What does your family call you?

[PlatyPius 5]

My VJ name....not very original I'm afraid...KarenCee. Karen is my first name, Cee is the "C" from my middle name of Cherié.

Good thing your middle name didn't start with a "Z".... KarenZed doesn't have the same ring to it....

You are so right!

Not to Canadians Karen, because unlike Merikuns, we'd say KarenZee.

Amerikuns don't say "Zed"...... Makes no sense to us. Most other letters end with "ee" - why wouldn't zee? Messes up that damn alphabet song, too.

[MrsCat 6]

Amerikuns don't say "Zed"...... Makes no sense to us. Most other letters end with "ee" - why wouldn't zee? Messes up that damn alphabet song, too.

./////////////

I thought Americans say Zed, and Canadians say zee? I must be wrong

[PlatyPius 5]

Amerikuns don't say "Zed"...... Makes no sense to us. Most other letters end with "ee" - why wouldn't zee? Messes up that damn alphabet song, too.

./////////////

I thought Americans say Zed, and Canadians say zee? I must be wrong

I've always heard Canadians say Zed, although I'm not sure if that is more prevalent closer to Quebec....

Brits say Zed.

[Marilyn. 340]

I have heard both used in Canada....

I found this interesting...

Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the English alphabet. The nutshell story of zed? Zed entered Middle English from French representing a “ts” or “ds” sound, then came to represent the voiced sibilant in, for example, the word zoo.

Because it entered French from Latin as zeta, it became zède in modern French, zeta in modern Spanish and Italian, and zed in English. The Romans borrowed the letter from the Greeks where it is zeta. The Greeks borrowed it from the Phoenicians where it was zayin. The Phoenicians were a Semitic trading people who shipped goods all over the ancient Mediterranean Sea. We may think of our modern “Roman” alphabet as the Phoenicians’ most precious cargo. The letter is still known as zayin in modern Hebrew, as it was in ancient Hebrew.

The letter name zee, now American, was not invented in America, as several bumptious and jingoist American websites suggest. The letter has actually had eight or more names during its long sojourn at the bottom of the English alphabet: zad, zard, zed, zee, ezed, ezod, izod, izzard, uzzard. One of those names is zee, a dialect form last heard in England during the late seventeenth century. That name was brought to America by British immigrants, perhaps not on the Mayflower but very early indeed in American history.

In Canada, zed is losing ground to zee. Yes, spelling bee child contestants may still loyally use zed, but in the broader population of young Canadians brought up watching American TV, many, many teenagers and twenty-somethings use zee.

http://www.billcasselman.com/cwod_archive/zed.htm

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for sharing this historical information about "zee" and "zed", Marilyn. It's interesting to learn something new about the English language...

I have heard both used in Canada....

I found this interesting...

Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the English alphabet. The nutshell story of zed? Zed entered Middle English from French representing a "ts" or "ds" sound, then came to represent the voiced sibilant in, for example, the word zoo.

Because it entered French from Latin as zeta, it became zède in modern French, zeta in modern Spanish and Italian, and zed in English. The Romans borrowed the letter from the Greeks where it is zeta. The Greeks borrowed it from the Phoenicians where it was zayin. The Phoenicians were a Semitic trading people who shipped goods all over the ancient Mediterranean Sea. We may think of our modern "Roman" alphabet as the Phoenicians' most precious cargo. The letter is still known as zayin in modern Hebrew, as it was in ancient Hebrew.

The letter name zee, now American, was not invented in America, as several bumptious and jingoist American websites suggest. The letter has actually had eight or more names during its long sojourn at the bottom of the English alphabet: zad, zard, zed, zee, ezed, ezod, izod, izzard, uzzard. One of those names is zee, a dialect form last heard in England during the late seventeenth century. That name was brought to America by British immigrants, perhaps not on the Mayflower but very early indeed in American history.

In Canada, zed is losing ground to zee. Yes, spelling bee child contestants may still loyally use zed, but in the broader population of young Canadians brought up watching American TV, many, many teenagers and twenty-somethings use zee.

http://www.billcasselman.com/cwod_archive/zed.htm

Yes, Americans use "zee" and Canadians/British use "zed". No wonder the Americans around here are confused whenever I say "zed" instead, especially so whenever I have to spell out part of my former name (which has a "zee"/"zed" in it).

Oh, the faces I get for saying "zed"! Heck even my USC husband gives me the "zee/zed" face at times...

Then there's the -re/-er, -our/-re, grey/gray, metric/non-metric, ddmmyy/mmddyy debates...

Lol...In all honesty, I don't ever think that I'll ever get used to "American English and Measurements" as it will always be the "British/Canadian English and Measurements" to me.

Stick with the historic original! "Save the 'zed' from becoming the 'zee'!!!"

Ant (Canadian English and Measurements are the way to go!...)

[antda 13]

I wonder if the companies ever did find out that "Yoonk Mayl was Junk Mail"? Hope your creative friend didn't get into too much trouble for that....

A very enterprising friend (oh this is a long time ago, in Montreal), said he had a room-mate named Yoonk Mayl spelled

J-U-N-K M-A-I-L.

And as Ma Bell was laughing at him, he got quite serious and said that his Vietnamese room-mate would not appreciate this from a telephone service provider, and could she stop laughing and put that down on the telephone bill as the main person to be addresses.

Well, any mail coming to his place addresses to Junk Mail, or Mr. Junk Mail, he knew was an unsolicited piece, the name having been found in the phone book.

Oh the good ol' days when that was all we had.

I loved this story.

[PlatyPius 5]

I have heard both used in Canada....

I found this interesting...

Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the English alphabet. The nutshell story of zed? Zed entered Middle English from French representing a "ts" or "ds" sound, then came to represent the voiced sibilant in, for example, the word zoo.

Because it entered French from Latin as zeta, it became zède in modern French, zeta in modern Spanish and Italian, and zed in English. The Romans borrowed the letter from the Greeks where it is zeta. The Greeks borrowed it from the Phoenicians where it was zayin. The Phoenicians were a Semitic trading people who shipped goods all over the ancient Mediterranean Sea. We may think of our modern "Roman" alphabet as the Phoenicians' most precious cargo. The letter is still known as zayin in modern Hebrew, as it was in ancient Hebrew.

The letter name zee, now American, was not invented in America, as several bumptious and jingoist American websites suggest. The letter has actually had eight or more names during its long sojourn at the bottom of the English alphabet: zad, zard, zed, zee, ezed, ezod, izod, izzard, uzzard. One of those names is zee, a dialect form last heard in England during the late seventeenth century. That name was brought to America by British immigrants, perhaps not on the Mayflower but very early indeed in American history.

In Canada, zed is losing ground to zee. Yes, spelling bee child contestants may still loyally use zed, but in the broader population of young Canadians brought up watching American TV, many, many teenagers and twenty-somethings use zee.

http://www.billcasselman.com/cwod_archive/zed.htm

So, like many other words/pronunciations, "Zee" in the American language is a snapshot of English from a previous time. Interesting.

[antda 13]

Hi Sprailenes,

"Spiraling Daisy", I like that. It kind of reminds me of when a person blows on a flower, the petals fall off, and one's supposed to make a wish when doing that...

Yeah, I know what you mean about typing too fast and spelling words incorrectly. Lol..thank goodness there is "VJ Posts Editor" here on VJ to help with that (lol...yes, I've used that function for pretty much all of my posts, maybe even this one perhaps...)

By the way, I also like you real name of "Nevada Sky" (that you mentioned in a previous post). You're lucky to have such creative parents like that. Why can't more parents be more creative overall these days?

Ant (Blowing on and wishing of creative names...)

Sprailenes comes from an internet name I have had for about 13 years now: Spiral~Daisy

People on message boards would call me Spiral, and if typed in fast would end up as "Sprail" a lot of the times, so people would call me Sprail, and I decided to add the "enes" because it gave it a feminine flair, much like a feather boa sans the actual feather boa. Yanno what I'm sayin?

Edited September 7, 2008 by AntandD

[MissStacey 1]

I deal with the Zed thing a lot- most people pause and then ask me to repeat. My husbands last name had a Z in it. It just comes naturally to me to say zed. The only time I say zee is when I sing the alphabet song.

Growing up my nickname was Tilly. I don't know where it came from- maybe a play on silly?

Edited September 9, 2008 by MissStacey

[Carlawarla 1]

Mine is the TheATeam because our first names both start with A! It's kind of strange to think of having almost the exact same initials as him.

By the way, apparently there is a tv show called TheATeam, I had no idea there was when I picked this for a username. I've been contemplating changing it to TheEhTeam! ~giggles~ An homage to my Canadian heritage!

[TheATeam 0]

YAY! Thanks Carla!

[Emancipation 2]

I deal with the Zed thing a lot- most people pause and then ask me to repeat. My husbands last name had a Z in it. It just comes naturally to me to say zed. The only time I say zee is when I sing the alphabet song.

I used to work in a call center for funeral homes (morbid I know).. we actually had a long staff meeting about saying "zee" not "zed" so as to make sure the "Americans" couldn't tell that we were a call center in Canada.. ahh.. them's were good times.. it's AMAZING what kind of calls you get to a funeral home...

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Well, surprisingly we are Len&Bren

My dad calls me Princesa (very, very original) and my mom calls me "you b1tch! come over here!"

I have other nicknames given by my brother and cousins. Most of them I don't mind. Nerda, LeninaToon, Rainman, Bobby, Web, Anciana (old lady).

[trailmix 77]

Well, surprisingly we are Len&Bren

My dad calls me Princesa (very, very original) and my mom calls me "you b1tch! come over here!"

I have other nicknames given by my brother and cousins. Most of them I don't mind. Nerda, LeninaToon, Rainman, Bobby, Web, Anciana (old lady).

Why rainman why rainman?

Edited September 9, 2008 by trailmix

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Well, surprisingly we are Len&Bren

My dad calls me Princesa (very, very original) and my mom calls me "you b1tch! come over here!"

I have other nicknames given by my brother and cousins. Most of them I don't mind. Nerda, LeninaToon, Rainman, Bobby, Web, Anciana (old lady).

Why rainman why rainman?

Who's on first base????

Who's on first base????

Who's on first base????

Who's on first base????

Who's on first base????

Who's on first base????

lol

Because they say I go into my bubble and don't realize the world is out there. Meaning I get caught up in a book and ignore them