It’s an age old debate that’s divided households and caused arguments among lifelong friends – how, exactly, are we supposed to say the word scone?

Some people prefer to rhyme it with the word ‘gone’, and others will insist that it should sound just like ‘bone’.

But now new research from across the country has finally found the most popular way for scone to be pronounced in the UK, and the result was almost as close as the EU referendum.

It seems the majority of British people, 51%, choose to say scone as is in ‘gone’, while 41% will say scone as in ‘bone’.

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The survey also found differences on saying scone depending on region and class.

People living in the North and Scotland overwhelmingly use the ‘gone’ pronunciation but those further south in the Midlands and London, are more likely to go with the ‘bone’ option.

The YouGov survey highlighted the divide over how to pronounce ‘scone’. YouGov

The way Britons say the word scone is also determined by their class according to the survey, with working class people evenly split over the pronunciation.

However, among the middle classes, the divide was more obvious with 55% more likely to go with the ‘gone’ rather than the ‘bone’ option.

Do you put jam on a scone before or after clotted cream? PA

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And of course no debate about scones would be complete without settling the other question about whether it is best to put jam or cream on it first.

On this issue the overwhelming favourite was jam first with more than six out of ten people saying they prefer this method rather than the so-called ‘Devon’ approach of putting cream first and then jam.

But even if we can’t agree on how it’s said, one aspect of scones that is indisputable, is that afternoon tea is never the same without them.