Why Do Some English Speaking Countries Pronounce Z as "Zed" and Others as "Zee"?

[snooper2]

Canadians do this annoying thing as well, Zed LOL

[tblue37]

1. For the same reason that most countries (other than the US) draw a horizontal line

across the stem of the number "7" and many draw a diagonal line through the numerical zero: to prevent confusion with things that sound or look similar.

[snooper2]

2. most every engineer I work with draw a slash through zero so they don't confuse with o

[tblue37]

7. True, but *most* Americans don't, whereas most educated people in other countries do. nt

[Blue_true]

8. I mark 7 and Zero with the slash. Works when writing reports

or summaries.

[Codeine]

9. I started marking them with a slash as a kid

just because I thought that it looked neat.

[jmowreader]

13. I started slashing my zeroes when I learned to write Fortran on coding forms

Keypunch operators are trained to type:

zero with no slash as the letter O
zero with slash from upper left to lower right as the letter Q
zero with slash from upper right to lower left as the figure zero

(Does anyone need a five-minute block of instruction on Hollerith cards?)

[Cirque du So-What]

11. I carry it a step further

I put a horizontal line through the middle segment of the letter 'Z' to avoid confusion with the numeral '2.'

[HipChick]

3. 'cos Brits had the language first...

[Ghost Dog]

14. Bingo.

[HipChick]

15. I say Zed, just to piss folks off..

[Ghost Dog]

16. Either way, I get this mental association:

[HipChick]

17. OMG...he was my fav..

[ramblin_dave]

4. The US is the only major English speaking country that says zee

all the others say zed.

[Codeine]

6. For now.

The Alphabet Song looks to be a bit of a cultural juggernaut.

[Codeine]

5. Isolated populations naturally diverge.

Just like animals in separated gene pools languages evolve differently when geographically isolated.

Amusingly, as the video points out the globalization of the internet age is resulting in "zed" being overtaken by "zee" as children are exposed to educational programming from the US, just as one might see with introduced animals outcompeting native populations.

[EllieBC]

10. My Canadian born and educated 7 year old regularly

corrects me. "It's not "zee", mommy. It's "zed". Zee isn't a letter. Geez your brain doesn't work right!".

[marybourg]

12. You'd be more annoyed

if a European (especially one with a slight accent when speaking English) said "Zee" and you heard "Cee", or vice versa.