet. Blackberry is also acceptable.

Also, if you've never had a scone with clotted cream and lemon curd, you haven't lived.

As for Devon and Cornwall: I love both. The bones of Devon are red sandstone; when taking the train westward from London, the red cliffs of Teignmouth and Dawlish with their wind-worn curves are the most beautiful sight. On any hillside in summer you may see a flock of pink sheep, their wool full of red Devon dust.

And then the train takes flight out of Plymouth, over the Tamar tide-flats on Brunel's great bridge, and the next land you touch is Cornwall, whose bones are jagged black slate with the occasional slender vein of white quartz.

Which is to say: if you have a chance to go to either Devon or Cornwall for tea, or both, definitely do that. The whole thing is about to go straight to hell: the farming and fishing which sustain both places will be hit hard if Brexit happens, so tourism will soon be their major source of income. So have some tea, and some Cornish Yarg while you're at it.
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:23 PM on March 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

1. Jam is runnier than clotted cream.

I have a jar of fig and ginger jam that begs to differ.
posted by flabdablet at 10:04 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

Garius' ode to caff tea is pure poetry.

no fackin scooownes or clattted cream needed!
posted by lalochezia at 11:25 PM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

We can tolerate world wars, poverty, slightly inclement weather, and the French, but a single moment of social embarrassment is death.

Either you're exaggerating your countrymen's positive attributes or things have simply changed since you left, but there was that while business about a dramatically disruptive vote because of, essentially, the French being found to be intolerable...
posted by Dysk at 12:58 AM on March 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

We haven't even mentioned the whole 'Scōne vs. Scone' thing have we? Using a long 'o' or a short 'o' to pronounce 'scone' is a very strong location signifier that people care about deeply.
posted by Combat Wombat at 2:11 AM on March 13, 2018 [4 favorites]

You beat me to it! Scone Pronunciation Map.
posted by Catseye at 2:17 AM on March 13, 2018 [4 favorites]

Milk in tea? Bah. Bah.

If I can't use it to tan leather, it's not proper tea.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:36 AM on March 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

> There's a version in The Queen-Like Closet
Thanks! That's just about what I was picturing, it sounds like you could scale it down to a reasonable size too.

> but here it means clotted cream, yes? Ok. I'm guessing it's something in between (unsweetened) whipped cream and cream cheese. Fair guess?
To my mind, Milk : Cream :: Cream : Clotted Cream. It even has its own, new sort of layer that rises to the top.
posted by lucidium at 6:08 AM on March 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

I have a jar of fig and ginger jam that begs to differ.

Yes, but that stuff's real spoonbender, closer in nature to degenerate matter than the berry jam used for cream teas. I dare say after the heat death of the Universe, the only baryonic matter left will be the dead cores of stars and pots of fig and ginger.

I heartily concur with the recommendation to visit Devon and Cornwall if you can. The train journey from London to Penzance is long but, once past Exeter, full of delights. The coastline is stunning, the uplands and river valleys indecently beautiful, and if you do a bit of planning you can find all the ages of mankind dotted carelessly around the landscape. Much under-appreciated too, and under-explored; I spent a lot of time walking on Dartmoor, where there are tons of drystone-walled field systems that, at the time, everyone just assumed were medieval.

Turns out they're middle Bronze Age, so if you fancy walking through a place that hasn't changed much in nearly 4000 years, there's your chance. Or if you fancy chasing spooks, there's another field system in Cornwall where the various landing points for transatlantic data cables are routed to anonymous GCHQ facilities; harder to spot, but the clues are there.

All that, and a tasty cream tea to round off the day.
posted by Devonian at 6:39 AM on March 13, 2018 [6 favorites]

In America, servers say Scōōōōōōōōne, and correct me if I ask for a scon, the way my Scottish mother taught me. Relatedly, they say brushetta and correct me if I ask for brusketta, the way my Italian father taught me. Thank you for listening.
posted by Gnella at 6:54 AM on March 13, 2018 [10 favorites]

To me clotted cream is more like somewhere between butter and cream, than anything to do with a cream cheese.
posted by koolkat at 6:58 AM on March 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

Cornish Yarg is an excellent cheese, but on reading Pallas Athene's link I was a bit surprised to find that the name is just a reversal of the name of the Grays, who revived the recipe, rather than something folkloric and Cornish.
posted by Fuchsoid at 7:22 AM on March 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

From the Buzzfeed guide "British Food, Explained For Americans" from about a year ago:

* You see, different areas of Britain have fierce rivalries over exact descriptions and origins of food. Cornwall and Devon, two counties right next to each other, have firm disagreements over who invented the pasty and in which order you put cream and jam on a cream tea.
* Jam encompasses everything you think of as jelly, because we think of jelly as something we eat with ice cream.
* Meanwhile, a cream tea is what you might think a biscuit is, which in the UK is a sweet food. Do not put gravy on it. Also what you think of as gravy is in fact some sort of sausage jizz, and what you call cookies are actually biscuits.
* You would also not put cream on waffles, because waffles are made of potato and look like this. Unless they're Belgian waffles, of course.
posted by Wordshore at 7:25 AM on March 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

The train journey from London to Penzance is long but, once past Exeter, full of delights.

Not that you should bypass Exeter entirely. There's a gorgeous cathedral there, the remains of a Roman wall, and what's left of a castle that gets mentioned in Shakespeare. ("When last I was at Exeter/The mayor in courtesy show'd me the castle/And call'd it Rougemont...") It's mostly the gatehouse and a crumbling wall or two now, but it's still worth seeing. If you're after something a little more modern, you can check out Gandy Street downtown and see the area that inspired Harry Potter's Diagon Alley. (J.K. Rowling is an Exeter alumna.)

Man, I miss Exeter sometimes.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:35 AM on March 13, 2018 [6 favorites]

Having lived in Plymouth for two years I’m just stopping in to recommend Tudor Rose tea house in the Plymouth Barbican for your cream tea needs. Om nom nom. We had them cater our day-after-wedding brunch. And the cream obviously goes on first.

And yes, the train ride from Exeter on is really lovely.
posted by olinerd at 7:31 PM on March 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Also, if you've never had a scone with clotted cream and lemon curd, you haven't lived.

I have not yet lived. But I long for the day when I become a real girl. Lemon curd is my heaven.
posted by harriet vane at 8:02 AM on March 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Clotted cream (proper clotted cream, not the stuff that can be bought in jars) is lightly cooked cream and takes several days to make. Here's the segment from the May episode of Edwardian Farm in which Ruth learns to make clotted cream. And here's a recipe.
posted by Lexica at 8:50 AM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

"Your list is invalid. Tea goes in after milk."

Gross, the only thing that goes in tea is ice or coffee.

"In America, servers say Scōōōōōōōōne, and correct me if I ask for a scon, the way my Scottish mother taught me. Relatedly, they say brushetta and correct me if I ask for brusketta, the way my Italian father taught me. Thank you for listening."

Is that unusual? I don't thin kit makes a lot of sense to do some awkward faux accent pronunciation of a food once it's been incorporated into the culture of the language being used. Should I adopt a mock italian accent when I say "spaghetti" or should I stick to how we say it, like, "spageddy."
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:38 AM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I don't think I'm going to take pronunciation advice from someone who ruins perfectly good tea by adding coffee (or perfectly good coffee by adding tea, for that matter).
posted by tobascodagama at 11:37 AM on March 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Words of foreign origin do shift in pronunciation, but there's changing a word's pronunciation due to the local accent and then there's doing violence to it. Pronouncing "bruschetta" as "brooshetta" is more like calling spaghetti "pasgeddy" than "spageddy". Similarly, I'm sure my pronunciation of "Chianti" would make a fluent speaker of Italian wince, but at least I'm trying for "ki-ahn-ti", not calling it "chee-ann-tee".
posted by Lexica at 2:30 PM on March 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Is that unusual? I don't thin kit makes a lot of sense to do some awkward faux accent pronunciation of a food once it's been incorporated into the culture of the language being used. Should I adopt a mock italian accent when I say "spaghetti" or should I stick to how we say it, like, "spageddy."

I'm very sorry to correct, you but I think you mean "buhskeddy"
posted by The Gaffer at 7:57 AM on March 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

@andypowe11: More snow sounds bad in Devon - weird, you would have thought that in Devon the snow would fall under the jam and there wouldn't be a problem with surfaces being slippery.
posted by Wordshore at 2:03 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]