# Is the alphabet song outside of america? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2011, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165 "2011-01-27T10:51:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/21 "2011-01-28T19:28:21Z")
The number of baby/toddler toys that play that song is amazing, I have lost track of the number of times we have pushed a button in the shop, waited until the end and either thrown it back on the shelves or into the trolley depending on whether it is zed or zee at the end. Zed works fine. ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/22 "2011-01-28T19:33:31Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > We sang it in Canada, with the same metre as in the US, just with zed instead of zee. The rhyme didn’t matter. I was born in the early eighties, and we sing it as zed where I attended pre-school and kindergarten. My sister is nearly 10 years younger, and they sung it as zee by the time she got to the same school. Wasn’t just her teacher, all three teachers were teaching it that way. My British mother was silently horrified. I don’t think the rhyming aspect matters much, to kids. It’s the rhythm and sing-songiness that’s appealing and easy to remember. Small children don’t have a huge concept of rhyme, do they? I mean, as a kid, I was surely aware that D and G sound kind of the same, but after all that LMNO muddling through the middle and the Q and X at the end, I doubt my little brain was keeping track of the ‘ee’ sounds. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/23 "2011-01-28T20:11:21Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Nope, in Aust its just another example of cultural imperialism! 🙂 > According to my 12yo and 10yo they use Zee (but think their teachers use Zed!). > But when they sing the alphabet backwards, they use Zed. Now you’ve gone and made me picture a 10 yr old Australian kid singing the alphabet _backwards_. Do they do DUI tests on 10 year olds in Australia? I hear the beer goes down counterclockwise. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/24 "2011-01-28T22:55:37Z")
> [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](#): > > A fellow traveler! See what I mean, it SHOULD rhyme. LOL > Who are you trying to convince though? I prefer zed in the song - it says absolutely that ‘that there at the end of the alphabet now, we’re done.’ For this reason, kids often sing the zed with quite a lot of force. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/25 "2011-01-29T03:04:59Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I prefer zed in the song - it says absolutely that ‘that there at the end of the alphabet now, we’re done.’ For this reason, kids often sing the zed with quite a lot of force. Zed’s dead, baby… Zed’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/26 "2011-01-29T22:40:09Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Zed’s dead, baby… Zed’s dead. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/27 "2011-01-29T23:31:54Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Not only do they sing it in the UK but I use it to demonstrate the superiority of “zee” over “zed”. Because otherwise the song doesn’t rhyme, see. Makes me wonder why you yanks don’t also say fee, hee, kee, lee, mee, nee, quee, ree, see, and wee! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/28 "2011-01-30T08:02:26Z")
There are other alphabet songs. We had a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=580047&highlight=Alphabet) not so long ago about the one referenced by **jimm** above. The standard “Twinkle Twinkle” version is the more usual one though, even though it doesn’t rhyme here, probably because it’s a nice tempo for little kids. The British “rhyme Z with M” version scoots along a little too quickly for anyone who’s still a little shaky on which letters go where. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/29 "2011-01-30T15:53:00Z")
I learned a version (in the UK) which used the “twinkle twinkle…” tune but went like this: A B C D E F G, H I J K LMNOP, Q R S T U V W, X Y Z and oh dear me, I can sing my A B C, A B C D E F G. Why “oh dear me” I have no idea. I guess the last two lines are just there to complete the tune. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165/30 "2011-01-31T11:37:15Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Makes me wonder why you yanks don’t also say fee, hee, kee, lee, mee, nee, quee, ree, see, and wee! 🙂 Why would we? The rhyme stresses are on G, P, V and Z (and C in the repeat). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-alphabet-song-outside-of-america/569165.md?page=1)