Re: OT: Two countries separated by a common language

On Friday, May 16, 2003, at 09:31  AM, Douglas Koller, Latin & French
wrote:

> David asks:
>
>> Just checking. Scones are the same thing in both countries, right?
>
> In everyday parlance, "scone" for me is just a highfalutin word for
> an "English muffin" (so you can charge an extra dollar for it at a
> restaurant brunch). Technically, though, scones seem denser somehow.
> Perhaps less baking powder?/soda?. Too, while there are English
> muffins with raisins therein, it seems to me you can more easily get
> away with currants or raisins in a scone. And we say /skon/, not
> /skOn/. Other than that, yeah, they're identical.
Um, I have a different understanding of scone. Locally, a scone is a
bit of bread dough which has been deep fried. It's also called frybread
and has been adopted by the Native Americans of the region; a Navajo
Taco is a large flat piece of frybread with pinto beans or chili,
shredded cheese, lettuce and onions. There's even a chain of fast-food
restaurants called the Sconecutter which uses this fried bread as the
basis for sandwiches, etc.

I never had an English scone until my wife made one one day. Very tasty
(it was savory, with bacon bits and cheddar cheese).

Dirk

--
Dirk Elzinga
Dirk_Elzinga@byu.edu

"I believe that phonology is superior to music. It is more variable and
its pecuniary possibilities are far greater." - Erik Satie