On Nantucket, the word is pronounced scollop. It has been pronounced this way since 1659. Visitors often smile when first hearing it, knowing how the outside world homogenizes. They are charmed by, perhaps even envious of, Nantucket’s tendency to cling quaintly and stubbornly to her independent ways.
No doubt the twenty-six miles of ocean between Nantucket and America have protected and nurtured this tendency. And in truth this stubbornness, this obstinate independence, is hardly considered by islanders a noteworthy trait. It is more like an expected one. Maybe even a necessary one. And is the main reason why, when there remains only one fleet in the entire world harvesting natural bay scallops, it will probably be Nantucket’s.
And it will still be pronounced scollop.
Photos and text copyright Jim Patrick and Rob Benchley, 2002
