Mark your diaries, polish your picnic hampers, and ready your sun hats – the Cannes Cannes Express Companions’ Summer Party will take place on Wednesday 25 June 2025.
This year’s gathering promises all the hallmarks of a splendid Cannes Cannes Express evening: good company, chilled rosé, soft grass (possibly) underfoot, and of course, a generous helping of cream scones. Yet the very mention of those innocent-sounding baked goods can divide a room faster than someone suggesting margarine over butter.
The great pronunciation debate: is it scone as in gone, or scone as in stone?
Let us begin with the facts. Both pronunciations are correct, and both have centuries of usage behind them. The word itself comes from the Dutch schoonbrood or perhaps the Gaelic sgonn, depending on which etymologist you ask before they fall asleep in their teacup. But somewhere along the way, it split – rather like a well-baked scone itself – into two camps.
In Northern England and Scotland, gone is the norm. In the South, particularly in more refined drawing rooms, stone is favoured. Naturally, class sneaks into the bunfight. Some insist stone sounds more proper, others argue gone is the original and thus the truer form.
So what’s a Companion to do? The answer is true Companionship. Blend in. Sip politely. Choose your pronunciation like you choose your wine – to suit the occasion.
Because in the end, it’s not how you say scone that counts – it’s how you serve it.
A hesitant scone is worse than a stale one.
To register your interest in attending the Cannes Cannes Express Summer Party on 25 June 2025, please email: voyages@cannescannesexpress.com .