# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/21 "2009-10-31T13:47:42Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > What if the zebra’s name is Ned? Or Debra? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/22 "2009-10-31T14:09:25Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > 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. Zed is customarily pronounced zed in Canada as well, though one does hear zee here with some regularity due to the porous border. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/23 "2009-10-31T15:44:34Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > though one does hear zee here with some regularity due to the porous border. … and the increasing popularity of winter hibernation in Canuckistan. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/24 "2009-10-31T16:07:34Z")
In the US is there a distinction between lower case and upper case ‘z’? When children are first learning the alphabet in Britain they will first say ‘ah’ ‘buh’ ‘kuh’ etc till they get to ‘zuh’. The way zebra is said in Britain is closer to it’s lower case form. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/25 "2009-10-31T16:10:25Z")
You don’t have to go all the way to Britain - Canadians pronounce the last letter of the alphabet Zed as well! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/26 "2009-10-31T16:15:29Z")
Zed’s dead, baby. ---
**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, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/27 "2009-10-31T16:17:06Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Zed’s dead, baby. And THAT was my only knowledge of Zed. He used to have a Chopper. ---
**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, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/28 "2009-10-31T16:17:51Z")
> [@Nunavut\_Boy](#): > > No it isn’t 🙂 It is when I and everyone I know says it. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/29 "2009-10-31T16:21:39Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > What if the zebra’s name is Ned? Or Mister Ed, the[talking zebra](http://www.snopes.com/lost/mistered.asp). ---
**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, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/30 "2009-10-31T16:22:49Z")
> [@Shig](#): > > 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. Back when Speak And Spell was a new thing, there was some concern about grey imports to the UK having the American dictionary (with spellings such as ‘color’ instead of the UK ‘colour’, etc.) Pressing the Z key was the way to tell the difference - if it was the UK version, it would say ‘zed’, otherwise, ‘zee’. > [@](#): > > Oh, and there’s people that say “zedbra”? That’s just plain nutty. No. As others have said - it’s ‘zebra’ just with a short e, as opposed to ‘zeebra’. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/31 "2009-10-31T17:11:19Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > 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. 😃 I suspect you Ozzies don’t like to admit it but I think you’re more Americanised (ized?) than us Kiwis. When I was in Sydney at a conference a good 20 years ago I couldn’t help noticing that one of the TV station’s (Channel 9 I think) slogan was “Living Color”. I noticed some audio equipment that someone had labeled “Property of Sydney Entertainment Center”. Then I read something about the Australian Labor Party. But you’re right. Back when I was young if any kid said zee you knew he had been watching too much Sesame Street. Anyone into ham radio is used to hearing Americans say zed. On the air zee sounds too much like lots of other letters. I watch BBC World News America most nights. I think it’s the best news on TV here in the US but something they do that seems wrong to me is that they change the spelling of institutional names to British spelling. It’s usually The Something Center or Organization and they change it to Centre or Organisation. If that’s their real name then that’s how it’s spelt (spelled). ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/32 "2009-10-31T17:56:04Z")
Z has been called zed in England since way back to the 11th century at least (along with the variants\* izzard, zad, zard, ezod, uzzard\*. Some of the variants survive dialectically, or at least did when the OED wrote the unrevised entry. It’s been pronounced zee in the US since at least the later 18th century and that pronunciation, says OED, does appear to have had some early currency in England. The earliest cite for \*zee \* in OED is from a child’s primer published in London. > [@](#): > > 1677 T. LYE New Spelling Bk. II. 5 Zz zee Z-eal, thou shalt be my charret, whilst I ride, Elijah-like, with Word and Spirit, my Guide. 1797 Gazette of U.S. No. 1429. 3/3 Younker yield the yawning yea - Zounds, I’m safe at zig~zag zee. 1828 WEBSTER, Z… It is pronounced zee. ---
**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, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/33 "2009-10-31T18:57:05Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > In the US is there a distinction between lower case and upper case ‘z’? When children are first learning the alphabet in Britain they will first say ‘ah’ ‘buh’ ‘kuh’ etc till they get to ‘zuh’. The way zebra is said in Britain is closer to it’s lower case form. Wait, what? Letters there change sounds depending on case…? 😕 * * * And the animal is most _certainly_ “zee-bra”. Like “zee bra, eet ees all over zee street!” I’m sorry, but “Ze-bra” can only be Deborah’s half-retarded bastard half-twin with a malformed tongue and a cruel daddy. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/34 "2009-10-31T19:28:37Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Wait, what? Letters there change sounds depending on case…? 😕 Well, probably not technically speaking, but it is how it used to be taught where I lived at least. Do the two pronunciations of each letter have a specific name if they’re not related to case? What I’m trying to describe is how we’d pronounce the following: A - Ay or ah B - Bee or buh C - See or kuh (curly kuh is what I remember from early school) D - Dee or duh etc. Basically the difference between /eɪ/ and /ɑː/ ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/35 "2009-10-31T20:12:45Z")
I have had to point it out to several people watching Men in Black. They wondered why everyone else has a letter instead of Rip Torn, who is called ‘Zed’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/36 "2009-10-31T20:17:58Z")
> [@Shig](#): > > 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? How often do actors in American shows have to say “zee”? I have heard it in science-fiction contexts. Douglas Adams located earth in “sector zed zed nine plural zed alpha.” Presumably all those zeds suggest what a backwater fringe planet this is. In Doctor Who, the Dalek mothership has a “zed-neutrino core.” I guess that’s 26 times as exotic as an apha-neutrino core. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/37 "2009-10-31T21:26:20Z")
> [@Shig](#): > > Am I to understand that in Britain, the last letter of the alphabet is called “zed”?? Really? How could I never have noticed this? It’s not just Britain. As far as I know, it’s all English speakers except Americans and I guess those that have learnt English as a second language from an American teacher or source. ---
**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, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/38 "2009-10-31T21:40:38Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Well, probably not technically speaking, but it is how it used to be taught where I lived at least. Do the two pronunciations of each letter have a specific name if they’re not related to case? > What I’m trying to describe is how we’d pronounce the following: > A - Ay or ah > B - Bee or buh > C - See or kuh (curly kuh is what I remember from early school) > D - Dee or duh > etc. > > Basically the difference between /eɪ/ and /ɑː/ Huh, not sure about that. Maybe that’s used early in school, but if so, I don’t remember anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/39 "2009-11-01T01:38:29Z")
> [@tetranz](#): > > Then I read something about the Australian Labor Party. The Australian Labor Party is spelled that way due to the influence of the American labor movement. The word “labour” is still spelled with a “u”. [http://www.alp.org.au/about/history.php](http://www.alp.org.au/about/history.php) > [@](#): > > During the early years of the ALP, the Party was referred to by various titles differing from colony to colony. It was at the 1908 Interstate (federal) Conference that the name ‘Australian Labour Party’ was adopted. In its shortened form the Party was frequently referred to as both ‘Labor’ and ‘Labour’, however **the former spelling was adopted from 1912 onwards, due to the influence of the American labor movement.** > [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > A - Ay or ah > B - Bee or buh > C - See or kuh (curly kuh is what I remember from early school) > D - Dee or duh I’m not sure why it was taught that way, but the first is the name of the letter and the second is one of the sounds it makes and has nothing to do with case. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803/40 "2009-11-03T00:38:17Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Well, probably not technically speaking, but it is how it used to be taught where I lived at least. Do the two pronunciations of each letter have a specific name if they’re not related to case? > What I’m trying to describe is how we’d pronounce the following: > A - Ay or ah > B - Bee or buh > C - See or kuh (curly kuh is what I remember from early school) > D - Dee or duh > etc. > > Basically the difference between /eɪ/ and /ɑː/ This is crazy talk. There are different names for cases? I know I don’t know everything (by a long shot) about Britain, but this never occurred to me, and I’m 40. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-sleep-with-zedzedzedzedzedzeds-above-their-heads/515803.md?page=3)