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Wed 17 Mar, 2004 09:37 pm
I never realized it before, but it's probably true that Americans are the only ones to pronounce the letter "Z" as "zee". The rest of us pronounce it "zed".
I'm especially interested in hearing from those outside of the U.S.A. and commonwealth nations to find out how you pronounce "Z".
Ha! Interesting. Waiting to hear!
It is ridiculous to pronounce it "zed." It's not necessary to explain the sound of the letter. Is there any logic behind why it's pronounced that way? Or why you don't pronounce the other letters as ad, bed, ced, ded, ed, fed... and so forth?
I admit, I say Zee not zed. And I pronounce the name of that funny striped horse ZEE-Bra, too.
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When I was in Mexico once, I was trying to take the bus to the MZ, a grocery store. Emm-Zee, I said, in response to "?Donde?"
After an embarassingly long time wherein my lack of Spanish became painfully obvious, the nice bus driver finally realized I meant Em-eh Tzay-tah.
I admit, I say Zee not zed. And I pronounce the name of that funny striped horse ZEE-Bra, too.
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When I was in Mexico once, I was trying to take the bus to the MZ, a grocery store. Emm-Zee, I said, in response to "?Donde?"
After an embarassingly long time wherein my lack of Spanish became painfully obvious, the nice bus driver finally realized I meant Em-eh Tzay-tah.
SCoates wrote:It is ridiculous to pronounce it "zed." It's not necessary to explain the sound of the letter. Is there any logic behind why it's pronounced that way? Or why you don't pronounce the other letters as ad, bed, ced, ded, ed, fed... and so forth?
That logic works in the world of SCoates....feel free to join the rest of us in the
real world!
We say zee-bra here in Canada too Piffka!
That's good to know, Caprice. It's zeuh bra, (ie, zebra with an "e" as in bed) according to my Oxford Colour Dictionary, which is the way my Brit friends pronounce that word.
Piffka wrote: It's zeuh bra, (ie, zebra with an "e" as in bed) according to my Oxford Colour Dictionary, which is the way my Brit friends pronounce that word.
Which would be like we Germans pronounce it.
Quote:One of the small matters is the name of the last letter of the alphabet. 'Z' is called "zed" everywhere in the world, not only in English but also in French, German, and most other languages, except in the United States, where it is called "zee". Hence "zee" is an American shibboleth. [J.K. Chambers, Sociolinguistic Theory: Linguistic Variation and Its Social Significance, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002]
Wikipedia means:
Quote:In British English, the letter is named zed, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta (see below). Other European languages use a similar form, e.g. French zède, Spanish and Italian zeta. The American English form zee derives from an English late 17th-century dialectal form, now obsolete in England. Another English dialectal form is izzard, which dates from the mid 18th-century, probably deriving from French et zède meaning and z.
re "zebra"
According to "
Pronunciation of Biological Latin", it should be "ZEE-bra" [since "some double consonants (and "mute" consonants followed by l or r) are treated as single consonants (e.g., th, ph, ch, br, dr, tr, pl, qu)" ]
SCoates wrote:It is ridiculous to pronounce it "zed." It's not necessary to explain the sound of the letter. Is there any logic behind why it's pronounced that way? Or why you don't pronounce the other letters as ad, bed, ced, ded, ed, fed... and so forth?
That's nothing more than the US obsession with being different to the rest of the world.
We call it "zed" here.
Yep - zed here. And zebra with the same "e" sound as in zed.
The brits pronounce it "zed" because that's the way the froggies pronounce it--something they will doubtlessly vehemently deny. Of course, logic has nothing to do with it.
Right, Zet, and the French pronounce it that way, because its from Latin, and the Romans got it from the Greek - and the Greek had no logic at all
'Zed' and 'zeb-ra'. I say it like that because everyone I ever knew in my childhood did. As for why? Sure, blame the French. I ain't bothered!
I certainly cannot argue with the thesis that the Greeks lacked logic--they forced Isocrates to commit suicide, and lauded his hypocritical toady, Plato, an admirer of the Laconic slave-state.
When speaking to an American, i would say "zee," and would refer to the elderly as "those on Social Security." When speaking to a Sassanach, i would say "zed," and "OAP's."
Communication, you know--whatever works . . .
God bless Setanta - truely a born communicator!
For all you whiners in the English-speaking world who are wont to complain about the clear, demonstrable superiority of the American language, i offer a bit of Japanese-style English, which has become legendary in the cyber world:
All your base are belong to us . . .
So. How do you pronounce. ZZTop?
Wether 'tis pronounced 'zet' or 'zee':
Thou whoreson zed! / thou unnecessary letter!
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