Especially when the "standards" of the alphabet don't adhere to themselves anyway, in either country. But to say Zed is wrong just because it doesn't fit American standards, when there's no reason it should, is kinda weird. All nations do this to an extent and have every right to. Note that the same pronunciation is naturally used also in the plural: the plural of Z, denoted Zs, Z’s or z’s, is pronounced as /zdz/ (zedz) in the UK and /ziz/ (zeez) in the US. Zee isn't wrong either since it's the American dialect of the English language and only used in America. In short, the British pronounce Z as /zd/ (zed) whereas Americans pronounce it as /zi/ (zee). It's undeniably the correct way to say it if you're talking about the English Language. (ZED or ZEE) British Vs American Pronunciation Julien Miquel 720K subscribers Join Subscribe 1. Not to mention Zed as a pronunciation existed before the USA itself. And Zee is way closer to C than any two letters are in the English version of the alphabet, making Zed easier to communicate. The only thing that matters is they are easy to say and distinguish from each other. The pronunciation stems from Latin and Greek, as both ancient languages have a similarly pronounced equivalent: zeta. e Z, or z, is the 26th and last letter of the Latin alphabet, as used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. You can say it makes it easier to say just like you said about Em, and you'd be right but that's not a rule, just a way of saying it more easily, and keeping it distinct from other letters, just like Zed.īut that was my point, there is barely any consistency between the way they work nor is there supposed to be. Why do the British pronounced the letter Z zed By Straight Dope Staff. The name of the letter Z is pronounced zed in British English as opposed to zee in American English, though the words are normally only spelled out when noting. As you can imagine, the British zed is the older of the two pronunciations, and it dates all the way back to the 1400s. The British and others pronounce z, zed, owing to the origin of the letter z, the Greek letter Zeta. In words it's only usually an "uh" or "oo" sound so the Y sound when you pronounce it as "You" is random. Why do British people say zebra The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where z is pronounced zee. The closest you can get to how they say it is "ze-tto", in two syllables.Lol I think U kinda does to a lesser extent too. Ps - don't ask me to romanise the Japanese pronunciation of the letter "Z" accurately - as it can't really be done. Arguing the difference between the English, American, French, Australian, New Zealand and who knows where else's version seems rather like contemplating the tits on a bull.Ĭan't we all see this without starting flame-offs? Naturally, the French version must be regarded as the original - but we are not really "wrong" to pronounce it differently in English.īut surely the whole point here is that the S30-series Z ( the FIRST series of Nissan / Datsun car with the "Z" nomenclature ) is a JAPANESE car - so only the Japanese pronunciation can truly be correct. Why is there a difference between the pronounciations Arnold Wright Blan Ian replies: As usual in most of these matters, it’s we the people of the US that changed it, not the other way around. So will all the other nations of the world, won't they? Its like the difference between English pronunciation "Paris" and the French pronunciation which sounds like "Paree". Dear Straight Dope: Whenever I hear a person from Britain pronounce the letter Z, they pronounce it zed instead of zee, as we Americans say it. Listen how to say the letter Z correctly with Julien (English vocabulary videos), 'how do you pronounce' free pronunciation audio/video tutorials. I say Zed because thats how I learned to say it, and if it is like that because of the roots of where it came from, then that would probably be the correct way of saying it. Naturally Americans will use their local pronunciation, just as ( arrogant? ) Englishmen like myself will use their own local pronunciation. You say Zeebra, not because you pronounce Z like Zee, but because that is how you spell the word. DBZ is just kind of a set phrase with a set pronunciation for me. This whole debate about who is right and who is wrong is missing the point. Everyone I’ve met here (UK) says Dragon Ball Zee even if they use zed otherwise. Is your username short for "Derogatory".? Calm down and think about it this way
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