# Do the British sleep with zedzedzedzedzedzeds above their heads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803 "2009-10-31T02:32:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/1 "2009-10-31T02:32:58Z")
…if not, how do they textually snore? Very serious question. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/2 "2009-10-31T03:48:13Z")
“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”. It’s not like you say “Zee zee zee zee zee zee zee zee zee zee”, is it? (Or is it, I don’t know). It’s one long zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sound. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/3 "2009-10-31T03:55:30Z")
No, we don’t snore in such an uncouth fashion. It’s more of a tired and bored “Hrummph” noise, like a pig being all concerned about her little piglets. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/4 "2009-10-31T04:58:37Z")
Do American babies cry DubyaDubyaDubyaDubyaDubyaDubyaAyAitch 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/5 "2009-10-31T06:23:37Z")
‘Zee’ sounds weird to me. I have to call the US a lot for work, and my last name starts with a ‘Z’. I always have to mentally prepare myself before spelling out my name over the phone, because if I accidentally say ‘zed’ instead of ‘zee’ we end up with my name being ‘Zedimmer’ intsead of ‘Zimmer’ (example, not my name). Americans literally spell out ‘zed’. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/6 "2009-10-31T07:55:35Z")
I nearly missed a flight out of Los Angeles many years ago because I was flying Air New Zealand (Flight Numbers: NZ#) and the people at the airport were announcing "Now boarding flight “En _Zee_ 2…” whereas I was listening for “Now boarding flight En _Zed_ 2…” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/7 "2009-10-31T07:57:26Z")
I have heard Brits say “I need to get some zeds” meaning 'I need sleep", but otherwise, we don’t spell it out the same way we don’t generally spell out any letters, just like everyone else. ‘Zebra’ is pronounced with a short e (as in ‘Ted’) ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/8 "2009-10-31T08:23:08Z")
> [@](#): > > ‘Zebra’ is pronounced with a short e (as in ‘Ted’) No it isn’t 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/9 "2009-10-31T08:40:11Z")
> [@Nunavut\_Boy](#): > > No it isn’t 🙂 It is in some places. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/10 "2009-10-31T12:25:27Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > ‘Zebra’ is pronounced with a short e (as in ‘Ted’) I’m Scottish and I say ‘zeebra’. I never thought about it until someone accused me of adopting an Americanism (I replied ‘Sir! I demand satisfaction!’:p). I don’t know, but I don’t think there’s any connection between calling the letter ‘zee’ and pronouncing the animal ‘zeebra’. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/11 "2009-10-31T12:47:07Z")
Down here in Oz, we get a few zeds, and we say zebra to rhyme with Ted. Anyone who says anything different has usually been watching too much cheap American television. This means that slowly the poor and not so bright kids are adopting zee and zeebras. 😛 Then again, when I snore it is more like a poorly tuned chainsaw. Or so I’m told. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/12 "2009-10-31T13:00:31Z")
The only time Americans hear “zebra” to rhyme with “Ted”, they hear it with a slight lisp, the way Terry-Thomas says it in the movie _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/13 "2009-10-31T13:13:16Z")
:eek: 😕 I don’t care how you guys pronounce it, but zebra will never – no, not ever – rhyme with Ted. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/14 "2009-10-31T13:17:51Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > :eek: 😕 I don’t care how you guys pronounce it, but zebra will never – no, not ever – rhyme with Ted. :dubious: What if the zebra’s name is Ned? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/15 "2009-10-31T13:22:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I have heard Brits say “I need to get some zeds” meaning 'I need sleep" … I was just going to ask if this idiom was used in Britain. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/16 "2009-10-31T13:34:52Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > What if the zebra’s name is Ned? Zebras called Ned tended to get shunned by their peers for having such a horse name. Fred is more common, though even then other zebras tend to feel it’s a bit fuddy-duddy for their stylish two-tone image. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/17 "2009-10-31T13:36:17Z")
I was always tickled by the “zebra crossing” on the streets. I always pictured a herd of zebra crossing. Ned was there. ---
**Author:** ![Shig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Shig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shig)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/18 "2009-10-31T13:36:28Z")
Am I to understand that in Britain, the last letter of the alphabet is called “zed”?? Really? How could I never have noticed this? I watch a lot of British shows. Surely they’d had to have said the letter at some point and I’d have heard it? Do any other places do this? Can’t believe I’ve never known. Oh, and there’s people that say “zedbra”? That’s just plain nutty. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/19 "2009-10-31T13:41:30Z")
No, you misunderstand. No one ever says ‘zedbra’, they say ‘zehbra’. I take it you never saw the fantastic 70s cop show “Z Cars”. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/20 "2009-10-31T13:47:26Z")
> [@](#): > > and there’s people that say “zedbra”? That’s just plain nutty. No, it isn’t zed-bra. It is ze-bra, short e not long e. We hear Americans pronounce it zeebra. So short e as in Ted. But not the d. The answer is that the letter Z’s name is prounounced “zed” in most British colonies. Canada excluded. But we don’t pronounce zebra using the name of the letter Z. Which the Americans do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803.md?page=2)