Question Zee or Zed?

Cobravenomous

Cobravenomous

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Oct 8, 2018
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I couldn't find this question previously asked so if it has been posted I'll apologize in advance.

Recognizing that Canadians pronounce the letter "Z" as Zed and Americans pronounce it as Zee, is that carried over in the the way we announciate a "Corvette Z06"?

When I mentioned to my American cousin that I ordered a ("Zed") Z06 he corrected me and said it's a ("Zee") Z06.

Any comments from fellow Canadian Z06 owners?

Cobra
 
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...From the GRAMMARIST Website
"The zed pronunciation is older, and it more closely resembles the Greek letter, zeta, from which the English letter is derived. And zed is closer to other languages’ spelling and pronunciation of the letter; for instance, the French say zède, German speakers say zet, and Spanish speakers say zeta. These are points in zed‘s favor. "
That being said...
"Zee is the American way of saying the letter z. Zed is the British way. Neither is right or wrong, and nobody is ignorant for pronouncing z the way they do. "

For me, it is still a zed.
 
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I do. It's Zee. It's an American car, built in America, and they named it ZEE OH SIX. I have a ZEE FIVE ONE. The Camaro model is a ZEE TWENTY EIGHT. The Datsun 280 is a ZED. That's what they called it. The Nissan 300 ZED EX is what they called it. The BMW ZED 4, because that's what they called it.

I'm a proud Canadian, and I really do love all of our little differences which make us unique from our neighbors (yeah, I spelled it the American way because the 'u' is stupid, and even this Canadian forum's spellchecker didn't correct me!), but I don't like how adamant we are about demanding that everyone else respects our interpretation of things, and how willing we are to argue about something we are clearly wrong about.

If your name is Michael and you go to Russia and someone calls you Mikhayell, would you let it go because you are in their country, or would you correct them and say it is pronounced Michael?
 
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YYSSW Eh ... one many great things for knowing when someone is from :canada:
and a :canada: Texas Mickey is not a Mouse on Vacation :Salute2:
and a :canada: Chinook is not a result of Global Warming :Salute2:
 
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Jeremiad said:
I do. It's Zee. It's an American car, built in America, and they named it ZEE OH SIX. I have a ZEE FIVE ONE. The Camaro model is a ZEE TWENTY EIGHT. The Datsun 280 is a ZED. That's what they called it. The Nissan 300 ZED EX is what they called it. The BMW ZED 4, because that's what they called it.

I'm a proud Canadian, and I really do love all of our little differences which make us unique from our neighbors (yeah, I spelled it the American way because the 'u' is stupid, and even this Canadian forum's spellchecker didn't correct me!), but I don't like how adamant we are about demanding that everyone else respects our interpretation of things, and how willing we are to argue about something we are clearly wrong about.

If your name is Michael and you go to Russia and someone calls you Mikhayell, would you let it go because you are in their country, or would you correct them and say it is pronounced Michael?
Click to expand...


Hmmm.......I grew up in the muscle car era of the sixties and the seventies and was a real car enthusiast and would go downtown to watch them strut and drag each other on the "main drag". There were Chevy SS's, Chargers, Road Runners, Firebirds, Cuda's, Stangs and Z28's (Zed 28). I don't ever recall it being referred to as a (Zee) Z28?

Cobra;)
 
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Is it a little bit amazing to find out that you've been saying it wrong for 50 years?

I've always found this kind of stuff interesting and kinda funny.

325 million people (the population of the United States) will look at you funny when you call it a Zed 28, or an IROC-ZED. Or a ZED Oh six.

Considering that these cars come from that country, the proper name is Zee, and that is indeed what they call it.

But Canadians don't care about what is proper. We do things our way and don't care what the rest of the world thinks. Especially the Muricans. ;)

Call it whatever you like. We will all know and understand what you are talking about.
 
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I will throw a wrench in to the debate. Mainland Canadians might call it a 'ZED'06 in Newfoundland we call it a 'ZAD"06. Although a very subtle difference, if you listen carefully you can pick it up. To me it will always be my honour to say ZAD06 :canada::canada: more so on Sunday.
 
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I've never heard anyone in Canada but Americans pronounce the Z in the name of cars as "zee." I think it's fair to say that while "zee" is the American pronunciation, it's the proper pronunciation for an American car, but it's also common to have different pronunciations of words in different areas, which would then be correct to the area. Jaguar is pronounced "jag-you-ar" in the UK, but "jag-war" in the Americas. Porsche is pronounced "por-shuh" in German, but "porsh" by many in the Americas (many enthusiasts including myself say "por-shuh"), but there's an argument to be made that "porsh" is the American English pronunciation. Some things just go by what's commonly accepted, so there isn't a hard fast rule. Louis Chevrolet was Swiss, yet we kept the French pronunciation. Corvette is a French word after all, and we still pronounce it more or less French, and not "chev-ro-let."
 
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12cents said:
I will throw a wrench in to the debate. Mainland Canadians might call it a 'ZED'06 in Newfoundland we call it a 'ZAD"06. Although a very subtle difference, if you listen carefully you can pick it up. To me it will always be my honour to say ZAD06 :canada::canada: more so on Sunday.
Click to expand...
Isn't it fair to say that many Canadians pronounce Newfoundland incorrectly?
 
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Jeremiad said:
Is it a little bit amazing to find out that you've been saying it wrong for 50 years?
Click to expand...

A bit presumptuous on your part don't you think?;)

What I do find interesting is the differences between some of the replies......

Datsun 240Z and future generations was always "Zee"..... never "Zed"
Iroc Z was always "Zee" as well......but the Camaro Z28 was always "Zed" amongst my peer group.....furthermore Camaro "Zee" just doesn't have that muscular image "Zed" Camaro Z28 has!

Cobra:cool:
 
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while you guys figure that " Z " out, someone tell me what is the next character ? is it a O ( oh ) or a 0 ( zero ) ? the way I see you all spell it differently so do you say Zed Zero Six, or Zee Zero Six, or Zee Oh Six or Zed Oh Six ? I'm confused as I only have 1/2 my grade 12 ( grade 6 ). ......:Confused5:.......:Shrug2:........
 
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