It is one of the few british words that irritates me. Another difference is not so much about spelling as it is word forms. For instance, I noticed you used the word spelt, which is grammatically correct. However if you dictated that comment to me, I probably would have written down spelled which is also grammatically correct. Have you ever heard of context? Loads of words have multiple meanings. You must remember that most of these difference occurred before spelling of English was standardized.
Samuel Johnson and Noah Webster chose different forms as the started the process. But neither is better. International practice is when writing to a group, that you write in your native dialect as that favors one group the least and is natural and not contrived. Fact is that just about all modern language is derived from some other ancient languages.
So if you want to go by the rule that whoever was first is speaking correctly, it would be anyone who actually speaks an ancient language fluently. That aside, each country is entitled to their own language and grammar guidelines.
Otherwise, I say Zee. All language is just a human construct, and will die with the death of the last human. Stop worrying about dumb nonsense. Uhhm, someone else can dig the research if they wish, but I read, a long time back, that the last letter was actually originally pronounced as Zee in middle ages or sometime Britain. Bit as others have pointed out, does it matter? Maybe it does, eventually, once we have worked out how to live harmoniously together, in peace despite gender, race or religion.
It is strange to break the consistency of pronunciations to make this one letter different than the rest. Unless there is clear, logical reasoning for a difference, of which there is none in this case, then consistency should be upheld. Well being a true Brit I of course say Zed. But as stated below the fact Britons understand Americans better than they understand us and the majority of the world to that matter simply says that the Brits have a good understanding of the English language.
Id so, the majority world view of Brits, seems to be sadly mistaken. Many Brits express the opinion that being British means that they are automatically experts on the linguistic history of their own country and that Americans are always or almost always wrong in any opinion they express. The responses will be filled with declarations from self-identified British people insisting that the Americans say or spell or pronounce the word in question differently because A, Americans are stupid, B.
Americans are pretentious, C. Americans are just trying to upset the poor put-upon Brits by deliberately misspelling, mispronouncing, etc. The logic if you can call it that is usually that since they are English, their sweeping pronouncements about the English language MUST be correct, regardless of the facts. It is seen in every comment section of this website that deals with varying pronunciations or spelling differences between British and American speakers of English.
Even regarding this article,, which clearly states that the Zee pronunciation dates back to at least , Americans are accused of fabricating this non-British spelling. The problem is that a majority of the words or idioms that British commenters routinely criticize as nonsense created by stupid or jealous Americans are in fact Britishisms that Americans had nothing to do with creating. The British simply do not know the history of their own language and have no interest in learning it because, apparently, they have convinced themselves that they are incapable of being wrong.
The fact that the original pronunciation of the word, with a silent H, has been used in England since the 13th century, and continued to be used right up until Victorian times in the UK is ignored or denied. But of course it is the past participle of get, used by Brits for centuries, then discarded for some unknown reason.. There are literally hundreds of examples of this sort of thing.
Any linguist worth his or her salt, will tell you that British English has changed more in the last years than American English has. Clearly Brits do not know their own language nearly as well as they think they do, and if they would only learn to use google, or open the Oxford English dictionary, they would see how uninformed they are and perhaps make fools of themselves less often not directing this at you BTW but at Iinterweb Brits in general.
Thank you, Ell. It affected America as well transatlantic accent but has since mostly receded in the US and really taken hold and continued to branch out in England. You can get off hour soapbox.
This preserves both the rhyme and the traditional pronunciation. Has anyone else heard it this way? The single e spelling should have had the symbol denoting it is a long e and not a short. Why retain the Greek pronunciatiom for one letter? I see your point. There has been much mention of the alphabet song here, the one like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
When I was young, I learned the alphabet to an entirely different tune. I will try to get it across using solfa. Thus the end of the 2nd line, emm, has a vowel rhyme with the end of the 4th line, ZED! The alphabet fits the tune better as if the tune was specially written for the purpose. British misspell allot of word like tyre is tire Z is not Zed it is simple Zee Z its not hard.
Britian is Great country not allot wrong in the school system and how allot is done. But different cultures do different things but as far as this explanation of the letter Z of course some of you find it easier because that all you know but it is still longer to deal with Z is just Z. This Great country of England if wrong in allot of areas but who knows could be right in some. The argument here about the correct pronunciation of the letter Z is quite ridiculous.
We should be grateful that there is at least a common language that the peoples around the world can communicate and understand. Whether is is spoken with a British, American, Asian, African or whatever accent there is. Thomas Lye was from Somerset in England and an author as per wikipedia.
But native English speakers tend to pronounce a particular word sometimes differently from one another or spell differently for the same word. Does that mean one is wrong and the other is right in the way they speak or spell? However, it has evolved in many ways throughout the years.
Because they thought the French culture in every way was the culture for the elite. My point is, the English language is not a stagnant language. It is a very dynamic language and native English speakers whether from Europe, the Americas, or from down under should not be arguing who is more correct. There are more important issues to be argued about than the correct pronunciation of a letter.
Another point, even the native English speakers of the USA, UK and other places, they have their own accents or way of speaking English depending on where they are from within their own country. Not all Brits speak like their queen and not all Americans speak Ivy League.
Thank goodness or it would be such a boring language. One day, even knowing about the existence of the letter Z will be a status symbol to the Brawno drinking masses. English is and always has been a growing and developing language, adding to, adopting and altering all it comes in contact with.
Irritating to some American spelling may be, but I was told Webster was trying to make the words easier to spell when he wrote his dictionary. As well as having to provide a translation if we wished to read any previously printed material! Another pet peeve is American date format. They are the only country in the world who write date month-day-year instead of the logical day-month-year or the even more logical ISO year-month-day.
Reading the comments it never ceases to amaze me that people actually get upset at things like this. Your email address will not be published.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. October 31, Daven Hiskey comments. Enjoy this article? Answers Featured Facts. Dan January 6, am. Mike February 27, am. No, you clot. Shakespaere sounded more like a cornish or westcountry person than an American. Xu Zu April 5, pm. Swing and a miss.
Rochereine September 4, pm. Mister S May 4, am. Randell June 29, am. J Harris March 13, am. That, old bean, is original Old English.
Now go drink your tea and quit being a pompous Brit. Essex May 8, am. All this coming from a septic tank. Sean July 31, am. Anton October 16, pm. So there you have it: When it comes down to it, the reason why Z is pronounced as zee in America is nothing more than convenience. To discover more amazing secrets about living your best life, click here to follow us on Instagram!
All Rights Reserved. Open side menu button. Zed, zee Create Account. Suggest an Edit. Enter your suggested edit s to this article in the form field below. Accessed 13 November In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published April 28, ; Last Edited May 04, The Canadian Encyclopedia , s. Thank you for your submission Our team will be reviewing your submission and get back to you with any further questions. Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Article by Eli Yarhi. Zed is the name of the letter Z. Ancient graffiti has been found on archaeological digs and excavations in several different countries around the globe.
Where can you go to see some of the things they have retrieved from the wreck of the Titanic — or maybe even see the actual sunken ship? In the US, all the time zones are exactly one hour apart, but are all of the time zones around the world like that?
If only it were that simple.
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