For our British and Australian members

[eMERGe]

The Bahamas(colony to the Brits until 1972? 75?); Also Zed there (the local radio station was Zed N S ) I always like the sound of that.

According to what I could find--In many dialects of English, the letter's name is zed, pronounced /zɛd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta. In American English, its name is zee /ziː/, deriving from a late 17th-century English dialectal form. So unless one wants a truely long boring somewhat understandable explanation that is the best I could come up with. Not much help I know.

My personal favorite however--Z was abolished in Icelandic in 1974. and Why would that be?

[Rod]

I remember asking about certain words, recalling 'fortnight' is not recognised in the USA. So i asked 'what do you use to say 2 weeks' and obviously, to my embarrassment, the answer was '2 weeks'.

Also we use 'S' instead of 'Z' sometimes (recognised not recognized) etc...

[William]

In America the only time we use Zed is with the Radio/Amateur Radio call signs. We use the Greek letters and pronounce them that way. The Army uses them too.

Other then that we use Zee for z.

But im doing the dishes with Richard, i did not know other countries did the Zed thing!

[Astrojewels]

I know another one, many people here say ‘o’ instead of zero, so saying a number would be 5, 4, ‘o’ but our emergency number is 000, and everyone pronounces it triple zero, or they will say ring o o o, oh oh oh….

[Richard]

I think it's funny that everyone says oh for zero too. I always say zero but most everyone I hear says oh. It's really funny when sportscasters do it. They'll say the score is oh and 9 or something like that and it sounds like their saying Owen 9. I guess they need to start teaching kids in school that 0 is pronounced zero and not oh. icon_lol

[William]

The Alphabet is suppose to be a rhyme. Zed just throws that rhyme way off.... hahaha

[Richard]

I agree Zed sounds strange. It doesn't make much sense why they say it that way.

[Mercy Now]

Richard, Zed was from  Middle French ze'de .I believe this appeared in English in the fourteenth century? The ABC nursery rhyme came about much later.

[Richard]

It still seems strange. It seems like it would be like say ABC like Aed Bed Ced. I don't understand the point of added ed to Z.

[Mercy Now]

I suppose it's a puzzle Richard.:)