Thursday 2 June 2022 01:10 PM Amazon Alexa settles the 'scone' debate for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee trends now
With their crumbly texture and smeared with clotted cream and jam, scones are a favourite treat with Brits across the UK.
But despite dating back to the early 1500s, one question remains – how do you pronounce the word 'scone'?
Now, Amazon's smart assistant, Alexa, claims to have settled the debate, just in time for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Alexa claims 'scone' should rhyme with 'gone' rather than 'own' when speaking the Queen's English.
Users just need to say 'Alexa, what's the correct way to pronounce scone?' to get the response: 'I pronounce it scone, to rhyme with gone, just like the Queen does.'
With their crumbly texture and smeared with clotted cream and jam, scones are a favourite treat with Brits across the UK. But despite dating bacck to the early 1500s, one question remains - how do you pronounce the word 'scone'?
According to Cambridge University, rhyming scone with 'gone' is much more common in the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, those who rhyme it with 'own' tend to be in the Cornwall, the Midlands and Southern Ireland. The rest of the UK seems to show a lot of variation, depending on community.
Some people in Scotland, where scones are thought to have originated in the 1500s, even use a third pronunciation – 'skoon', to rhyme with 'moon'.
According to a 2016 YouGov poll, most Brits pronounce the word to rhyme with gone – which is also the pronunciation Mary Berry uses.
Alexa has been loaded with royal trivia to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, including answers to 'how many corgis does the Queen have?', 'what is the Royal Family's surname?' and 'does the Queen need a passport?'
The smart assistant has been trained with lessons from the etiquette coach William Hanson, Royal expert Jennie Bond and the Queen's former chef Darren McGrady, Amazon says.
'When I started as a
