Z!

All right, so we Americans take a lot of hell for pronouncing this letter "zee", and not "zed", which we consider to be a fine Christian name for a man from deepest Appalachia, rather than a letter. I've heard that somewhere in England there is a regional dialect that agrees with us, at least to calling it "zee". Does anybody know where that dialect comes from?

what would happen if they started calling w wee?

Well, "zee" does make more sense because some of the other letters in the English alphabet are the same.

b
c
d
e
g
p
t
v
z

I call it a "zed" but I'm a contrarian.

WHy would anyone call it zed?That just doesn't make sense.

Yeah, just like saying "GET OFF OF ME" the extra "OF" doesn't make sense. Simply say GET OFF ME.

I don't really understand you people who say that "zed" doesn't make sense. Fine, B, D, E, and many other letters of the alphabet rhyme with "zee". But why don't we go ahead and say that f should be "fee", k should be "kee", l should be "lee", and so on?

The Americans prefer "zee" and the British prefer "zed". Neither is more rational than the other.

Also, Sesame Street is polluting British, Australian, and Canadian children with "zee, zee, zee" whilst most parents in those countries want their children to learn "zed, zed, zed". I've read on Amazon.com that "Bob the Builder", a British children's show, has been reproduced in an American accent for the American market. If that is so, why can't Sesame Street and Barney reproduce their shows in a British accent?

A, bee, cee, dee, e, fee, ghee, hee, i, jee, kee, lee, mee, nee, o, pee, kwee, ree, see, tee, u, vee, wee, x, yee, zee. How crazy does that sound? it would sound really weird if all the letters had there names like that.

Thanks for teaching me a number of Eng alphabets. They're 26. I pronounce 'Z' but I follow the American pronunciation and spelling systems.

"Zed" makes alot of sense than "Zee". I'm somewhere between in British and American English. The American system for mentioning dates does not make sense at all. So I follow the British system. And same thing goes for British English, I don't like writing 'u' in humour, behaviour...etc

I do like to use the extra "u" in the words that you've mentioned since it reflects where this vocabulary came from which was the invasion of the Normans (or French whatever) and introduced these words in the English language.

Greek = zeta
French = zède
English = zed

I have no problem with zee just don't tell me it's better.

I do not think that either "zee" or "zed" is better; but there are no letters besides the British "zed" that have the same ending sound. With "zee," there are 8 other letters that have the same sound ending.

Yeah but 'funny' sounding or looking letters appear in other alphabets as well...like the French and German 'Y' , both of which do not sound at all like other letters in the alphabets. I think it's pointless that Bob the Builder should be broadcast in America in an American accent! It is as if it has to be dubbed because American children cannot understand British English!

Boy - Funnily enough, I think the American date system originates from the British system, where, when the date is written using words, the month comes first (August 3rd). But when written numerically in Britain, the day always comes first. (25/12/03)

It's tradition. It doesn't have to make sense.
A few days ago I met someone named (or called) Zed. Weird.

z changed from zed to zee. do you think w will eventually change from double-u to wee and then eventually all the letters will end in the ee sound and begin with there sound, if that happened saying the alphabet would sound really crazy.