Why Do Americans Pronounce it 'Zee'? |

[@betterlatethannever4529]

“Why do Americans?” Because of the British.

[@Siberius-]

Or the French.

[@xSetkux]

or spain @@Siberius-

[@rustyshackleford83]

"Why do americans say zee?" "Why do americans insist on using imperial?" "Why do americans call it soccer?" "Why does american food suck? Answer: the British

[@apexlegend1844]

​@@rustyshackleford83 Most of America has very good food it's just not traditional

[@rustyshackleford83]

@@apexlegend1844 I like American food myself. That's just one of the things you always hear foreigners say about the states

[@MichaelScheele]

Plus, Zed Zed Top makes a lousy band name.

[@AlexandertheGreat99]

🤭😂😂🤣🤣😜

[@telegramsam]

definitely the most important issue here

[@jasonlescalleet5611]

I’ve heard arguments over whether the Rush instrumental “YYZ” should be pronounced “why why zee” or “why why zed” since they’re a Canadian band and Canada is often somewhere between the US and UK on so many things. Of course I know they’re both wrong. “YYZ” is the airport code for Toronto, and aviation folks pronounce those letter “Yankee Yankee Zulu.”

[@wyattcole5452]

Wonder what they would’ve done instead. VV top would be cool

[@KeweenawPatriot]

Yep, we don't have words in our alphabet.

[@arcticbanana66]

"A, B, C, D, E, F, Jed, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, Ped, Q, R, S, T, U, Ved, W, X, Y, and Zed. Now I've sung my ABSeds, next time won't you sing with med."

[@user-cp3gr9lx3s]

Bed,ced,ded,ed, and ted

[@socaldeb]

You forgot how they pronounce H "Haitch"

[@goldensloth7]

@@socaldeb americans do? never heard it, just aitch.

[@naught0]

@@goldensloth7 No, some accents in the UK do. Americans say "aitch" rather than "haitch"

[@paulinotou]

I was joke thinking of this. Z happens to rhyme with V which is why we changed it to fit the song. I can't imagine thats the actual reason, but the song works with all the letters at the end of the line sounding with an ee sound. Maybe theres some truth to it

[@dunkbuscusgaming7016]

I'm Australian and officially were supposed to pronounce it as Zed too but to me Zed is someone's name and Zee is the letter.

[@OTPulse]

Victorian?

[@dunkbuscusgaming7016]

@@OTPulse No

[@dunkbuscusgaming7016]

@@crystalh3 Yeah I even know someone who has the name my ex girlfriend's brother's name is Zed

[@DarkMatterX1]

Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

[@zeddthesecond1019]

​@crystalh3 yes Zed is a name, it's mine.

[@PuffyCloud_aka_puffeclaude]

It'll go over like a Zed Leppelin.

[@nicolegreen3317]

Nicely done.

[@NotSoHeartBroken]

😂😂😂😂

[@chimchar87]

Nice joke 👍🏻

[@stephaniebaker2526]

Good one! 😂

[@Donleecartoons]

I zee what you did there.

[@paraglidingprospector]

Your graphics department really went all-out with that Z.

[@AIA1990]

lol

[@lilyofluck371]

Gotta love me some practical effects :3

[@ralphhathaway-coley5460]

You see it is all a tissue of lies.

[@elkudos6262]

It does belong on toilet paper.

[@thebeardedlady76]

That’s exactly what I was thinking 😂

[@chefdownunder92]

Zed and nought are not the norm anymore in Australia. I reckon I was one of the last generations in Australia where we referred to 'Zz' as 'zed' and '0' as 'nought.' We were also taught to put a line through our noughts and the lowercase zed was that long 3-like character. Times have definitely changes because when I say nought as a number people look at me like I just spoke Russian 😅

[@larrykramer4913]

Good for Australia every new generation is smarter than the last. In the U.S. slang for 0 is zilch. Or should we be saying zedilch? I think American pronunciation of English is the correct pronunciation. Because five times more Americans speak English than the British. The majority must be pronouncing English correctly!!! Sorry about stealing your language. Maybe they should change the name of the English language to American!!!!

[@michaellayard5045]

Ok nought sure but zed is DEFINITELY still the norm

[@Jojozilla426]

​@@larrykramer4913 Can't tell if you're joking

[@Jojozilla426]

Nobody says nought in the UK either

[@RandomGuyyy]

Math and Science has been completely Americanised globally. I say "Math" and "zero" even though I'm British.

[@lilleeanne8780]

This is one of my favorite videos youve done..."they brought the zed pronunciation as well as scurvy" lol. " An Englishman, don't you know". Love the history and humor (as opposed to humour).

[@ThatGuyThatHasSpaghetiiCode]

You've*

[@TheJestersDoor]

As Americans, we decided it wasn't good enough to only drop your tea in the harbor, so we dropped the D as well☺️

[@mikespearwood3914]

And you dropped the U in harbour etc etc.

[@TheJestersDoor]

@@mikespearwood3914 along with the i in aluminium

[@azzajames7661]

And dropped the "U" in honour 😜

[@BooBuKittyPhuk]

​​@@mikespearwood3914 now that was witty Edit... but should've left it "dropped the u in _the_ harbour"

[@Jay122789]

And we replaced the que in the tail end of most words with a ck.

[@pionosphere]

British person: "Zed" Me: "How very French of you."

[@koobs4549]

American person: “Zee” British person: “How very German of you” 😂

[@Taima]

@@koobs4549At least English is a Germanic language at heart.

[@benjaminsawyer1292]

@@Taima And borrowed extensively from other languages. Touche.

[@aresee8208]

​@@koobs4549But German name of the letter z is Zett. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Lion-O-Richie2040]

It’s actually green and Latin also. Not just German…

[@discordinc]

As an American who has always wondered by Brits pronounce it zed, this is very enlightening

[@ThatDamnPandaKai]

*every* English-speaking country pronounces it zed, only the US doesn't.

[@discordinc]

I mean, I realize that now. The US is very good a teaching you that "no, it's the rest of the world that does it weird"

[@zidane8452]

​@@discordincoh and keep in mind that "realize" is rather spell with an S in the UK. So it also changes up in words too

[@diorsse]

@@zidane8452 usually british spelling is more aesthetically pleasing (like colour or favourite is just infinitely better than color or favorite) but i think the "z" instead of "s" thing is the one thing we got right. "realize" just sounds right

[@zidane8452]

@@diorsse I do also prefer the ou spelling too. Spelling it with a O without the U looks wrong to me, but sometimes when I'm lazy or typing fast I spell colour without the U. Realize,organization,apologize etc... with an S always looked wrong to me ngl. In Jamaica we usually spell them with a Z so the S in those words always looked strange to me but nowadays I'm seeing more people spell it with an S so I'm now use to it.

[@englishgalmd]

Very interesting. Also, scurvy is vitamin C deficiency. So while the newly arrived Puritans probably had scurvy after their long voyage which lacked adequate vitamin C sources, it was not contagious. Incidentally, members of the British Navy were called limeys because they were given rations of limes and lemons to prevent scurvy, but that was well after these early American settlers arrived by ship.

[@HAVOK586]

I love it when Brits have to find out that they're actually the ones responsible for "zee" and "soccer." 😂😂😂

[@doithimaceabhard7457]

I think Webster is more to blame for this abomination catching on but I think everybody knows Soccer is the correct English word it's just the only game played exclusively using your feet to motivate a ball

[@mr.d.6529]

Soccer, is an Americanism taken from Association

[@HAVOK586]

@doithimaceabhard7457 which kinda makes you wonder why English people started calling the game by that name first. Americans adopted the word because that's the name English people were calling it at the time. It then fell out of favor for football instead. I can't blame 'em, it certainly makes more sense, but Americans didn't come up with the word. For some reason, many English folks don't know that little tidbit.

[@Perfectly_Cromulent351]

@@doithimaceabhard7457football is called football because it’s played on foot, not because you use your feet. It was coined during a time when games on horseback were popular as well. Also, football is a family of sports, not a single sport. It includes association football (soccer), rugby, Aussie rules, Gaelic football, and N. American gridiron football.

[@spaceman9396]

Indeed Zed is an abomination. Imagine if every letter had a forced identity crisis lol. Leave Z alone

[@apocalypticpioneers2116]

Oh wow, so this is one of the rare cases where we actually diverged on our own

[@eglol]

Omg

[@twitchy_bird]

Kind of, that one British dude wrote zee too he said

[@apocalypticpioneers2116]

​@@twitchy_birdTrue but that was probably a rarity, my bet is it was probably a regional thing if it was already in Britain

[@WVgirl1959]

We always have. They drive on the left we drive on the right, they say a word one way, we say it the other way. We didn't want to be like them and made our country our own.😊

[@MichaelClark-bd2sw]

And got it right!

[@millermichael]

“Why do Americans?” Because we won.

[@ShortBreaksCheapEscapes]

Won what ?

[@AccelerateHedge]

Guess

[@supercaveman]

Only because we had help from the French.

[@millermichael]

@@supercaveman “Hon Hon! Zee!”😂

[@livelongandprosper70]

God your dumb 🤦

[@timothyjackson4653]

Maybe some of the colonists were Dutch and were thinking of the Zider Zee

[@humanperson450]

Why is something weird in English? Blame the French. Why something weird in American English? Blame Daniel Webster 😆

[@priscillajimenez27]

Don't hate on Webster lol

[@pretzelbomb6105]

@@priscillajimenez27 No hate at all. He wrote the book on American English. The literate write the records, after all.

[@OldNavajoTricks]

The Devil take him I say! The Devil and Daniel Webster is a story.

[@davidwesley2525]

@humanperson450 That's NOAH Webster who Created the American Dictionary. 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

[@OldNavajoTricks]

@@davidwesley2525 I'd like to play my "Not a yank don't care' card please Alex... 🤘😂 Meh, so you guys uh you have more than one Webster huh? ... ... GOOD for you! (Friendly arm punch.) Plus I blame humanperson450.

[@jollygoodfellow3957]

I'm not calling it Dragon Ball Zed, fight me.

[@unreal4good367]

I'm here to back you up.

[@OniNoSweeney]

The fight would take 26 episodes.

[@no_dogs]

Go on then bru'v I'll have ya

[@Aconitum_napellus]

It is indeed Dragon Ball Zed. Same for that god awful film World War Zed.

[@dugonman8360]

Don't the Brits just call all of it Dragon ball anyway?

[@JerryN7970]

Funny, as a 53 year old American, I never realized British pronounce it Zed until just a few years ago! LOL I also found out recently a lot of words Americans use with a z, the British use an s. Like realize/realise for example. And when I wrote that last sentence, my spell checker actually tried to autocorrect “realise” to “realize”. 😂

[@abc-coleaks-info3180]

I got hammered on a spelling test in school for spelling color with the U in it. I new then that they were sabotaging my education 😂

[@JerryN7970]

@@abc-coleaks-info3180 🤣

[@seven471]

Zedd in America is a southern uncle that shows up at the family reunion

[@ephwurd2yurMother]

No that's jed if you're gonna insult America do it properly

[@E4439Qv5]

Short for Zedediah

[@robert-jason-king]

Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

[@E4439Qv5]

@@robert-jason-king *_Zedd's dead baby._*

[@thetomahawk6188]

It’s hilarious how Brits pronounce Z as Zed and Zeta as Zee-ta but Americans pronounce Z as Zee and Zeta as Zeh-ta

[@BadseedGarden]

Thats because if the word doesnt end in E, or have a two Es youre supposed to pronounce it with a soft E, Zey-ta. It would only be Zee-ta in america if it were spelled Zeeta.

[@MisterTTG]

Seems like it falls under the trend where Brits say some loanwords like they're english words, and Americans approximate the original pronunciation, like jaguar, herb, fillet, pasta, etc.

[@Kepora1]

It's not hilarious, just correct.

[@wild180]

​@@BadseedGardenzebra

[@penderyn8794]

He keeps WRONGLY using the word British to mean English. British is an old word for native Celtic peoples such as Welsh. .... The English language is English not British .... There is no such thing as British English because Welsh and Scots have different forms of English historically

[@douglasstrother6584]

Next up: "Math" versus "Maths".

[@Wiz-xm7mv]

You mean maahphs bruuv

[@maidenminnesota1]

Yeah, it's mathematics, not mathsematics.

[@ironcheater1012]

@@maidenminnesota1Same thing could be said for the reverse. Its mathematics, not mathematic

[@ShortArmOfGod]

Because mathematics isn't plural.

[@mwsn736]

@@ironcheater1012you could also say that it’s mathematically correct and not mathsematically correct

[@ThurstonCyclist]

In American pronunciation, every letter either begins or ends with a vowel sound. In standard British English, A through Y begin or end with a vowel sound, and Zed does neither.

[@sellyourhomenowbook]

Wait what about F?

[@ThurstonCyclist]

@@sellyourhomenowbook which is spoken like "eff" instead of "fff"

[@markbrazier243]

What about Q?

[@strangevision99]

Zed finishes the alphabet, it's allowed to be different. Just like Q demands it goes nowhere without U, and some letters just wanna be pronounced exactly the same as others at certain times, letters have their quirks.

[@Shayron1989]

Not quite. Most Brits pronounce ‘h’ as ‘haych’ rather than the ‘aych’ in American pronunciation.

[@DILFDylF]

"Zed" does not follow the pronunciation patterns of all other letters. It sticks out like a sore thumb. Zee matches B, C, D, E, G, P, T, and V. What letter would match zed? None.

[@NautilusGuitars]

Exactly. The justification is that it's in line with the original name of the letter but that's ridiculous, as no other letters get that treatment. Imagine "alpha, beta, cappa, delta" etc. It's one of the only language differences I care about, because it just seems utterly ridiculous and nonsensical. It's just archaic and follows no consistent logic.

[@emmanarotzky6565]

But there are plenty of letters that use different pronunciation patterns. L isn’t Lee, R isn’t Ree, M isn’t Mee, etc.

[@NautilusGuitars]

@@emmanarotzky6565 but no other letter adds a different consonant. The only exception is W, and that's because it's a literal description instead of a pronunciation. Any pronounced letter is the letter plus a vowel sound before or after the letter.

[@DILFDylF]

@@emmanarotzky6565 But those letters also follow a pattern, just a different one. ell, emm, enn, arr, ess, exx; L, M, N, R, S, X. Vowel sound followed by the sound the letter makes. H is probably the only odd one out. Maybe it should be pronounced "hee". I mean it sounds stupid now but if that's how it always was it would make more sense. Also W but the other commenter addressed it.

[@johng4093]

We'll eventually get around to fixing the other letters too. 😊

[@Ted_II]

What I've always wondered is why we call it "double-yew" instead of something with just one syllable like "wuh"

[@chance2smoke]

Should be double vee

[@fobinc]

Spaniards were smart, they call it double v.

[@BlindJedi]

English teacher here. Derived from the old letter, Wynn. Representing the sound a W makes. Still stupid they saw it, felt it looked like two letters mushed together, and changed its name.

[@Freya_Blue]

​@@fobincum...once upon a time U and V were the same letter. Also, looks-wise, depends what font it's written in if it's uu or vv

[@johnjennings7999]

In Sweden, we pronounce that letter vee-vee

[@kennethnaughton1205]

Dang, never knew the Alphabet Song was a diss track

[@CaptainKwame1773]

Lmao it basically is! Like how Washington Irving basically started the lie that Europeans thought the earth was flat. They very much knew it was round. Kinda back fired tho 😅 lol

[@AF_1892]

Sorority chants are total diss tracks, even though we are cheering. I do really like "Chi Oh! Because we're hot'! They were. They werent at my University. I worked with some at A&F and yes, they were hot. DZ's still the best.

[@rustyshackleford83]

​@@CaptainKwame1773ironically, the modern belief in flat earth was kickstarted by an Englishman

[@CantTellYou]

How did the letter “Z” come from “zeta” if the letter Z didn’t even exist?!?! 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

[@matt92hun]

Brits really do butcher that song.

[@mabus4910]

And yet the internet goes crazy when you say that american english is older than UK english.

[@EighmyLupin]

This^ Americans speak not only an older form of English, but we also tend to pronounce the words the way the original language that created the word does. The English basically stole a bunch of random words from every language on the planet and then refused to pronounce any of them correctly.

[@veroniquejeangille8248]

This would be an absurd thing to say, considering the USA is much younger than the UK. More correct would be that the English spoken in the USA has retained older forms of the language than current-day British English.

[@mabus4910]

@@veroniquejeangille8248 That is a more precise explanation. But in essence, it's exactly what I wanted to say.

[@Shayron1989]

The reason this is a mad thing to say is because UK English is far too varied to make a generic statement like that. It may be true of RP English pronunciation but that accounts for about 3% of the UK population. 😅

[@adiabeticdisproves4624]

I just like that you have it written on a paper towel.

[@tnt-boom]

I have come to the conclusion if Britain and America have a language difference. You can usually trace the American version back to Britain.

[@kalinystazvoruna8702]

Actually, in the 17th & 18th Centuries, everyone pronounced things pretty much the same in both Britain, America, Canada, etc. It's only in the 19th Century that the British got snotty and decided to start that silly "Received Pronunciation" crap.

[@twhimsy]

The American Southern accent is supposedly very close to what British aristocrats sounded like back during the initial founding. They just kept the accent (as rich enslavers) as Britain evolved theirs further 🤷

[@kalinystazvoruna8702]

@@twhimsy I think that it was the 18th Century British accent, not just in the South, but in Canada as well. Canadanians pretty much have the same accent (unless in your in Quebec) that Americans have, although the American accent has been fracturing in the last 200 years which is why you have a "Midwest" accent, or a "Northeast" accent, or a "Southern" accent, etc. Personally, I think the so-called "Received Pronunciation" was "invented" to distinguish the upper class British snobs from the "colonies". That's just my take and not admissible evidence in a court of law. 😸

[@firexgodx980]

No you can trace it back to Webster, the genius who fixed many broken things with English.

[@JCDofNYC]

The United States and England: two nations separated by a common language.

[@jenniferhanses]

You're actually missing a huge piece in the story of Z. Zee is pronounced as such in England, specifically the West County area. Or at least it used to be. And most American colonists were from the West Counties area. So they took their regional pronunciation with them. The ABC song, though, is why it is completely stuck throughout the whole of the US. Anyway, chalk up another one on the Americans do it the way they do because that's how people in the UK used to do it until they decided it wasn't posh enough board.

[@jayjack6299]

Just like the term Soccer. They hate us for the term they gave us and then abandoned!

[@ozfifer7392]

Hmm, yes, a very prestigious board indeed.

[@scirrhia_kruden]

The board is just a wall of solid chalk at this point.

[@jh2519]

Like Soccer.

[@roycehuepers4325]

Us in the south saying yall is another similar example. Though it was likely from the Scottish

[@melodicgrog]

Now I’m thinking of Brit’s ordering pizedzeda

[@SSgreen09]

Love the pencil on folded paper towel. Very professional 😂😂

[@bridgecross]

"Zed" sounds more like a full word than a letter. But then there's "Doubleyou" which is a word so strange people avoid thinking about it.

[@Lahdee]

in spanish it is called "duble ve" which is just double vee, essentially vv = w

[@Touma134]

It's also a double U. It's not even called its own thing but is just describing the fact it's just two Us put together.

[@johncoops6897]

​@@Touma134- it is two V except when you write like a 6 year old...

[@honolulublues5548]

​@@johncoops6897when English was developed, people wrote in cursive, which the letter looked more like uu over vv.

[@rdhunkins]

U's were originally V's. I've seen "E. PLVRIBVS VNVM" written in stone.

[@ttt5020]

tbf it's rather consistent with the B C D E G P T V pattern of 'sound the letter makes + ee'. If Beta became Bee, Zeta should become Zee!

[@JibrailJones]

So why don’t we have F = “fee”, G = “ghee”, H = “hee”, J = “jee”, K = “kee” ETC. ?

[@Beyondthe5thPanel]

@@JibrailJonesthat’s hilarious to try! I’m gonna have to attempt to song the alphabet that way

[@ttt5020]

@@Beyondthe5thPanel aee bee cee dee eee fee ghee, hee iee jee kee lee mee nee oui pee, quee ree see, tee uhee vee, wee xee, yee and zee!

[@PositiveOnly-dm3rx]

How British kids sing the alphabet: Ad Bed Ced Ded Ed fed ged 😂😂😂

[@PositiveOnly-dm3rx]

​@@ttt5020 Ad Bed Ced Ded Ed fed ged 😂😂😂

[@davidthedeaf]

Why do we say zee? Because we see a ZEEbra, not a zeDDbra. 😂

[@douglasstrother6584]

ZED-HEAVY WORDS!! Yeah, BABY!

[@morefiction3264]

Webster. Explains many differences between American and British English.

[@globalheart]

But even Webster can be questioned!!

[@Fanimati0n]

​@globalheart Webster freed us from the hellish old spelling of jail (gaol), so his word is god to me

[@seedsoflove7684]

​@@Fanimati0nI'm so grateful to Noah.

[@globalheart]

@Fanimati0n 😄 ...well that word in particular, Gaol, could so easily be confused as a mispelt Gael in written form, lol. Look at how many surnames were botched coming through Ellis Island... it DOES help to alter certain words a bit, sometimes! But no single person knew everything, not even Webster. Even with information so easily transferred nowadays, we still dig to learn, and must keep digging!

[@stubstoo6331]

​@@globalheartanyone that came through Ellis island weren't even English.🤦🤦

[@toughenupfluffy7294]

Same reason Americans prefer coffee over tea: just to anger the British.

[@B-A-L]

Why does that anger us?

[@fancyelk2373]

@@B-A-L have you never seen comments sections before? The British stay mad at all times baby 😂

[@ctrononon]

They never stop thinking about us@@fancyelk2373

[@chloeedmund4350]

Did you see the news about putting salt in tea and the US embassy's response?

[@TomTomicMic]

​@@chloeedmund4350 No, and the tax dodgers had to have coffee from South of the border down Mexico way because they didn't want to pay the tax!?!

[@danielgodfrey4415]

Z! ¡El hombre con el sombrero nos envió! ¡Él nos cuenta muchas historias asombrosas!

[@danielray1484]

Ho ho ho ho

[@harringtonvo]

Is that toilet paper? Subtle Brit humor at it’s best. Well done m8

[@afterlife697]

Let’s just take a minute to realize the alphabet song has been around since 1828!!

[@resourcedragon]

I thought he was just being a smart arse with that, like people saying, "Lincoln said that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet."

[@afterlife697]

@@resourcedragon the song was originally copyrighted in 1835

[@dw9666]

The song had 27 letters, & was considered a letter

[@PositiveOnly-dm3rx]

How British kids sing the alphabet: Ad Bed Ced Ded Ed fed ged 😂😂😂

[@TomTomicMic]

​@@PositiveOnly-dm3rx How Yanks sing the alphabet "Alfaaaaa.....Bet"!?!

[@calebmcurby8580]

When I was a kid watching MIB, I always wondered why Zed didn't go by a letter...

[@JBB685]

@@FuryanJedi13that’s the point of the comment.

[@pricklypear3625]

@@FuryanJedi13 Whoooooosh.

[@koobs4549]

When I was a kid listening to Bush’s debut album, I had no idea the name of the album was actually 224lbs 😂

[@LRM12o8]

@koobs4549 you mean 101 kg? Yeah, that's a banger of an album! 👍

[@zoyadulzura7490]

"Zee" just fits better with the pattern of the other letters. Along the same lines, I advocate for changing "double-yoo" to "wee". The song can easily be altered to go as "tee yoo vee, wee and ex, wai and zee."

[@vendingdudes]

"...as well as scurvy." LMAO

[@d.h.4778]

“As well as scurvy.” 😂😂

[@magnusmalmborn8665]

Unlike many other diseases they brought, scurvy is not contagious so the impact ought to have been minimal.

[@d.h.4778]

@@magnusmalmborn8665 I like your information! Thank you for sharing! I didn’t know that! (All of that is said genuinely!!) ☺️

[@damiencouturee6240]

​@@d.h.4778Yep, scurvy is caused by not having enough vitamin C for long periods, which is why it was so common on old ships. People couldn't really take fruits with them as they would spoil quickly, so there was no source of vitamin C for months upon months at a time. Fun (maybe) fact - the British navy started carrying limes on their ships once people started figuring out the correlation between fruit and scurvy, which is why they were called limeys. That might be more story than hard fact though.

[@Deschutron]

Like the scurvy, the pronunciation "Zed" ultimately didn't last.

[@d.h.4778]

@@damiencouturee6240 I love learning!! Thank you for your definite fact, and your maybe fact!!!

[@Robert41265]

You might notice, in America, most of our consonants avoid using extra consonant sounds in their names, except maybe 'H' which uses a 'CH' sound and 'W' which uses the entire word 'double'. This better isolates the sound of the letter.

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

Which leads me to: It's called a zebra not a zedbra. Which is a joke not to be taken seriously at all

[@MadocComadrin]

We say double-u because saying the sound betrays the fact that it ought to be a vowel.

[@Robert41265]

@MadocComadrin Never heard that about 'W'. It's 'Y' that I've always heard could go either way. I've always been under the impression it was because of its shape, like two 'U's (UU), as to which I've always thought two 'V's would be more accurate (VV). I don't think 'double vee' will catch on anytime soon, though (in the US). 😉

[@aeromoe]

A lot of Brits...maybe all...pronounce H as 'haych' and not 'aych' as Americans do.

[@MxMe-su1ch]

The secret is the vowel sounds, not the consonants. All English consonant names begin or end with a vowel sound. So zed and haytch have always been wrong.

[@greenberrygk]

“They brought the zed pronunciation as well as scurvy” 😂

[@yyy_aaa]

your accent made me sit in a fancy sofa and drink black tea

[@denisdooley1540]

My first college statistics class was taught by an Aussie professor. I spent over a year thinking it was called a "zed score" (and just abbreviated "z") until I took another statistics class from a guy from California.

[@heard3879]

That's hilarious!!!!

[@rosiefay7283]

By which time you'd already learned its name, so in this case it wouldn't have been quite so hard to work out what this guy from California was saying through his American dialect.

[@benjaminmorris4962]

​@@rosiefay7283 No shit he could easily understand the California dialect, he's American himself 😂

[@meatballhead15]

When I first learned that the English pronounced that letter "Zed", my first thought was "What about the ABC song?!?"

[@johncoops6897]

Only American people need a song to remember the letters of the alphabet. They never made a song to remember their states, which is why almost none of them know those. EDIT: I have now learnt that I was wrong about the "US States Song" however I doubt it is taught at schools now days, since being replaced by gender studies 😃

[@bvbxiong5791]

my first thought was WHAT THE EVER LIVING BLEEP IS THAT?

[@jovetj]

You mean Add Bed Ced? ♬ Add Bed Ced Ded Edd Fed Ged, Hed, Id, Jed, Ked, Led-Med-Ned-Oed-Ped, Qued, Red, Sed, Ted, Ued, Ved, Wed, Xed, Yed, and Zed! ♫

[@gardenplots283]

​@@johncoops6897There was a song for naming the states alphabetically when I was in school.

[@allisondaugherty5963]

​@@gardenplots283Fifty Nifty United States...

[@lisasmith7066]

Love your page! 🙏❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸

[@BlueBrained]

I'm just stuck on him writing on paper towels

[@EdgeDC]

More important than B, C, & D in the ABC song, is the American Z’s rhyme with G, P, and V… because those letters are the ones at the end of the previous 3 lines in the song. Also, American Z rhymes with “me” at the very end of the song.

[@AncestralGratitude85]

Next time won't you sing with med 😬

[@TorTheWeirdo]

lol I’m laughing at the thought of saying “double you, ex, why and zed” and the end of the alphabet song 😂🤣 that would sound so ridiculous 😭😂

[@EdgeDC]

@@TorTheWeirdo The best use of “Zed” is in Pulp Fiction: “Zed’s dead, baby… Zed’s dead.”

[@OTPulse]

​@TorTheWeirdo Zed sounds better than Zee. Zed sounds far more final, end of the song.

[@TorTheWeirdo]

@@OTPulse it doesn’t rhyme with the song though. The song also doesn’t end there. It ends with “next time won’t you sing with me.”

[@ingamelevi1929]

"Who's Zed?" "Zed's dead, baby"

[@tylerlong7733]

blueberry pancakes and why does your watch smell so bad?

[@dmacarthur5356]

It's a chopper, baby.

[@scot6089]

A ponch?

[@realzachfluke1]

Just blame it on my youth 🎧🧑‍🎤

[@chipsthedog1]

Never considered it before your comment but now I am always going to think why was his name zed not zee

[@penteractgaming]

I think this is the only time the answer was "americans changed" rather than the british.

[@tinpin609]

I love that…every one of these episodes can reduced to British ignorance and narcissism.

[@christaverduren690]

I first heard it in 1990 when a Canadian roommate had a ZED 28 car. I was confused until I saw it and said, That's a ZEE 28...........and the fight began...

[@monicarenee7949]

I first heard zed when I worked for an international company and folks from New Zealand were on a project with me. For a while I didn’t understand what they were saying until it finally clicked. I feel silly now for not knowing it wasn’t the same in every country but to be honest I had never had a way to even hear it before then

[@Dargonhuman]

I had the same confusion whenever someone would talk about the "ZX Spectrum" home computer and pronounced it "zed ex".

[@trinidad2450]

You crack me up!

[@turdferguson2982]

Which I'm sure you won and they have been making excuses for since then.

[@robm9999]

And since then you became aware you were pronouncing it wrong ever since. Lol

[@anaunaga5471]

Imagine singing the whole abc’s song and then ending it by saying “zed”.thats a punch in the throat.

[@corriehingston6744]

Nah. "Zee" makes it sound unfinished

[@Mangeen]

Zed sounds very conclusive as the sound goes down. Zee doesn't as the sound goes up.

[@anaunaga5471]

Zed just doesn’t fit very well. It makes more sense to follow a pattern like Bee, See, Dee, than… Zed? No Zee is better.

[@Mangeen]

@@anaunaga5471 There's lots of letters that don't end with the "ee" sound. Not sure why you're picking out these specifically.

[@Twili8697]

​@corriehingston6744 nope

[@quantumcomata105]

I had no idea the British called it Zed until I started to watch Serpentza on KZbin last year.

[@lalalasvegas1]

What’s up with the paper towel? You put so much time into this video but couldn’t waste a second looking for paper 😂

[@piretkivi3218]

I watched a murder mystery where a British person said ZEE. I thought: "Damn, the director made a mistake." Except that it wasn't a mistake. The Brit was really an American and the culprit.

[@eighteenfiftynine]

Well then you made the mistake. No American ever did a convincing English accent.

[@straightwhitemale966]

@@eighteenfiftynine it was probably a british actor that made a convincing american accent after they got caught

[@dairoleon2682]

Tbf, English accents vary as much by zip code as American ones do by state, but Americans will accept "no accent" as a passable American accent.

[@SCIFIguy64]

The only non-accent region in America is between Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. It’s kind of a neutral zone between southern twang, eastern slur, western laziness and Minnesota nice.

[@resourcedragon]

I read a murder mystery in which the alibi all hinged on English vs US ways of writing the date. I really wish the Americans used a more logical way of writing the date because it can add a lot of complication when you are coding and the complier thinks it should read the date one way and then translate it into the other.

[@stephenfuller2119]

British: "look at those beautiful Zedbras on the African plains, we should put them in a Zedoo"

[@user-qx1om2wj1h]

While listening to jazzed.

[@aidinniplays]

@@user-qx1om2wj1hjazedzed

[@LarryTL]

@@user-qx1om2wj1hjazedzed

[@keith32482]

Wouldn't it be jazedzed?😂

[@wreconteur13]

The British legit say "zeh-bras"! It's jarring at first, then hilarious! 😂

[@NoNoBigWhite]

Actually, it WAS the Scurvy. It's hard to pronounce "ZED" when your teeth are falling out and your gums are bleeding.

[@fishingthelist4017]

My kids never liked it when I sang W X Y and Zed.

[@catherinerobilliard7662]

I used to say “X, Y, Zee or Zed, now I’ve said my A,B,C…”

[@idealizedx8924]

Bc they know you're a fuckin mutant freak

[@mscott54321]

"Why do Americans say 'zee'? Simple - because it's easier to rhyme with the other letters." Reminds me of that related eternal question: "Why are the letters of the alphabet in that order? Simple - because of the song."

[@ritaspeers1259]

THANK YOU! I'd wondered about that!

[@SlimThrull]

I've been trying to get everyone to say "Fee" instead of "Ef". Someday. Someday.

[@Opendack]

Ay bee cee dee ee fee gee hee

[@iamnoone21]

I always assumed it was changed so the end of the ABC song would rhyme

[@bobtheduck]

Me too... Considering it arose about the same time as the song, I still hold out hope that this was the real reason.

[@GiratinaGX]

@@bobtheduckthere is no reason it can’t be a bit of both. The song author noticed that zed doesn’t rhyme, so he/she changed into into zee

[@urphakeandgey6308]

I think this video kind of suggests that. He didn't explicitly state it, but he did bring up the song and how it probably influenced the pronunciation.

[@nevreiha]

rhyme with V? seems a bit arbitrary to choose to rhyme it with any preceding letter from the song without any specific structure. I always said it up to UVW in song and just tacked on the XYZ in a lower note

[@bobtheduck]

@@nevreiha The issue is where the phase is broken. G, P, V, Z

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

The UK pronunciation of zeta is closer to modern Greek, while the American pronunciation is closer to classical Greek (if memory serves). The Americans had a thing about ancient Greece, especially when Washington, DC was built...

[@linkskywalker5417]

And a certain part of anatomy that the ancient Greeks were fascinated with.

[@dennisdose5697]

Watching Top Gear reruns has me saying "zed."

[@mikemaya5058]

Hispanics called it zeta too!!

[@IAmTheRealBill]

One of the few cases wgwre the answer isn’t “cuz Britain changed to sound more continental and America said “nah we’re good”” 😂

[@Candlemancer]

There are actually a lot of those, but almost every single one was Noah Webster just declaring it out of nowhere because he *wanted* Americans to speak differently.

[@chrismanuel9768]

Instead it was England changing it, America adopting the change, then England changing back, and America going "nah, we're keeping it"

[@Philrc]

That's never the answer

[@anakinlowground5515]

@@Philrc you clearly don’t watch any of this British dude’s videos. It’s very often the case

[@Philrc]

@@anakinlowground5515 I love how people like you think you know about complete strangers and their habits. I am an "English dude" and yes i do watch his videos

[@elenasimon1270]

Zed hits the rhyming like a load of lead.

[@azzajames7661]

The "A" doesn't rhyme with any letters either, so the start and finish should not rhyme with a "Zed"😜

[@prodigalsonresurrection]

​@@azzajames7661"A" rhymes with "J" and "K"

[@azzajames7661]

@prodigalsonresurrection But they are not near each other😆 Zed is a full stop, the end and should not rhyme,...full stop 😜

[@Mila_Brearey]

​@@prodigalsonresurrection they rhyme only. A,J & K do not sound like eachother ... whereas C & Zee do.

[@quinn-tessential3232]

"These are all from aiy to zed. Now it's time to go to bed." (zzzzzzzzzed)

[@Vajrayogini-pp1gr]

Whoa I just sooooooo love your video 👍🏽!

[@rosselliot8971]

My Brit friend just loves the music of ZedZed Top.

[@Steve_Stowers]

To me, "Zed" sounds like the name of a hillbilly, not a letter.

[@angelsdontkill113]

Isn’t Zed the guy boning Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction?

[@drl5002]

You should hear Dougie Franklin's rant about it on the Red Green Show. I think it was on the segment "Ask the Experts".

[@porkcracklins630]

@@angelsdontkill113 Sorry, Zed's dead.

[@balancedactguy]

Zed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies!

[@martybadboy]

Zeda

[@brandonwisler1647]

Pi "zed" "zed" a "zed" "zed" just doesn't roll off the tongue like Pizzazz 😂😂

[@ulfsark2665]

All I’m hearing is the Brits trolled the Americans 🤣

[@AnEnemySpy456]

I've heard the alphabet song with Zed at the end. I hate it, it ends on an awkward thud.

[@honolulublues5548]

You just have to change the ending. Instead of "Next time won't you sing with me?", say "I'm so tired, its time for bed". 😂

[@eglol]

Not going to lie, Zee rhyming with the others helps the song very well.

[@chippyjohn1]

Z sounds so much better than ZEE. Zed is a gentle closing to the song, Zee makes it sound as though there is more left to the alphabet. ZEE just sounds irritating. You can pick the people of low intelligence when they pronounce it zee.

[@hyalinamusic18]

@@chippyjohn1 Counterpoint: rhyming is always better than not rhyming, and zed rhymes with no other letter therefore zee is better

[@technerd9655]

As a kid I only knew the song with Z[ed] at the end and it never occurred to me it didn't rhyme, so to me hearing it rhyme with Z[ee] always sounds wrong.

[@rhov-anion]

Again, the British wanted to be like the French and America yelled, "I'll do what I waaaaaant!"

[@eumaeus]

and so American's say 'erb rather than herb...

[@OmniscientWarrior]

​@@eumaeusso did the Brits till recently. The h was always silent

[@DmzirzlofxZzri]

The americans got zee from west county IN england.

[@vandagylon2885]

​@@eumaeusblame the French

[@TomTomicMic]

The French do what they want, we get on with "almost" everyone, when the US acts French they end up Canadian!?!

[@wreconteur13]

Don't forget the Zee paper company, makers of the cheapest paper goods the 1970s-1980s America had to offer! 😆👍🏼

[@charlesdudemandude3554]

Bed , ed ,dead, Ted, Fred, ped. I'm all for it 😂

[@m10domedia]

So basically, a bunch of people decided it should be Z to be similar to BCDEGPT and V. And then the alphabet song solidified it more because it rhymed with G, P, V, C, and "me".

[@DaPopeANata]

I've always joked that the American pronunciation was because somebody wanted the song to rhyme. I guess I was closer to the truth than I realised.

[@eglol]

Yeah, so instead of Z being a special letter it's just like all the others 😢

[@runisa]

Bed ded ced ed ged ved

[@ReddoFreddo]

You're WRONG your logic is FLAWED and INCOHERENT and INVALID because zed rhymes with alphabet, which is CLEARLY a much better rhyme than zee and vee. 'Now you know the alphabet' rhymes with zed. Your argument is MUTE.

[@chrismanuel9768]

​@@ReddoFreddoThat doesn't rhyme.

[@seantimmons5900]

Random thing that has bothered me forever... There is a company Zee in the British Army. How did that happen?

[@cavalieroutdoors6036]

Comingling with Americans in World War I and/or II would be the most likely answer. "Sir, the Americans keep calling us Company Zee." "So...what's the problem?" "Well, sir...we're Company Zed." "OK, so the Americans are knobs. What do you want me to do about it?" "I don't know, but last week they shot at us because they thought they were supposed to rendezvous with Company Zee." "Sod it, we're Company Zee now! I've got more important things to deal with. Now bugger off!"

[@SasukeUchiha-ql5jg]

Might as well call B “Bed”😂

[@bayyarea925]

“Who’s zed” “zed’s dead, baby”

[@What_Makes_Climate_Tick]

A guy I was in a college band was named Mark Zender. His nickname was Z and when we went on a tour in Canada, we called him Zed.

[@randywatts6969]

😆

[@marywenzel3199]

The Etymology lesson was fascinating, but I couldn’t help fixating on the fact that you have drawn your visual aid on a piece of kitchen roll, or paper towels as we say here in the USA. Ingenious hack when faced with a lack of white paper.

[@armynurseshark]

I too was fixated on the paper towel used as a whiteboard

[@geoffreyherrick298]

Zorro was here.

[@the_Kurgan]

White paper is racist

[@combogalis]

ingenious feels like a pretty major overstatement lol

[@marywenzel3199]

@@combogalis I was being puckish.

[@GenuinelyHorriblePerson]

The most suprising part about this to me is that we know where the abc song came from 😂

[@flurmpf9110]

It just makes sense for a sound for a letter to be rid of fluff

[@stephanieparker1250]

The ABC song is that old? Wow 🤔

[@eglol]

It's definitely very old 😂😅

[@stephanieparker1250]

@@eglol And here people are worried we will forget our pastimes lol

[@humanperson450]

The music was written by Mozart too, so while the lyrics are old the music is even older

[@geoffreyherrick298]

I didn't know it originated in New England!

[@petergray2712]

​@humanperson450 Mozart didn't create the melody, though. He took the tune of a French children's song (Ah! vous dirai-je, maman) and included in his piano piece the Twelve Variations. It then spread from there into English and American culture and was reused in various languages for children's songs, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

[@AliceLupin1]

My four year old daughter heard it called “zed” one time, and now that’s how she prefers to call it 🤣🤣🤣

[@ijustneedmyself]

Lol! I love how kids just decide to do away with whatever they don't like regardless of the rules. It's rather entertaining.

[@RainbowFlowerCrow]

​@@ijustneedmyselfLol, same! I'm in Canada, but my mother has an English accent, and my daughter used to say "Waugh-tuh" (water), and "to-MAH-toes" (tomatoes) until she was about 6; she was too proper for me! Lol.. When Peppa Pig came out, you'd hear all of these American and Canadian children pronouncing words as if they were English, and it was so cute!😆

[@boi1825]

My condolences. Hope she gets better. 🙏

[@kentl7228]

​@@RainbowFlowerCrowthat's cute and she is correct. Water is pronounced as "wodder" by people in North America, to ears away from that continent. Also in North America, an orange gets pronounced as "awe rinj"... Nuclear gets the dyslexic "noo q lar". Soldering becomes "soddering"

[@necksquad3222]

​@@kentl7228Not everywhere in North America

[@olivine6]

“and also scurvy” 💀

[@Knuckle_Sandwich_Hand_Wraps]

‘Whose chopper is this? Zed’s,’ ‘who’s Zed?’ ‘Zed’s dead baby, Zed’s dead’

[@StarSurfer55]

Antebellum Southern plantation owners would send their children to England for education and so zed remained in American English until after the civil war.

[@Simon9Mr]

Afterwards, Z (pronounced 'Zed') fought against the Yankee invaders when he got back. His brother J (pronounced "Jed") also fought. It did not turn out well. Sigh.

[@BrandEver117]

If you say "zed" because of "zeta," then you should say "bed" for B, maybe even "gam" for G.

[@Levelistchampion]

In the past, I've used that same argument regarding B, but hadn't considered G. Thanks!

[@ramshacklealex7772]

I don't think the G is based off of gamma. It's actually a modified C. The Romans originally used the letter C for both of what we would think of as the "K" and the "G" sound.

[@TheLordDarkmount]

​@@ramshacklealex7772Though... in turn, italic C is derived from the etruscan letter that corresponds to greek gamma. So by a longer chain of relations it sorta kinda gets there. But the fact it is modified is on point, therefore 'gam with stick'

[@OmicronAwesome]

I’m curious where you line up on the Gif pronunciation debate.

[@Mnaughten601]

Its GIF, and will always be GIF. As in G-I-F GIF!!!

[@aboi6145]

I usually thought of “zed” as short for zombie, never thought it would be how the British pronounced Z lol

[@theemmjay5130]

I always liked the fact that the leader in Men in Black used the British pronunciation.

[@joshuapurinton7752]

I find Zee to be more sensible as most other consonants, when spelled phonetically, can be spelled with the letter itself and the addition of one or more vowels. "Bee, Kay, Dee, eS, Que" (of course there are notable exceptions like H, X, and W) Zee just seems to fit in better where as throwing a D in "Zed" seems very abrupt and out of the ordinary.

[@FlyingDominion]

Ay, bed, said, dead, ed, ef, jed, ... aych, eye, jay, kay, el, em, en, oh, ped, ... cue, are, ess, ... ted, you, ved, ... double you, ex, why, and zed.

[@TomTomicMic]

Zed is an abrupt letter as it's the end one, that's the whole point, Zee is like it's going to continue, like a continuous annoying buzzing sound!?!

[@joshuapurinton7752]

@@TomTomicMic "Zee" buzzes... that's the whole point of the letter, a buzzing S...

[@a.nobodys.nobody]

Ecks? DoubleU? Aych?

[@a.nobodys.nobody]

​@FlyingDominion took me way too long to figure out what you were doing 😂