Do YOU know how to pronounce Blue Riband? (2024)

Nestle has announced plans to move production of the bar to eastern Europe
It has made social media users realise that the bar is not called Blue 'Ribbon'
FEMAIL has also settled the pronunciationdebate once and for all

By Imogen Blake For Mailonline

Published: 15:25, 25 April 2017 | Updated: 16:16, 25 April 2017

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It's a debate that has divided schoolchildren for generations: how do you pronounce the name of the classic break time treat, Blue Riband?

Now the mystery of the lunchbox favourite's name has resurfaced, after Nestle announced today it is planning to move production of Blue Riband from the UK to Poland.

It prompted dozens of people to express their shock at learning the wafer bar is not actually called 'Blue Ribbon', as they had mistakenly believed for years.

Blue Ribands - a wafer bar coated in milk chocolate - are associated with school lunchboxes and have been made in Britain since 1936

Many people have incorrectly believed for many years that the bar was in fact called Blue 'Ribbon'

News of the production move has sparked a debate about whether to pronounce the name of the bar as Blue 'Ribbund' or Blue 'Ri-band'.

People are evenly split as to which pronunciation is correct - but there is in fact only one right way to say it.

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A TV advert from 1985 reveals that the bar is pronounced Blue 'Ribbund' rather than emphasising the 'band' in the chocolate treat's name.

But many people are still convinced that the chocolate bar used to be called Blue 'Ribbon' - in a perfect example of the so-called Mandela Effect.

They're not too far off the mark though as the word 'riband' is defined as 'a ribbon', one that is usually awarded for a particular achievement.

If you thought it was called Blue 'Ribbon', you're not alone - but the bar has always been called Blue Riband

It's a debate as old as time - but there is only one way to correctly pronounce Blue Riband and the emphasis is not on the 'band'

What is the 'Mandela Effect'?

The Mandela Effect refers to the phenomenon of large groups of people all having the same alternative memory of a past event.

Other examples of the effect include misremembering the classic 'No, I am your father' line from Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back.

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The plans to move production to Poland were made public today alongside Nestle's announcement that it is to axe almost 300 British jobs at factories in York, Newcastle, Halifax, and Girvan.

Nestle has denied the move is down to Brexit, but an industry source speculated that the company was trying to avoid higher import costs as a result of the pound's devaluation, as most of the ingredients for Blue Riband bars are imported.

Blue Riband has been made in Britain since 1936 and is primarily consumed by the UK market - meaning it will have to be exported back into this country if production moves to Eastern Europe.