Why do British say "zeb" insted of z? Whats up with that?

Answer 1

We say 'zed', not 'zeb'. We call it that because it comes from 'zeta' (Greek), and most European languages call it pretty much the same thing too. It's only Americans who call it 'zee', and this was a result of a 17th Century dialect.

Answer 2

They say zed, not zeb. It is surprising that it is not used in North America, as it was certainly in common use at the time of the Pilgrim Fathers and you would have thought that they would have taken it with them. The letter is so little used in English that in Shakespeare's time it was used as an insult for a lazy person. "Thou whoreson zed! thou unnecessary letter! King Lear (II scene.2, line.61).

Answer 3

To begin I'll summarize what others have said (at least that's relevant):
1) "zed" comes from the Greek "zeta"
2) other European alphabets use a similar name for this letter
3) American English is unusual in calling it "zee"

All of this is true.

But it isn't the whole story... and there's still some good reason to ask "WHY 'zed' instead of 'zee'?"

First, to correct a common British misunderstanding -- Americans did not invent the idea of calling it "zee". It is true that Noah Webster's support for this name probably was the key in establishing it (just as his influence led to acceptance of some major spelling differences, such as "-or" instead of "-our" in honor, color, etc) But, in fact, in the 17th century, when the American colonies were being founded, the letter was called by several different names, including zad, zard, zed, zee, ezed, ezod, izod, izzard, uzzard. "Zee" was one of these and common in one dialect of English spoken by early colonists -- that is, it was transplanted with English colonists and retained. This pronunciation may be found in a British school book of the time -- Lye’s New Spelling Book (1677).

"The American English form zee [zi:] derives from an English late 17th-century dialectal form, now obsolete in England "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z

Also note that calling the letter "zee" made a lot of sense. In English, indeed in European languages generally, the OLD names of the letters taken from Greek (and sometimes back through Latin to the ancient Phoenician/Semitic names of the letters), were mostly replaced by new names compromised of the letter's main sound together with a vowel. Thus Greek alpha [from Semitic aleph] became "ay", beta [from bet] became "bee", etc.

So, changing zeta/zed to "zee" was just following a common pattern, and it made the letter easy to learn. (Noah Webster's first concern was with educating children, so his decisions were shaped by what he thought would help them.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster

The Concise Oxford Companion states, “The modification of zed ... to zee appears to have been by analogy with bee, dee, vee, etc.” Lye’s New Spelling Book (1677) was the first to list “zee” as a correct pronunciation."
http://www.billcasselman.com/cwod_archive/zed.htm

Incidentally, the GREEK name was in this case a Greek creation, and was likewise by analogy -- in this case with the letter names "beta, eta, theta, iota".

So why did British English, and all those other languages keep "zed" or the like?

I think you can get some idea if you take a look at the letter names used in these languages:
http://www.utils.ex.ac.uk/german/abinitio/alphabet/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_alphabet
http://spanish.about.com/cs/forbeginners/a/beg_alphabet.htm

Note how, for the most part, all these alphabets use naming patterns similar to that of much of the English alphabet -- combining the sound the letter makes with vowels. Then look at the last four letters. Here are their letter names in the four languages listed above.

GERMAN
weh, iks, üppsilon, tsett

FRENCH
ouble vé, icse, grec, zède

ITALIAN
doppia vu/vi OR vu/vi doppia
ics, ipsilon OR i greca, zeta

SPANISH
doble u, equis, i griega, zeta

What's interesting is that nearly all the unusual letter names (that do not follow the typical pattern) are at the END of the alphabet. That's telling -- they are at the end because they were the LAST additions to the Roman alphabet. Especially interestin are Y and Z, which were late borrowing (or 're-borrowings') from Greek. The name for Y in all these languages reflects the Greek root -- üppsilon directly imitates the Greek name, as tsett/zède/zeta reflets Greek zeta; and the alternate name means "Greek i".

Basically, these letters were added into the alphabet(s) AFTER the 're-naming' of the older letters. So they did not automatically imitate that older pattern; rather they adopted a name based on the Greek name. Only English strayed from this -- in ALL dialects in the case of Y, and in one dialect in the case of "zee".

So, the Americans kept a name based on a logical analogy to other English letter-names; others borrowed and kept the Greek name. Both very reasonable and understandable choices.

Answer 4

They say "zed" not "zeb". And so does Canada, Australia, and everyone else. Why? I have no idea. It may be closer to the Greek original "zeta." But, personally I think it would make the song sound stupid, though I've heard they say "zee" for that, but I'm not sure.

Answer 5

from wikipedia:

the letter is named zed (IPA /zɛd/}, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta

Answer 6

Actually they say zed

Answer 7

that's what makes nationalities unique coz if we all spoke the same way or similar accent,that would really totally be so not cool.it's called culture too..................................................

Answer 8

eh???? what the? how do you call Z then??? do you call that ZA?