But I Smile Anyway…

Scone or Scone?

Image from Google.

Ok, let me type that better

Scon or Scown?

“What is that Ritu on about?” I know you are wondering.

Well, I am just settling down with a lovely cuppa, and a buttered scone, and I felt obliged to post.

It’s all about the pronunciation, isn’t it?

What do you say?!

What is the right way?

I definitely have been brought up to say the long-vowelled scown rather than the short, sharp scon!

But what is right?

Is it a North-South divide?  Well, that places me nowhere specific, I was born and brought up in Birmingham, the Midlands, so slap bang in the middle! The funny thing… an article I read on this actual issue says that the Americans say it my way more, over 75% of those that answered a survey, yet in the UK a mere third say it ‘properly’! (Sorry about that whole Malteasers debate, y’all! I forgive you, you and me,  we are true scown lovers!)

It’s like Barclays. I say I worked in Barclays Bank, and yet I get giggled at because I should say Barclees apparently!

Am I speaking ‘posh’? I don’t think so… From a decent family, of Indian origin, I should really be saying all these things with an ethnic jiggle of the head! But no, this is how I say these words!

A little aside here but this video explains the Indian Head Shake is a great way!

Sorry, back to the matter at hand!

Yes, I went to private school so there were certain things that were frowned upon, like dropping your ‘haitches and tees’ and not wearing your hat, or eating in uniform, but I don’t remember anyone beating these pronunciations into me!

But thinking now to my present, and the whole phonic word breakdown, and how we are expected to teach children how to read, the way I say it appears correct!

Scone has what is known as a split diagraph, which is essentially a vowel with an e tagged on after the consonant that follows it.  This e stretches the vowel sound. So o becomes ow.  Make any sense? (Don’t ask me why we say one as we do, that is just the English language and all its peculiarities!)

And as for Barclays, the ay is taught as just that, a long ay sound. In fact, the lovely Ruth Miskin, who is responsible for the Read Write Inc scheme of reading and writing that many schools use, has the mnemonic “ay – May I play?” to help children remember the sound!

So, this is what Ritu sits and ponders on over a cup of tea and scone!

What do you think? Which is the ‘right’ way? ScON or scOWn?

( The article I read was actually from the Oxford dictionary’s blog, and they are none the wiser either! )