posted
I suspect that 'zed' is to avoid confusion with 'C' (see), in conversation the zee/see (z/c) can be mixed up. Though in the USA, if there was a possibility of miscommunication, the most common phonetic spoken alphabets for 'Z' are -
Zero (Telecom, Western Union) Zulu (NATO) Zebra (Police, Telecom B,) Zed (British Common) Zurich (British A)
Still, if I am simply designating the letter 'Z' in normal conversation, I would most likely say 'Zee'.
I was educated in the north central states of the USA, and have always heard the 'zee' designation used around here.
posted
The 26th letter of the Roman alphabet is best pronounced as 'swish, swish, swish', followed by a surprised look at one's ruined shirtfront. Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Lake Superior, of course. What did you think I meant
Anyway, going to catch some zeds.
What about Ontario, Erie, and Huron? I live less than 20 miles away from the Zedders (my new nickname for Canadians), any by far my only real contact with someone using Zed has been whenever Rodney McKay refers to a ZedPM on Stargate: Atlantis.
I'm a Zee person myself.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Zzzz. As in Zaphod or zymurgy or, if you have kids, a Zizzle-zazzle-zoo (as you can plainly see).
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: edit: Also do you guys say "easy" or "eazy?"
The latter. The manner of speech around here tends to be on the lazy side. One of the ways that manifests is by unvoiced consonants preceded by a vowel being pronounced as their voiced counterparts:
quote:Originally posted by BlueWizard: I suspect that 'zed' is to avoid confusion with 'C' (see), in conversation the zee/see (z/c) can be mixed up.
Actually, it's because the name was originally zeta (from the Greek alphabet). In French it became zede, and then the final e dropped off, which is where we get the English name. Zee arose as a variant by analogy with other letters, and Americans picked up the variant and made it standard.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Lake Superior, of course. What did you think I meant
Anyway, going to catch some zeds.
What about Ontario, Erie, and Huron? I live less than 20 miles away from the Zedders (my new nickname for Canadians), any by far my only real contact with someone using Zed has been whenever Rodney McKay refers to a ZedPM on Stargate: Atlantis.
I'm a Zee person myself.
I used to live in Duluth, MN, so I'm a Lake Superior person.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Lake Superior, of course. What did you think I meant
Anyway, going to catch some zeds.
What about Ontario, Erie, and Huron? I live less than 20 miles away from the Zedders (my new nickname for Canadians), any by far my only real contact with someone using Zed has been whenever Rodney McKay refers to a ZedPM on Stargate: Atlantis.
I'm a Zee person myself.
I used to live in Duluth, MN, so I'm a Lake Superior person.
Ah, that explains it. I guess technically I'd be a Detroit River person, but I shudder to actually say that and proclaim myself a Lake Michigan person, as that is my favorite of all the lakes, and where I feel most at ease.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
NOBODY says "easy" with an /s/ sound. In English, a single s between vowels is almost always voiced (pronounced like a z). I can't think of any exceptions off the top of my head, though I'm sure there are some. This is a sound change that dates back thousands of years And the word "easy" comes from French, where intervocalic s is always voiced, without exception.
And technically speaking, intervocalic post-stress /t/ is not simply voiced, but flapped as well. The sound is the same as a single Spanish /r/, not a /d/. This is a more recent change in North America in the last century or two.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
The one that bothers me is how many people mispronounce words like "button" and "curtain."
Curtain I can understand, one "t" might be easy to miss. But mitten, button, rotten, fatten, smitten, these words have TWO "t"s! You can't ignore both!
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Except that you sound like a freaking weirdo if you pronounce them at the front of your mouth instead of in your throat. Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: The one that bothers me is how many people mispronounce words like "button" and "curtain."
Curtain I can understand, one "t" might be easy to miss. But mitten, button, rotten, fatten, smitten, these words have TWO "t"s! You can't ignore both!
Now that's just a ridiculous argument. The double t is merely a spelling convention to indicate that the preceding vowel is short. You don't actually PRONOUNCE both ts, even in careful speech.
And welcome to the world of linguistic tolerance. Your pet peeve is someone else's native dialect.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: The one that bothers me is how many people mispronounce words like "button" and "curtain."
Curtain I can understand, one "t" might be easy to miss. But mitten, button, rotten, fatten, smitten, these words have TWO "t"s! You can't ignore both!
My wife swallows the Ts in those words.
She says kitten, "Ki-en"
I know I know, I've tried to fix it!
She is from Washington and lived close to, "Seaddle"
posted
Yeah, when I pronounce those ts it sounds really weird. I usually say "buh'in," "fah'in" and "smi'in." Though I had never really thought about it before.
I also say "zee" unless spelling something out in French.
Posts: 3420 | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Except that you sound like a freaking weirdo if you pronounce them at the front of your mouth instead of in your throat.
No, the weirdos are the ones who do the below:
quote:There are lots of different ways to interpret 't's, not only with 'd's. Think of cockney accents, where the 't's are gone completely:
Bu'on
This is the one I'm talking about. It drives me nuts.Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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