Zee PM or Zed PM, how do you pronounce it?

[aAnubiSs]

Buzzard, lizard, wizard... Many words to use

[Qasim]

Another two-word topic from you...

seems to have got the tongues yapping

[ShadowMaat]

seems to have got the tongues yapping

It isn't what I would call a STARGATE subject, though. It's a discussion of semantics, which would really be better off in Off Topic. This has nothing at all to do with Stargate beyond "ZPM" and even that is used more as an example or an aside.

[Nathan]

The word 'Zed' meaning the letter came to us from the Greek letter 'Zeta' through the French 'Zede'. At some point in the late 1600's the pronunciation changed in the States to 'Zee' for unknown reasons. Probably just a small regional variation that caught on but didn't spread outside the country.

I majored in linguistics, so I had a look through some of my books to see if I could find any mention of why the pronunciation changed in the States. I couldn't really find anything. If anyone else can I'm very interested to learn why!


Also I remember someone mentioning 'Zero'. I believe the word Zero is unrelated to Zed/Zee. I think it came into English a while back from Arabic? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, I'll stop now. I can ramble for hours on the subject if I don't watch myself

I had thought (read? remembered hearing it? made it up?) that the Americans changed a lot of things at the time they declared their independance from England. They deliberately wanted to break as many ties as they could.

Hence "Zee", "Mom", "Color", "favorite" "labor" "George Bush", driving on the right hand side of the road etc etc etc.

Completely off topic, do you know why the British and we here in Australia and many other places drive on the left? It's a hang up form medival times. knights on horse back during jousting tournaments would rid up with on the left side of the barrier. They could then do their jousting thing. often the joust broke meaning they had to use their sword to finish the job, so they again ride up on the left side, holding their sword in their right hands, if the person coming towards you is on the right of you it was easier to strike them with your sword. This then carried over to normal horse back sword fights away from teh jousting arena. The knight would hold his shield (or reigns) in his left hand and his sword in his right. Swings your sword to your right therefore was much easier than having to reach across your body. How left handed sword holding knights dealt with it I'm unsure - maybe they got on some boats and headed off to the new world.

[Feli]

Ask a German why they say "Oopsilon" for Y!

I asked the first 5 Germans I could find - no one had the answer.

[Major Tyler]

The question my friends ask me (FYI: these friends are American) the most is why Rodney doesn't give up the ghost and say "zee" like everybody else. I just counter by asking that if the roles were reversed, and everybody was Canadian and said "zed" would they stop saying "zee."

I know I'd still say "zee." More power to you Rodney! Take pride in your letter!

[greytop]

The question my friends ask me (FYI: these friends are American) the most is why Rodney doesn't give up the ghost and say "zee" like everybody else. I just counter by asking that if the roles were reversed, and everybody was Canadian and said "zed" would they stop saying "zee."

I know I'd still say "zee." More power to you Rodney! Take pride in your letter!

I agree with this, MT. It depends who you talk to and where your are from.

For example, in my home state, there is a major river that we pronounce one way and every one else pronounces it after the state of the same name. It does get very confusing sometimes. So I pronouce is both ways.

[Beatrice Otter]

I had thought (read? remembered hearing it? made it up?) that the Americans changed a lot of things at the time they declared their independance from England. They deliberately wanted to break as many ties as they could.

Hence "Zee", "Mom", "Color", "favorite" "labor" "George Bush", driving on the right hand side of the road etc etc etc.

Well, you're correct, but it wasn't some concerted effort or something decided upon by government. Remember, this was the era of the compilations of the dictionaries--a new thing in English. The language wasn't quite standardized yet on either side of the Atlantic; they were still in the process of trying to do so. In America, one of the major dictionary-makers was a guy named Noah Webster (for those of you who don't know this, Webster's Dictionary is still the most widely-used dictionary in America). He decided that some of the spellings people were using were just absurd; the ou thing bugged him, as did the adding of the silent 'b' at the end of words like 'thumb.' So in _his_ dictionary, things were spelled 'color,' 'favorite,' 'thum,' etc. Well, most of it stuck and was copied by other dictionary-makers (though obviously some didn't). And that was one of the major splits between British English and American English (another being the addition of many, many words from other languages brought by the native americans and colonists from other countries).

[Gµmmi@nð]

At first I didn't understand that joke in Rising.
I usually say "zed", but I'm afraid my yankiness has caught up with me, since I now pronounce it "zee"-PM.

[ShadowMaat]

I tried switching to "zed" because I work in shipping and our tracking numbers all contain Z. When customers call up asking for their numbers they don't always listen very well, so the less confusing I can make it, the better. "Was that a C or a T?" So I tried saying "Zed" and people thought I meant Z-E-D. *sigh* Stupid Americans.

[spg_1983]

I tried switching to "zed" because I work in shipping and our tracking numbers all contain Z. When customers call up asking for their numbers they don't always listen very well, so the less confusing I can make it, the better. "Was that a C or a T?" So I tried saying "Zed" and people thought I meant Z-E-D. *sigh* Stupid Americans.

thats not very politically correct you know. its intellectually deficient americans, not stupid americans.

[ShadowMaat]

Hmm... I had thought from the tone of my reply that it was clear I was joking about "stupid Americans" but since someone here... lacks a sense of humor and saw fit so snipe me for my "anti-American" sentiment, I'd just like to point out that I'm American, myself, and that I was, in fact, kidding. I know it's really stupid CUSTOMERS who are the problem- be they American or otherwise.

However, it IS an example of attempting to use one group's linguistic "quirk" in another group's setting... and failing miserably. I tried it for a couple of days and with the exception of one person (who was either English/Canadian or simply wrote down ZED ), everyone went "What?" or asked if I meant Z-E-D. There are some things that just don't translate, even when you're going from English to English.

[spg_1983]

Hmm... I had thought from the tone of my reply that it was clear I was joking about "stupid Americans" but since someone here... lacks a sense of humor and saw fit so snipe me for my "anti-American" sentiment, I'd just like to point out that I'm American, myself, and that I was, in fact, kidding. I know it's really stupid CUSTOMERS who are the problem- be they American or otherwise.

However, it IS an example of attempting to use one group's linguistic "quirk" in another group's setting... and failing miserably. I tried it for a couple of days and with the exception of one person (who was either English/Canadian or simply wrote down ZED ), everyone went "What?" or asked if I meant Z-E-D. There are some things that just don't translate, even when you're going from English to English.

i knew you were kidding but appearently they didnt think i was kidding either cause i got sniped as well. why is it people cant take a joke? by the way im american as well

[Nathan]

Yeah those English to English translations can be tricky!

[Andy Alcatraz]

if the roles were reversed, and everybody was Canadian and said "zed" would they stop saying "zee."

Yes.