To all non North Americans - the letter Z

saskatchewanian · 2007-11-05, 02:10 AM

I am curious, is calling it "zed" a Canadian thing or is calling it "zee" an American thing? what does the rest of the world call the 26th letter in our alphabet?

James_Potter · 2007-11-05, 02:13 AM

I know that in French it's also pronounced "zed", which is why Canadians pronounce it that way too.
I donno about anyone else though.

harper · 2007-11-05, 02:17 AM

I'm pretty sure that calling it "zee" is a US American thing. I think all other English speaking countries call the last letter of the alphabet "zed". Let's see what our Kiwi, Aussie, British, and RSA members say.

James_Potter · 2007-11-05, 02:31 AM

I just asked my friend, who is in Australia, on MSN, and she says not only do they pronounce Z as "zed", but they also pronounce H differently, like, "hatch" or something like that.
Crazy Australians.

mawesome · 2007-11-05, 02:39 AM

Yeah, most Australians say "zed", but there are a lot of people who are sort of being Americanized and say "zee". They're the same kind of people who say ass instead of arse, which sounds kind of stupid when they pronounce one word with an American accent in a sentence, but say everything else with an Australian accent.

UniBrier · 2007-11-05, 03:09 AM

Does this mean that only US Americans can "Catch some Zs"? "Catch some Zeds" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

I've heard of border guards asking peple to go through the alphabet to see if they can trip them up when they thought a Canadian was just saying they were from the US. Now they just use passports.

evil-nick · 2007-11-05, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UniBrier

I've heard of border guards asking peple to go through the alphabet to see if they can trip them up when they thought a Canadian was just saying they were from the US. Now they just use passports.

And the non-Yanks answer: "A, bed, sed, ded, ed, fed, ged,..."... That's why I say it should be "zee" not "zed"... I've been having this argument for years now

James_Potter · 2007-11-05, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evil-nick

And the non-Yanks answer: "A, bed, sed, ded, ed, fed, ged,..."... That's why I say it should be "zee" not "zed"... I've been having this argument for years now

F?
H?
J?
M?
O?
Q?
Not many letters rhyme with eee....

saskatchewanian · 2007-11-05, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James_Potter

F?
H?
J?
M?
O?
Q?
Not many letters rhyme with eee....

This actually made me laugh.

and thanks for the answers guys, it was very educational.

ivan · 2007-11-05, 06:13 AM

I say zed. And everytime I hear someone call it zee it sort of startles me for half a second.

The.Mars.Volta · 2007-11-05, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mawesome

Yeah, most Australians say "zed", but there are a lot of people who are sort of being Americanized and say "zee". They're the same kind of people who say ass instead of arse, which sounds kind of stupid when they pronounce one word with an American accent in a sentence, but say everything else with an Australian accent.

I hate those "Australians". And the ones who speak like they're on the fucking OC.

kington99 · 2007-11-05, 08:20 AM

i can assure you every single british perosn says zed, zee is terribly frowned upon

and i thought this was going to be a thread about the way the yanks like to throw z in to words willy-nilly in place of an s

lil rockmelon · 2007-11-05, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James_Potter

I just asked my friend, who is in Australia, on MSN, and she says not only do they pronounce Z as "zed", but they also pronounce H differently, like, "hatch" or something like that.
Crazy Australians.

why?? how do you pronounce H??

bungalistic · 2007-11-05, 10:49 AM

I pronounce Z, Zed if I use it when saying the alphabet, not sure about other times as I never really say the letter otherwise.

I pronounce H, hay-ch basically hay with a CH sound at the end (CH as in Church not as in Chorus).

jamessd · 2007-11-05, 11:54 AM

I can't stand it when people say haych...

it's just... so... annoyingly wrong

2007-11-05, 02:10 AM	#1
saskatchewanian ERIC P Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Denare Beach, Saskatchewan, Canada Age: 27 Posts: 5,244	To all non North Americans - the letter Z I am curious, is calling it "zed" a Canadian thing or is calling it "zee" an American thing? what does the rest of the world call the 26th letter in our alphabet? __________________ My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world. - Jack Layton Last edited by saskatchewanian; 2007-11-05 at 02:10 AM.

2007-11-05, 02:17 AM	#3
harper 768 - It's in your DNA Join Date: Sep 2001 Age: 60 Posts: 8,557	I'm pretty sure that calling it "zee" is a US American thing. I think all other English speaking countries call the last letter of the alphabet "zed". Let's see what our Kiwi, Aussie, British, and RSA members say. __________________ -Greg Harper Destroying the climate by shutting down nuclear power plants, one by one, since 1979. JC is the only main man. There can be no other. "A fool on a unicycle is redundant" - J.D. Miller

2007-11-05, 03:09 AM	#6
UniBrier Time To Ride Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brier, WA USA Age: 53 Posts: 4,232	Does this mean that only US Americans can "Catch some Zs"? "Catch some Zeds" just doesn't have the same ring to it. I've heard of border guards asking peple to go through the alphabet to see if they can trip them up when they thought a Canadian was just saying they were from the US. Now they just use passports. __________________ Steve Hop Drop & Roll “If something is too hard to do, then it's not worth doing. You just stick that guitar in the closet next to your shortwave radio, your karate outfit and your unicycle and we'll go inside and watch TV.” – Homer

2007-11-05, 06:13 AM	#10
ivan Non-Danish Girl Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Prague, Czech Republic Age: 25 Posts: 7,210	I say zed. And everytime I hear someone call it zee it sort of startles me for half a second. __________________ Did you know that lighter flame smells like burnt nose hair? Entropy isn't what it used to be.

2007-11-05, 08:20 AM	#12
kington99 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Warwickshire, UK Age: 27 Posts: 4,786	i can assure you every single british perosn says zed, zee is terribly frowned upon and i thought this was going to be a thread about the way the yanks like to throw z in to words willy-nilly in place of an s __________________ Dave - what a thoroughly post-modern subversion of the cycling genre - Last edited by kington99; 2007-11-05 at 08:21 AM.

2007-11-05, 02:13 AM	#2
James_Potter Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The skinny part of Idaho Age: 24 Posts: 10,606	I know that in French it's also pronounced "zed", which is why Canadians pronounce it that way too. I donno about anyone else though.

2007-11-05, 02:31 AM	#4
James_Potter Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The skinny part of Idaho Age: 24 Posts: 10,606	I just asked my friend, who is in Australia, on MSN, and she says not only do they pronounce Z as "zed", but they also pronounce H differently, like, "hatch" or something like that. Crazy Australians.

2007-11-05, 10:49 AM	#14
bungalistic Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Cumbria, UK Posts: 387	I pronounce Z, Zed if I use it when saying the alphabet, not sure about other times as I never really say the letter otherwise. I pronounce H, hay-ch basically hay with a CH sound at the end (CH as in Church not as in Chorus). __________________ A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of the complete fools My Website Fat-Tyre.co.uk

2007-11-05, 11:54 AM	#15
jamessd Recreational unicyclist Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Essex, UK Posts: 2,081	I can't stand it when people say haych... it's just... so... annoyingly wrong __________________ 1-wheeled-grape: ''I could never do yoga... I'm too fat I was forced to do it in primary school and the results were by no means fun'' ... ''If my belly doesn't scare me though no nakedness will''

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