in Derbyshire scone rhymes with 'bone' & in Durham with 'gone'

September 28, 2024 8:07 PM

Scone geography (languagelog). Include the geographically distribution of cream first or jam first scone eaters. For North Americans, how do you pronounce pecan (mefi's own languagehat)? Bonus post on regional pronunciation: Lima, Ohio and Cairo, Ohio.
posted by spamandkimchi (30 comments total)

interesting. when I use the plural, its pi-Kahns but singular, pe-CAN. huh.
posted by clavdivs at 8:11 PM on September 28 [3 favorites]

OK North Americans, how do you say "pasta"? Does bag rhyme with rag or rig or? How do you pronounce...pronounce?

And BTW where I live it's scone as in bone and rarely with jam.
posted by Zedcaster at 8:20 PM on September 28 [1 favorite]

I think the Mexicans have this right, where a pecan is simply called a nut, because it's the gold standard — and all other nuts must be specified.
posted by ssg at 8:33 PM on September 28 [2 favorites]

OK North Americans, how do you say "pasta"? Does bag rhyme with rag or rig or? How do you pronounce...pronounce?

PAWstuh, rag, proNOUNtss
posted by Foosnark at 8:34 PM on September 28

Best recent radio moment:*

Nick Abbot: "Sounds like you're eating something."

Caller (chewing): "I'm sorry, just a scowne I'm finishing."

Nick Abbot: "Sconn?"

Caller: "It has done now, I've swallowed it."

I keep thinking Nick must have set that up.



*Yeah yeah, except for the O'Brien Farage Farrago the other morning...
posted by Rat Spatula at 9:36 PM on September 28 [2 favorites]

sgg: I think the Mexicans have this right, where a pecan is simply called a nut, because it's the gold standard — and all other nuts must be specified.

In Portugal the standard "noz" is walnut Juglans regia. Closely related (same botanical family) to peecan Carya illinoinensis and other hickories Carya spp.
Team scone (I made a batch yesterday and they are all) gone.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:34 PM on September 28 [2 favorites]

I once met a girl at Girl Scout camp who pronounced scones "scums" and absolutely insisted that was how it was spelled as well. I think about her basically every time I eat a scone, which is frequent
posted by potrzebie at 11:09 PM on September 28 [8 favorites]

The map suggests my neck of the woods is split with regard to scones, which yeah, that tracks with my experience. Interesting that both "scown" and "sconn" territory are north of here.

(As someone who learned English in, well, England, I find all this peKAHN/peCAN stuff weird. To me it's always PEEcan, emphasis on the first syllable, like a WALLnut or PEAnut, unlike a wallNUT or peaNUT which would be similarly weird.)
posted by Dysk at 11:19 PM on September 28 [3 favorites]

The clear solution here is simply to stick to almonds.
posted by taz at 11:40 PM on September 28

ALmonds, or AHmonds?
posted by Dysk at 12:01 AM on September 29 [3 favorites]

Look, it's perfectly simple: before you eat it, it's scone. After you eat it, it s'gone.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:02 AM on September 29 [3 favorites]

ALmonds, or AHmonds?

uhoh. I thought I was safe there. I'm just going to sit in the corner and gnaw on some sunflower seeds.

But as to the original War of the Nuts, I must say that for me a PEE-can is something one is forced to use when the toilet is out, while a peh-CAHN is what we use to make delightful divinity and pralines ... speaking of which, this battle really cannot be considered serious without also addressing the Pray-leen, Prah-leen divide. I'm a peh-CAHN Prah-leen enjoyer, myself.
posted by taz at 12:08 AM on September 29 [1 favorite]

I must say that for me a PEE-can is something one is forced to use when the toilet is out

😂

So I guess my pronunciation is more like PEEkn. You definitely don't say "can" as part of it!
posted by Dysk at 1:35 AM on September 29 [2 favorites]

. I'm just going to sit in the corner and gnaw on some sunflower seeds.

Is that sunflower as in “the sun flowed into them” or “the seed-bearing part of the plant is named for (following) the sun”? :)

I kid, but that “sun flowed into them” definition is pretty neat, even though I just made it up.
posted by ambrosen at 3:41 AM on September 29 [1 favorite]

I call pecans whatever will put ‘em in my mouth. Which leads to, how does one pronounce “praline”?

There is a North Carolina coastal town named “Corolla.” Locals know outsiders when they pronounce it like the Toyota (ka-RO-la) while they use “ka-RAH-la.”

Here in NY we have Schroeppel, which is pronounced “scruple” and Chili, that’s CHY-ly.

Home is whatever you call it.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:15 AM on September 29 [1 favorite]

Hmmmm...
When I eat the nuts, they are Al-monds
When I eat the candy bar, it's an Ah-mond Joy
posted by BlueHorse at 7:14 AM on September 29

My partner always thought she hated scones because they were inherently dry (we live in the US), and then we went to Ireland. I don't know what the difference is between US-made and Ireland-made scones is, but it is DRAMATIC.
posted by curious nu at 7:49 AM on September 29

There is a North Carolina coastal town named “Corolla.” Locals know outsiders...

Many years ago, a friend and i (both Brits) visited New Orleans. One day, we were wandering round the French Quarter looking for a street our map had marked as "Chartres". Whenever we stopped a local to ask directions, we'd dredge up our best schoolboy French to ask for "Shah-truh Street". We always got a blank look.

Finally, someone caught on and said "Oh, you mean Charters". Turned out we were only a couple of blocks away.
posted by Paul Slade at 7:59 AM on September 29 [3 favorites]

From the Lima, Ohio and Cairo, Ohio, link:

"Valparaiso is colloquially known as Valpo."

Which is interesting to me because the Valparaiso in Chile is also called Valpo.
posted by signal at 8:41 AM on September 29

Mis(to me)pronounced Spanish names in California always trip me up. I used to live in the bay area, and there was a town called Vallejo. I needed to go there once (before smartphones et al), so asked some locals. They gave me blank stares until I figured out they pronounced it Vah-ley-oh, instead of Vah-ye-ho.
posted by signal at 8:47 AM on September 29 [3 favorites]

Are there any U.S. raised people who say scone with the o of gone? I always always pronounced it to rhyme with own (but the own of own goal and NOT the own of town and gown, ah goddammit English language orthography.)

FYI, the mascot of Lima Ohio is Beanie the Lima Bean, which hopefully helps with pronunciation unless lima bean is pronounced lee-ma bean everywhere else. (Larry the Lima Bean is a band)
posted by spamandkimchi at 8:47 AM on September 29

Finally, someone caught on and said "Oh, you mean Charters".

There's a lot of this sort of Anglicization of French in North America. For instance, I grew up not too terribly far from Petit Jean State Park. It's named after a most-likely-mythical 18th-century French woman who disguised herself as a man and took the name "Jean"...hence "Petit Jean". The locals pronounce it "Petty Gene", though.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 9:24 AM on September 29

I grew up in Seattle, and we used to get a CBC channel that I think had a transmitter in Bellingham. So I'd pick up a lot of Canadian advertisements as a result (Some of which baffled me, because in the US "Smarties" were packed sugar pucks like more citrusy Parma Violets, but in the UK and Canada they're basically M&Ms).

The one thing that made me laugh was the Mazda ads. Because of course in Seattle all the ads pronounced the brand name pretty closely to the way it's said in Japanese: MAHzduh (ignoring the syllable collapse there) with the "A" sound from "father". But the Canadian ads used the A sound from "apple", making it sound like MYEAHZduh. I remember the first time I noticed that folks in the rust belt of the US tended to do this as well.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 10:31 AM on September 29

I also remember a flatmate from the east coast apologising to me in advance, because he elided the middle of the word "drawers", making it "draws". I guess it was something Californians had mocked him for.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 10:33 AM on September 29

Which is interesting to me because the Valparaiso in Chile is also called Valpo.

While Valpariso, Florida, is known as "Val-P"
posted by Ranucci at 12:47 PM on September 29

Anglicization of French... Up the top of Maine there's Calais, which I believe is pronounced "callus".

It isn't just French! Coming as I do from Wales, don't get me started on Bryn Mawr, PA.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 1:07 PM on September 29 [1 favorite]

Val-P, Val-E
In the 1990s I was part of an EU quango. The Madrid node was run by two effectives: José-Maria and José-Ramon. They were affectionately known as Hose-A and Hose-B.

I see your Bryn Mawr, and raise you Notre Dame?
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:24 PM on September 29

Versailles, Kentucky is pronounced ver-sales.
posted by caviar2d2 at 3:30 PM on September 29 [1 favorite]

Mis(to me)pronounced Spanish names in California always trip me up.

taquito boyfriend's from San Jose, I tried to tell him something about San Rafael once, rah-fie-el

him, "what state is that in?"
me, "California?"

long puzzled pause, then "OH YOU MEAN SAN RUH-FELL!"

don't even start me on Los Gatos
posted by taquito sunrise at 9:18 PM on September 29 [2 favorites]

elided the middle of the word "drawers", making it "draws"

Hence the old joke "winter drawers on".
posted by Paul Slade at 1:27 AM on September 30