All of the Canadian youtubers that I watch pronounce the letter z as "zi", as is done in the United States. However, I have read online that it is more common for Canadians to pronounce it as "zed", as is done in the United Kingdom. Is this a regional thing? How do you pronounce the letter z?
90 Comments
JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca · 51 pts · 112d
Like many things, it depends. I'm curious about the context where you're actually hearing YouTubers say the letter.
It's usually "zed" and we're taught it as "zed" in school - at least when i was a kid.
If I'm spelling something it is Zed. I don't think I've ever said Zee in that context.
The alphabet ends with Zee when singing it, due to the rhyme with Vee (and probably Sesame Street).
In my head I will say Nissan Zee for a Z type car. Though if I was to speak the phrase "Nissan Z type" I would say Zed.
When it is used in online slang (GG EZ) it is "Zee" for "easy".
ZZ Top is Zee Zee Top. Zorro draws a Zed. Things are Zed-shaped, not Zee-shaped in general.
phanto@lemmy.ca · 16 pts · 112d
It's Eee zed Pea zed!
Reannlegge@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 112d
I have always said it as “easy peasy”
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 6 pts · 112d
They were joking. No one says easy peazed.
JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 112d
Lemon squee zed
psycotica0@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 112d
Another common one for me that I didn't even notice for a while was Gen-Z, which I will always say "jenzi". Zed sounds unacceptable there, even though I say zed in most other cases besides those you've outlined.
JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 112d
Yeah another one I thought of is XYZ
For me it's Zed-axis, but Ecks-Why-Zee coordinates.
thenextguy@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 112d
We are now, no longer the Canadians who say ‘zi’.
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 112d
It took me the longest time to figure out whether they wanted strawberries or shrubberies.
unknowablenight@piefed.social · 3 pts · 112d
What?
JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca · 22 pts · 112d
Username checks out, maybe...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Who_Say_%22Ni!%22
Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca · 32 pts · 112d
I am Canadian I say Zed. Plus it’s fun to watch americans lose it when I say Zed Zed Top (heehee).
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 112d
clears throat
why why zee
leaves promptly
JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 112d
Omg, I actually do think and say it this way. Why Why Zed sounds wrong :(
texture@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 111d
why are you saying why twice in a row?
EbenezerScrew@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 111d
YYZ is the name of a popular instrumental song by Rush and also the airport code for Toronto Pearson.
texture@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 111d
ohh ty
blitzen@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 111d
Fun fact about ZZ Top. Consists of two guys famously sporting long iconic beards and one who is not. The one who is not, his name is Frank Beard.
FUsername@feddit.org · 3 pts · 111d
But that totally makes sense. Would have been two guys with a beard and one with two otherwise.
j0yb0y@lemmy.ca · 23 pts · 112d
Zed. Grew up in Ottawa, since lived in Montreal a long time. French also says zed.
Witchfire@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 112d
It's also zed in French, fwiw
swordgeek@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 112d
Zed. Zee is horrible.
Stand proud, Embrace Zed.
unknowablenight@piefed.social · 4 pts · 112d
o7 I say it as Zed and will never fall.
texture@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 111d
both, and i never bother to correct myself, or give it any consideration.
betanumerus@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 111d
westingham@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 111d
I also say both and have no idea which one is going to come out of my mouth until it's said.
garbagebagel@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 112d
Zed is the proper Canadian way to say it. Those people just probably watch a lot of American content so it stuck for them.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 111d
Also the proper commonwealth way to say it.
stormio@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 112d
unknowablenight@piefed.social · 4 pts · 112d
That makes sense. I assume it's that, as well as perhaps consuming a lot of American media. I've noticed a lot of non-Americans sometimes using USD.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 111d
They export American exceptionalism as a default attitude.
And, after a century or more, it has taken hold far more than it has any right to.
I hope the increasing boycott of all things American that Trump has caused will start to reverse somehow that. But it will take a long time to undo - that shit is pervasive.
zikzak025@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 112d
In my experience, I find it's usually g/z that tends to get the most easily confused when pronouncing as "zee," guessing because both are voiced consonants. One of those cases where I have to request phonetic alphabet spelling if call/chat quality is too low to tell.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 111d
This Canadian youtuber doesn't.
I'm Canadian, and I pronounce things the proper Canadian way.
When mentioning measurements or temperature, I use metric, and if I also happen to translate to imperial, I joke that it is a courtesy translation for the 3 countries in the world still stuck in the obsolete units.
BinzyBoi@piefed.ca · 18 pts · 112d
phanto@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 112d
Wait... It's not?
zikzak025@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 112d
Technically it is. The Japanese pronunciation would say "Zetto" as a close approximation of "Zed".
But the English dub was done for a US audience (despite the fact that the original English dub was recorded in Canada), so they deferred to the American pronunciation of Z.
GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca · 4 pts · 112d
This could also be the reason Canadian YouTubers would say zee - why alienate 90% of your market, and Canadians are still used to hearing it from American media.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 111d
I doubt it's any fear of alienating them.
It is likely more the result of those youtubers growing up immersed in American media exports.
slothrop@lemmy.ca · 16 pts · 112d
It'll always be zedzedtop.
ValueSubtracted@startrek.website · 16 pts · 112d
"Zed" now and forever.
Rentlar@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 112d
Zed if I refer to the letter itself, but if it's part of a phrase, like "Gen Zee" etc. I will use that.
unknowablenight@piefed.social · 5 pts · 112d
Ahh, i see, thank you! i think this was the majority of where my confusion lie.
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 112d
I intentionally always use zed. Sure it doesn’t rhyme in American-created sayings and acronyms, but I’ll continue to say z instead.
Reannlegge@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 112d
I have this nasty habit of correcting people when they say Zee when it is obviously Zed.
definitemaybe@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 112d
As a teacher, I've definitely corrected over a hundred students. I do check if they're American first, though; like, fair enough if they are. But the Canadian pronunciation is zed.
texture@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 111d
Zee is better. Zed is a chore.
smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 112d
I say zed. My kids all say zee, to my chagrin. Thanks, US children's entertainment.
ItsMeSpez@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 111d
I used to not care about this at all, but recently I am adamant about using zed. Similarly, I go out of my way to use the non-American spelling for any words that have it.
yannic@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 111d
Zed ad absurdum.
E-zed sharpener. Eee Zed Money. That sort of thing.
Drives everyone crazy, especially if it's a Canadian or Commonwealth product.
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 9 pts · 112d
Born and raised in the USA, only took a few months of living in Canada to switch to zed.
Also, never seen it spelt "zi" ever, lol.
Adderbox76@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 112d
zed of course.
Don't argue with Meredith Rodney McKay.
thenextguy@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 112d
“Zee’s dead, baby. Zee’s dead.”
isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 111d
Zed
grte@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 111d
Zed
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 111d
Gen Zed
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 111d
Zed
Heliumfart@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 111d
Zed
k0e3@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 111d
Zed
RealCaptPicard@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 112d
As far as I can remember I was taught in school to say it as 'zee'. But that was in secondary language classes and that was a long time ago... We definitely say it as 'zed' in French though.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 6 pts · 112d
US peanut gallery but I did not even know about the zed pronunciation thing until stargate atlantis. It was so confusing. Why does that guy say zpm and that guy say zedpm???
alsimoneau@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 112d
FYI. You wrote the same thing twice ;)
JeanValjean@piefed.social · 6 pts · 112d
I'm not Canadian, but grew up on the border and only got Canadian television stations for years. As a result, I regularly change back and forth between zee and zed.
SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world · 6 pts · 112d
American here who always thought "Zed" was used for zero. Now I'm wondering if I ever made an ass of myself misinterpreting someone.
psycotica0@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 112d
As a Canadian, I have never heard anyone refer to zero as zed. I guess in theory if I was reading out a label or something that specifically had a "Z" to signify zero I would say zed, but that's because I'm saying the letter rather than because I'm saying zero, but I can't think of any time when someone would label something as "Z" to mean zero when they could just do "0", so I don't think that's common.
Sorry bud.
SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world · 1 pts · 112d
It's my understanding that Zed is used in England and possibly Australia for zero. I never knew Canadians used the word at all - let alone for a different meaning - until now.
psycotica0@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 111d
Are you sure you're not thinking of "naught"? I'll admit I don't know that Brits don't use "Zed" for zero, but I've never heard it from any British YouTuber I've watched, including maths YouTubers, nor any British TV I've watched. But it's possible one of their dialects uses it maybe?
All the ones I've heard say naught though.
For completeness I'll say Canadians typically don't say naught unless they're British themselves, we say zero.
SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world · 2 pts · 111d
I just did some searching, and cannot confirm what I thought was true. I've no idea where I picked it up because I've thought that was the case for decades now. Man, do I feel clueless. Sorry for the confusion. TIL.
psycotica0@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 110d
No worries! Those are some of my favourites: a long held belief with no basis in reality. It could be something you misinterpreted once and got locked away as a fact, or something an uncle or something could have said, and they were wrong. I've had a few of those myself where I'm like "where the hell did I even get that from..." 😛
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 111d
0 is Nil or naught, zed is for Z
Karmanopoly@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 111d
It's a Camaro "Zed" 28
But the alphabet it's X, Y, "Zee"
Dalraz@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 111d
X, Y, Zed
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 111d
Nah, you can't fuck up the rhyming in the alphabet song
Edit: you can downvote all you want, the fact is that if you end the alphabet song with "Zed" you have to finish the rest as "next time won't you give me head" and that's just wrong
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 111d
What are you talking about? Zed rhymes with Ved.
HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 112d
Zed.
Dunno who decided zee was a thing, but they were wrong.
TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 112d
I seem to alternate depending on context. Never really noticed until thinking back on it.
kbal@fedia.io · 4 pts · 112d
It's like "zed" of course, because I'm > 30 years old. I don't think it's a regional thing, more of a "zoomer" thing maybe?
FreeBooteR69@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 112d
Zed
a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 112d
Zed
Akuchimoya@startrek.website · 4 pts · 110d
Zed, unless its part of a person/product name where its specifically Zee, like Jay-Zee. Otherwise, it's Gen Zed.
Handsomest_Robot@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 112d
I have not yet encountered a Canadian who says "zi" the way I do. I've worked at schools here with ages from 12 to 22 and all of the students have said "zed" as well as every teacher and co-workers I've had.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 112d
Zed.
LostWon@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 112d
For the letter or spelling something out, I'll always say "zed." I think for the most part I only say "zee" if I'm using acronyms that are either specific to US organizations or that both originated there and are still considered to be tightly associated with that country (like if I need to refer to some product from a US company, though none come to mind at the moment).
BrainFarmReject@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 112d
I say zed.
Asidonhopo@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 112d
Wait, do you pronounce "zi" like "zih" or like "zie"
Witchfire@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 112d
It's the same as "sea" but with a z sound
unknowablenight@piefed.social · 1 pts · 112d
Zie. (Edited, I misunderstood the question)
ratildarat@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 110d
for my family, it’s very much Zed. jay zed, zed zed top,
vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 109d
I spell my name with a zed not a zi. From Sask
Jela@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 112d
To your question, I have a similar one... Do Canadians say tom"ay"to or tom"ah"to? 🍅
What about potato?
betanumerus@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 111d
discomatic@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 112d
At the risk of being unpopular, I say zee. I've been corrected so many times by my friends, but I spent a lot of time in the US and it just stuck. Plus, the alphabet song specifically says zee, and I'm not arguing with that.
90s_hacker@reddthat.com · 10 pts · 111d
it doess??? ours says zed
ItsMeSpez@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 111d
Weird, the alphabet song says zed for me because that's what I choose to say.
discomatic@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 111d
Zed doesn't rhyme with V though.