Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz

[steepholm]

When I was learning to read, my parents got hold of a rhyming ABC book. It was American, and inevitably I was frustrated by the final page. I don't think it was Dr Seuss's ABC, but we had quite a few of his, and his ABC illustrates the problem well enough.

Big Z, little z,
What rhymes with Z?
I do.
I am a Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz
As you can plainly see.

Why, I asked, has this book abandoned its rhyme scheme at the final hurdle, having been so strict about it hitherto? My parents, as I remember, hastily changed the subject. The loss of Britain's cultural hegemony was not, after all, a subject for the nursery, especially just before bedtime.

Later, of course, I learned the awful truth about the American pronunciation of the letter I had always known as Zed. Later still, it started to seep into British usage. I think that the phrase "Generation Z" was really the death-knell for Zed, already battered by the popularity of various rapper names, etc. In the mouth of a young person, especially, Zed will soon sound like a hipsterish affectation. Although it will probably be tolerated from elderly people such as myself, it will be at best a charming throwback to a former age, much like a penchant for the works of Vera Lynn.

Two (long) recent YouTube videos that I watched show this process in action. Both had their British presenters (one in his thirties, the other in his forties) pronounce the letter Z inconsistently. First Shaun, in his latest (excellent) analysis of the book The War on Science, starts with Zee, then goes to Zed, then back to Zee. Meanwhile, Simon from Cracking the Cryptic is equally unstable, saying Zed, Zee and then Zed again, while taking a frustratingly long time to notice that "NZ lamb dish rats" is an anagram of "Brahms and Liszt". Neither appeared to notice his own inconsistency. And why should they? In the grand scheme of things, etc....

But I do draw the line (of course, there is always a line) at British people and Australians saying "Dragonball Zee", especially if they are also fluent in Japanese and are thus aware that the Japanese pronunciation of that character is actually "Zetto". Yes, Trash Taste boys, I'm looking at you.

Comments

[colorwheel]

i read dr seuss's abc today. literally today! i'm taking this to mean we are in sync.

[calimac]

I haven't had much need to encounter the letter Z on my visits to Britain, but on my last couple visits, just before the pandemic, I was mildly distressed to note the rise in a couple of Americanisms I would have been charmed to have left at home:
1) People referring to the drug store instead of the chemist;
2) Drivers weaving around in various lanes on the motorway instead of keeping to the slow lane unless overtaking.

[calimac]

Also:
I had to learn the German pronunciation of a couple of letters when I was seeking assistance in getting to the KD boat on the Rhine. As I recall it's "kah day" or something like that.

[steepholm]

In sync, but not in zinc, thank goodness!

[steepholm]

I haven't notice the 'drug store' phenomenon. I hear both 'chemist' and 'pharmacy' regularly.

I think you're right about the weaving. Of course, it's partly the fault of people who sit in the middle lane come what may, but I too dislike it.

[calimac]

It might have been 'pharmacy' rather than 'drug store'; I forget after this amount of time. But it was an American term suddenly appearing in British use; that I definitely noticed.

[calimac]

In the US, country highways with only two lanes in each direction usually keep pretty well to the slow lane unless overtaking, with two exceptions: 1) speedsters faster than anybody else who just zoom along in the fast lane; 2) when there are lots of slow lorries about, cars sometimes give up on returning to the slow lane between them. (The US term is, of course, 'truck,' but I like to say 'slow lorries' because it sounds like 'slow loris.')

However, on our urban freeways with multiple lanes, chaos prevails, with only the slightest obeisance to 'slow traffic in the slow lane'. It would be impossible to drive by the strict British lane rules on such roads; I've experimented with trying it.

[heleninwales]

In Wales we've solved the zed/zee problem by simply omitting the letter from the Welsh alphabet. :-)

[redbird]

I'm American, so I think of that letter as "zee," but happily switch to the "zed" pronunciation if I'm spelling my name to someone outside the US, because it's quicker than "zee as in zebra." (My name has a consonant cluster in the middle, and people tend to either write it as "C" or leave it out altogether, even though that produces the equally un-English "cw.")

[steepholm]

A very practical solution.

[steepholm]

I suppose an advantage of "zed" is that it doesn't rhyme with any other letter, whereas B, D, G, P, V, ETC....

[conuly]

You can always be really hipstery pretentious and insist on saying "izzard".

[steepholm]

That would be hardcore!

[joyeuce]

It hadn't occurred to me that British people would say "Generation Zee"; I think I've only ever seen it in writing! For what it's worth, my child says Zed and always has, to the extent of complaining when she heard an alphabet song that pronounced it Zee - but she has inherited pedantry from both sides of the family!

[steepholm]

Young British people watch/listen to a lot of influencers, many of whom are American. I think this is a key point of entry.

[jadelennox]

you know the funny thing for me is that I almost always say zee, except I pronounce A16Z as ay-sixteen-zed. Anything else sounds weird. And I don't know why, they're an american firm!