Zed - not Zee

stoneill

I like Zed.
I understand cultural differences etc. etc. but I hate it when I hear people use Zee instead of Zed.

OutlawPete

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead.

PanchoVilla

stoneill wrote: »

I like Zed.
I understand cultural differences etc. etc. but I hate it when I hear people use Zee instead of Zed.

If that's all you have to worry about in life then I envy you, I really do. And it's "zee", all the other letters have similar pronunciations unless you really wanna go with the whole alpha, beta, kappa thing.

MistyCheese

This is what I love about After Hours - there's no shying away from the real issues.

I also prefer "zed". "Zee" sounds wrong and weird and too close to "gee". Why not just pronounce it "zagina"?

PanchoVilla

MistyCheese wrote: »

This is what I love about After Hours - there's no shying away from the real issues.

I also prefer "zed". "Zee" sounds wrong and weird and too close to "gee". Why not just pronounce it "zagina"?

Really? Cuz "Zed" just reminds me of a large black man with a ball gag in his mouth getting sodomized by a deranged biker who later gets his ass medievaled on, but that's just me. I'd rather be reminded of a vagina to be honest.

MistyCheese

I think you may have bigger issues than how to pronounce the letter "z"!

I like the fact that "Zed" stands out. "Zee" is easier to confuse with "C".

Handsome Bob

It's Zee.

Princess Peach

I like zee. Makes me sound a bit French

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Princess Peach wrote: »

I like zee. Makes me sound a bit French

Makes you sound pretentious and, even worse, American.

PanchoVilla

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Makes you sound pretentious and, even worse, American.

Meh, I guess it's better than sounding like a judgmental (insert nationality here). I grew up in the States, I don't mind sounding like an American.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Meh, I guess it's better than sounding like a judgmental arsehole. I grew up in the States, I don't mind sounding like an American.

There is a difference between BEING American and ACTING American when you aren't. I'm sorry for assuming that this was obvious.

Handsome Bob

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Makes you sound pretentious and, even worse, American.

Oi, take that back.........how dare you suggest I'm American. :pac:

abouttobebanned

Zod.

Wibbs

PanchoVilla wrote:

If that's all you have to worry about in life then I envy you, I really do.

Well personally I don't lay awake on colder winter evenings worrying about it, but it can be irritating in the extreme cases of people talking and writing like valley gurlz.

And it's "zee", all the other letters have similar pronunciations unless you really wanna go with the whole alpha, beta, kappa thing.

Huh? How so? I mean W/double U is hardly descriptive of the letter in use. Y/wai similarly. Even X/ex is variable. Actually the tail end of the alphabet is a bit mad that way. English eh?

It's Zed goddammit. It's not tire it's tyre, it's not humor, it's humour, not honor, but honour etc. I was watching TV3 or 3e, whatever and a couple of the female presenters seem to have this weird mid atlantic American twang going on. Hell I've heard it creep in on TG4 as Gaelige for feck sake WTF? I happen to like some American accents on Americans. Not on some dozy bugger/bint from Cabra or wherever. That guy in the recent ad for giving up smoking through chewing gum was another example of it. On an American it sounds bang on, on an Irish person? Eh no. Just no.

CiaranMT

Zee. Poll needed. Life-affecting topic about to unfold.

PanchoVilla

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

There is a difference between BEING American and ACTING American when you aren't. I'm sorry for assuming that this was obvious.

Nice, you quoted me before I had a chance to remove the insult. Anyway, you try to make it seem that being American is somehow a bad thing? Like every other country doesn't have it's fair share of muppets? Well excuse me but I'm finding the whole anti-American thing pretty tedious at this stage. Try growing up a bit and maturing beyond the mentality of a secondary school student.

PanchoVilla

Wibbs wrote: »

Well personally I don't lay awake on colder winter evenings worrying about it, but it can be irritating in the extreme cases of people talking and writing like valley gurlz. Huh? How so? I mean W/double U is hardly descriptive of the letter in use. Y/wai similarly. Even X/ex is variable. Actually the tail end of the alphabet is a bit mad that way. English eh?

It's Zed goddammit. It's not tire it's tyre, it's not humor, it's humour, not honor, but honour etc. I was watching TV3 or 3e, whatever and a couple of the female presenters seem to have this weird mid atlantic American twang going on. Hell I've heard it creep in on TG4 as Gaelige for feck sake WTF? I happen to like some American accents on Americans. Not on some dozy bugger/bint from Cabra or wherever. That guy in the recent ad for giving up smoking through chewing gum was another example of it. On an American it sounds bang on, on an Irish person? Eh no. Just no.

Ok, I'll tell ya what. When Irish/British/European pop culture becomes anywhere near as popular as American pop culture then you can argue this. Until then, you'd better get used to the idea of Irish people starting to sound more American and use more American words. You may not like them personally, but the vast majority of people love the movies, music, and TV that comes over here. Maybe that's why you hear Irish people with Americanized accents.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Nice, you quoted me before I had a chance to remove the insult. Anyway, you try to make it seem that being American is somehow a bad thing? Like every other country doesn't have it's fair share of muppets? Well excuse me but I'm finding the whole anti-American thing pretty tedious at this stage. Try growing up a bit and maturing beyond the mentality of a secondary school student.

I tend not to check back for edits of quoted posts every five minutes.

Again, I said there was nothing wrong with actually being American.

Judging by your reply to Wibbs above, though, you seem to have some sort of superiority complex. Yes, pop culture does seem to be prevalent in the states, but is that a good thing? As much crap entertainment (if not more) comes out of America as does good. this is not a criticism, this is an observation. Of course, a lot fo crap, cf Pop Idol, goes in the opposite direction.

Also, no matter how much of a foothold, you won't here genuine American accents amongst Irish kids. Fake ones, maybe, but they won't last long. Too much local influence. Go down innner city Dublin and tell me what kid of accens the kids have.

Wibbs

Like I said I have nothing against Americans(for a start they're not an homogeneous group so it would be daft to do so). I'm a big fan of a lot of the output of American media too. I also like some of the accents over there, particularly the distinctive ones. However some dozy bugger/bint affecting the "Hills" accent and attendant dopiness gets irritating. Hell it's irritating to many Americans in America. That lowest common denominator thing going on. IMHO it does the US no favours, so aping that is hardly intelligent. As for why some do it? I suspect for some of the similar reason the D4 accent is aped, fitting in with peers and a distrust of the accents of their origins.


Oh yes and it's Americanised.... *runs*

Wibbs

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

judging by your reply to Wibbs above, though, you seem to have some sort of superiority complex.

I would respectfully disagree. In cases like this it's usually more an inferiority complex born of defensiveness against the external, usually daft judgement of others. Being an American outside America and with the blanket anti American undercurrent out there it's not surprising someone would be defensive and subjectively hear what they want to hear to back this up.

PanchoVilla

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

I tend not to check back for edits of quoted posts every five minutes.

Again, I said there was nothing wrong with actually being American.

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Makes you sound pretentious and, even worse, American.

Maybe I misinterpreted your comment then, my mistake.

Judging by your reply to Wibbs above, though, you seem to have some sort of superiority complex. Yes, pop culture does seem to be prevalent in the states, but is that a good thing? As much crap entertainment (if not more) comes out of America as does good. this is not a criticism, this is an observation. Of course, a lot fo crap, cf Pop Idol, goes in the opposite direction.

Also, no matter how much of a foothold, you won't here genuine American accents amongst Irish kids. Fake ones, maybe, but they won't last long. Too much local influence. Go down innner city Dublin and tell me what kid of accens the kids have.

I actually can't stand a lot of American pop culture but it still has a pretty big influence over here regardless. Anyway, I'm not gonna keep going on about.

bodice ripper

the anti american thing is getting so dull.

Anyway, I say zee, sidewalk, faucet etc. and there is always some sanctimonious jerk waiting to tell me how awful it is that I sound american. I am american, i didn't realise that was a problem

PanchoVilla

Wibbs wrote: »

I would respectfully disagree. In cases like this it's usually more an inferiority complex born of defensiveness against the external, usually daft judgement of others. Being an American outside America and with the blanket anti American undercurrent out there it's not surprising someone would be defensive and subjectively hear what they want to hear to back this up.

Eh, not really any sort of complex, I just hate the hypocrisy and double standards. People say they hate Americans but love American movies and TV shows and their favorite musicians are...American. Hate the politics, not the people. I actually hate the politics too, that's why I left after going back for three years in 2000. I was actually born in Ireland and have Irish parents, grandparents etc. I've also been living here for the last 11 years or so.

dxhound2005

There's no point in being prescriptive about pronunciation or spelling, it changes all the time. If Zee becomes the accepted norm over the years somebody will be giving out about Zed in a hundred years. As you might suspect the Americans did not invent Zee, it was brought over from this side of the pond.

http://www.billcasselman.com/cwod_archive/zed.htm

Wibbs

bodice ripper wrote: »

the anti american thing is getting so dull.

I agree, though like some Irish muppets giving us all a bad name, the same can be said of Americans.

Anyway, I say zee, sidewalk, faucet etc. and there is always some sanctimonious jerk waiting to tell me how awful it is that I sound american. I am american, i didn't realise that was a problem

That's the point of this though. Zero wrong with Americans on that score. It's non Americans lazily aping the worst examples of the US culture that's at issue. It just sounds silly. Like some of those yanks who try to sound "British" in a weird need to sound sophisticated or some middle class white kid from the burbs trying to sound like Yo! MTV Raps*. Daft.



*showing my age there

Liam Byrne

All together now with the alphabet, children :

A, Bed, Ceed, Ded, Eed, F, G........

Anyway, considering the fact that "Z" is used in hardly any words - it's "customise", "organise", "laser", etc......it's not exactly a massive issue.

I'd be more interested in getting people to spell those words properly before I started discussing how the barely-used letter is pronounced.

BTW, "haitch" is feeling neglected, so if anyone wants to give it an honourable mention, fire away.....

Liam Byrne

dxhound2005 wrote: »

T..... it was brought over from this side of the pond.

It's an OCEAN!!!!!!! Lays down can of worms and gets the popcorn.....

PanchoVilla

I propose we start calling W "double V". I mean seriously, it looks nothing like UU...that's just boobs.

Irish Guitarist

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y & ZED

Now I know my ABC, next time won't you sing with me.

That just doesn't sound right if you say 'zed'.

Sea Sharp

I'm going with 'zed'. In honour of that crazy bastard from the police academy movies:

Zed

mike65

An American speaking Americanese is grand, when others do for effect or are just "affected" its wrong, like spelling programme as program.

PanchoVilla

Sea Sharp wrote: »

I'm going with 'zed'. In honour of that crazy bastard from the police academy movies:

Zed

Bobcat Goldthwait. He actually made (wrote and directed) a brilliant film with Robin Williams called World's Greatest Dad.

dxhound2005

Programme is the accepted form now but it was Program in the past.

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/get-with-the-programme/

mathepac

PanchoVilla wrote: »

... Anyway, I'm not gonna keep going on about.

:eek:

It's zed, because -

• I don't shop in stores
• I don't want side-orders and don't eat fries
• my water comes from a tap
• I go on holiday
• my clothes live in ward-robes
• I wear runners on my feet
• I've always walked on footpaths (where provided, T&Cs may apply)
• I enjoy clothes made in that wonderful French fabric denim
• I don't go all misty-eyed and sentimental when I hear the English lawyer's song
• I'll be relaxing at the week-end rather than on it
• alcoholic drink is sold in pubs
• my waiter may choose to tell me his profession is server and supply me with other other extraneous personal details, but I don't care - just get the the food FFS
• if I want something that's like nice, then I'll get something that is nice
• I wish people Happy Christmas and Happy Easter
• to the front and rear of my house I have gardens
• I used to enjoy going to the pictures, but now I watch fillums and other programmes on my telly
• I run programs on my computer

I'm tired now so I must lie down on the sofa that's in the parlour.

Pookah

When you sang that little alphabet rhyme, as a schoolkid, is it zed or zee at the end?

david75

I discovered that if you sing the alphabet to the A team theme tune, it works a lot better than the twinkle twinkle little star melody it has.
Give it a shot.

mahamageehad

Pookah wrote: »

When you sang that little alphabet rhyme, as a schoolkid, is it zed or zee at the end?

with the alphabet song i always said zee! that's how it's taught! however i always pronounce z "zed". I have a zed in my name so I have to use it quite often. And zee would just sound wrong!!

Zapho

david75 wrote: »

I discovered that if you sing the alphabet to the A team theme tune, it works a lot better than the twinkle twinkle little star melody it has.
Give it a shot.

Hahaha, thats fantasic! How have I never thought of this before? I'm definately gonna teach that to my kids.


Note to self - get kids.

dambarude

Z is pronounced ahzed.

It's ZED, I think that most of those who think it's zee were brought up watching too many American children's TV shows.

mathepac

dambarude wrote: »

Z is pronounced ahzed.

Which is true because we used to visit the amanals in the ahzoo.

tolosenc

mathepac wrote: »

• I run programs on my computer

Oh the ironing.

ballsymchugh

ask a six year old to say the alphabet for you sometime, you won't have a clue what they're talking about. it's all changed, and we're all so old!!

Rebelheart

stoneill wrote: »

I like Zed.
I understand cultural differences etc. etc. but I hate it when I hear people use Zee instead of Zed.

In the spirit of Afterhours: Francophobe!

recylingbin

I think it's pronounced 'anal'.

Tar.Aldarion

Zee ftw, I have spoken.

recylingbin

ballsymchugh wrote: »

ask a six year old to say the alphabet for you sometime, you won't have a clue what they're talking about. it's all changed, and we're all so old!!

a
be
see
the
e
fúck
God
H
I
J
OK
L
M
any
Oh
p
q
are
s
t
you
very
w
ex
y
zomg

Shít got unreal.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Maybe I misinterpreted your comment then, my mistake.

In fairness, it wasn't well written, now that I coem back to read it...

Maddison

I was getting ribbed in work cuz rather than saying BUTTER pronouncing the T's I say bu-er....

Bonito

If it were zed, the alphabet song wouldn't rhyme.

Cool Mo D

It's zed, but there are exceptions: It's not Zed Zed Top, nor is it Jay Zed.