Why?? why do americans and canadians say words different?

Question

Why do american's say z differently from canadians and why when canadians say z do americans get so angry?

and yes its zed not zzee lol i work in a call center and i talk to american's all day ( no offence to american's) but they get so0o angry when i say zed they yell at me i dont think its right...

Answer 1

Canada, as a part of the former British Empire (now the Commonwealth), has had stronger ties to the British than the Americans whom were long independent from them, since 1783.

Perhaps it is this reason that has resulted in many of our words to be spelled in the same way as the British spellings (e.g. "favourite", "colour", "behaviour", etc.), and why many Canadians pronounce the letter "z" as "zed". Still, I have heard both ways to pronounce that letter, and as far as I know, both are acceptable in Canada.

However, some of the Canadian spellings are actually identical to the Americans' rather than the British, including "tires" as opposed to the British "tyres". In this case, our close proximity to the United States is an obvious reason.

As for pronunciations, an English accent is certainly distinctive, and so are those from various regions across English-speaking countries; each has its own dialect.

Answer 2

Canadians have a British-English background, and Americans don't. Canadians say ZED, American say ZEE. It's just a difference in cultural background. Even in different parts of America, the pronunciation is different (depending on the background of the people).

If you ever go over to England, you will find not only that there are different way of pronouncing words with the same spelling, but you'll find that words that mean one thing in the US mean something different in England, or that the British have entirely different words for some common things. For example: British say Lorry, while we say Pickup truck; British say flat, while we say apartment; British say Public School (but mean Private school).

Answer 3

Hmmm. Not sure about the z sounding differently. I am a native U.S. citizen, but I had a long term relationship with a man from Montreal. He was not French Canadian, but Canadian all the way. I noticed (quite fondly) that he did say many words differently, such as pasta was pronounced paas ta (as in pass the pie) and not pah sta. Mazda is the same....Maaaz da (long a, not ah sound). He called the garbage disposal a garberator, and about had a very slight accent that sounded vaguely like aboot, not real strong but it was there. And of course, the ever popular, eh? We did have a debate about the french phrase fleur de lis. He would pronounce it with the s sound, and I had always thought the correct pronunciation was with a silent s....as in fleur duh lee.

I loved his different words and never was angry....but maybe that was because I was so in love with him.

But I don't know about the z sound....at least I don't remember it.

Answer 4

We were all once part of the English empire (yes even the U.S.). We all spoke the king's (or queen's) english.

Canada achieved Independence from England by peaceful negotiations, once we had decided we had been subordinate long enough.

The U.S. decided it didn't want to wait for negotiations, and wasn't much interested in peace either, and declared war on England instead. (Is this any sort of a surprise to anyone?) Part of that independance required that they establish their own pronunciation and spelling of the (formerly) English language. Now they speak their own bastardized version (and are proud of it!)

Answer 5

Every English-speaking country has its own dialect, including differences in both vocabulary and pronunciation. Any educated person recognizes that. Becoming angry over a difference in dialect is childish and moronic. Ignore those callers who get inflamed. You could just as easily laugh at them, but that would be lowering yourself to their level. Above all, don't take it personally! Just think to yourself, "Aah...I'm talking to another undereducated moron." I'm sure Canada has a few of them too, eh?

Answer 6

Don't know, don't care... It's called English for a reason! BRITS RULE!! BTW it's pronounced zed.

Answer 7

american english is different from UK english. In Ireland we say 'zed'! there are many differences!

Answer 8

Even within the US there are different dialects of the language. This is no reason to be angered though.

Answer 9

...so the british, the australian and the otherenglish spoken.
oh, sorry - i forgot India...