Planarchy Soapbox A to Z

Z is for Zed

The last letter of the alphabet.

How does it come to be Zed, eh?  
Where's the phonetical sense in that pronunciation?

I may not agree with our friends across the pond on lots of things but here they've got it right.

Zee. 
It should be Zee. 

And while we're on the subject of letter pronunciation, I think double-u should take a good hard look at its future also. 

I suggest "Wee" as a suitable alternative.

 

PS:  Sss has corresponded at great length with me on the Zee pronunciation issue.  She explains that it reached us from Greece via Germany (tset), well maybe, but this doesn't explain how it came to change from the Greek Xeta which is just Zee with a Ta on the end, to the completely different vowel/consonant combination of the our ugly glottal Zed.

She also provides a quote from Shakespeare's King Lear:

"Thou whore's son zed, thou unnecessary letter!"

So it's his fault that everyone says it wrong!

Finally she presented me with this rather damning piece of evidence.  Doh!

As ever, Sss's contribution painstakingly researched and gratefully received but I remain un-convinced.  Tee, hee 'tis Zee for me.

 


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