Z = "zed"

[ScottNZ]

Hello,

Is this just a kiwi thing or do the British do it as well; pronouncing the letter Z as "zed". As in TVN-Zed, or AN-Zed, or A to Zed. Anyone more knowledgable than I, know where this came from?

[sophiedb]

As far as I'm aware, it's only Americans who pronounce the letter Z as "zee"!

Brits, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis.. we are united in our love of "zed"

[dharder]

The pronunciation comes from the Greek letter 'zeta'

Only Americans do 'zee,' no idea why they do that.



Daniela

[G-Mo]

"Zee" is yet another terrible American bastardization of the English language.

[Otaku]

Yes, it is just the Americans. In India too it is "zed".

[kiwihusker]

I have been married to my kiwi hubs for 11 years and have embraced the zed awhile ago. It is now hard for me to say zee to be honest. Once you embrace it you won't go back.

[dharder]

Once you embrace it you won't go back.

Except when you have to say 'ZZ Top,' or sing the ABC song with your kids...



Daniela

[Nice Moustache]

In an episode of Flight of the Conchords, I remember them saying ZedZed Top.

[Sun777]

Hmmm...majority of my life I heard it as Zed but that doesn't make much difference if someone calls it Zee all of a sudden, as point of reference just stays the same

[ralf-nz]

Is this just a kiwi thing ... pronouncing the letter Z as "zed".

It's the opposite: It is just an American thing pronouncing the letter Z as "zee"! I'm generally not a huge friend of Wikipedia but in this instance their article on this is quite explanatory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z#Name_and_pronunciation : 'In most dialects of English, the letter's name is zed /ˈzɛd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta, but in American English, its name is zee /ˈziː/, deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal form.'