All of the Canadian youtubers that I watch pronounce the letter z as “zi”, as is done in the United States. However, I have read online that it is more common for Canadians to pronounce it as “zed”, as is done in the United Kingdom. Is this a regional thing? How do you pronounce the letter z?
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Zed.
“Zed” now and forever.
We are now, no longer the Canadians who say ‘zi’.
What?
Username checks out, maybe…
It took me the longest time to figure out whether they wanted strawberries or shrubberies.
Like many things, it depends. I’m curious about the context where you’re actually hearing YouTubers say the letter.
It’s usually “zed” and we’re taught it as “zed” in school - at least when i was a kid.
If I’m spelling something it is Zed. I don’t think I’ve ever said Zee in that context.
The alphabet ends with Zee when singing it, due to the rhyme with Vee (and probably Sesame Street).
In my head I will say Nissan Zee for a Z type car. Though if I was to speak the phrase “Nissan Z type” I would say Zed.
When it is used in online slang (GG EZ) it is “Zee” for “easy”.
ZZ Top is Zee Zee Top. Zorro draws a Zed. Things are Zed-shaped, not Zee-shaped in general.
It’s Eee zed Pea zed!
I have always said it as “easy peasy”
They were joking. No one says easy peazed.
Lemon squee zed
Another common one for me that I didn’t even notice for a while was Gen-Z, which I will always say “jenzi”. Zed sounds unacceptable there, even though I say zed in most other cases besides those you’ve outlined.
Yeah another one I thought of is XYZ
For me it’s Zed-axis, but Ecks-Why-Zee coordinates.
It’s also zed in French, fwiw
I have to catch myself to not say “Dragon Ball Zed”.
Wait… It’s not?
Technically it is. The Japanese pronunciation would say “Zetto” as a close approximation of “Zed”.
But the English dub was done for a US audience (despite the fact that the original English dub was recorded in Canada), so they deferred to the American pronunciation of Z.
This could also be the reason Canadian YouTubers would say zee - why alienate 90% of your market, and Canadians are still used to hearing it from American media.
also be the reason Canadian YouTubers would say zee - why alienate 90% of your market
I doubt it’s any fear of alienating them.
It is likely more the result of those youtubers growing up immersed in American media exports.
It’ll always be zedzedtop.
American here who always thought “Zed” was used for zero. Now I’m wondering if I ever made an ass of myself misinterpreting someone.
As a Canadian, I have never heard anyone refer to zero as zed. I guess in theory if I was reading out a label or something that specifically had a “Z” to signify zero I would say zed, but that’s because I’m saying the letter rather than because I’m saying zero, but I can’t think of any time when someone would label something as “Z” to mean zero when they could just do “0”, so I don’t think that’s common.
Sorry bud.
It’s my understanding that Zed is used in England and possibly Australia for zero. I never knew Canadians used the word at all - let alone for a different meaning - until now.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of “naught”? I’ll admit I don’t know that Brits don’t use “Zed” for zero, but I’ve never heard it from any British YouTuber I’ve watched, including maths YouTubers, nor any British TV I’ve watched. But it’s possible one of their dialects uses it maybe?
All the ones I’ve heard say naught though.
For completeness I’ll say Canadians typically don’t say naught unless they’re British themselves, we say zero.
I just did some searching, and cannot confirm what I thought was true. I’ve no idea where I picked it up because I’ve thought that was the case for decades now. Man, do I feel clueless. Sorry for the confusion. TIL.
I have not yet encountered a Canadian who says “zi” the way I do. I’ve worked at schools here with ages from 12 to 22 and all of the students have said “zed” as well as every teacher and co-workers I’ve had.
It’s like “zed” of course, because I’m > 30 years old. I don’t think it’s a regional thing, more of a “zoomer” thing maybe?
I say zed. My kids all say zee, to my chagrin. Thanks, US children’s entertainment.
I seem to alternate depending on context. Never really noticed until thinking back on it.
Zed if I refer to the letter itself, but if it’s part of a phrase, like “Gen Zee” etc. I will use that.
Ahh, i see, thank you! i think this was the majority of where my confusion lie.
I intentionally always use zed. Sure it doesn’t rhyme in American-created sayings and acronyms, but I’ll continue to say z instead.
Zed. Zee is horrible.
Stand proud, Embrace Zed.
o7 I say it as Zed and will never fall.
For the letter or spelling something out, I’ll always say “zed.” I think for the most part I only say “zee” if I’m using acronyms that are either specific to US organizations or that both originated there and are still considered to be tightly associated with that country (like if I need to refer to some product from a US company, though none come to mind at the moment).
