Sir, – Una McCaffrey (“I have unlocked a new level in the game of Dublin parenting”, Features, October 5th) should stick to her Ulster (nine counties) guns and call a spade a spade (and a scone a scone).
The scone-as-in-gone pronunciation unites all Northern communities and binds us to our Scottish cousins.
The further south you go in both islands the more the bizarre scone-as-in-cone is heard.
The French have a similar problem in the pâtisserie pronunciation department. The buttery, flaky pastry with a dark chocolate centre that answers to pain au chocolat around Paris morphs into a chocolatine in southwest France. Get it wrong in Bordeaux and it costs 50 per cent more.
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At least Una McCaffrey suffers no financial penalty for sticking to her scones. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.