Question for Canadians - do you say "zi" or "zed"? (piefed.social)

submitted 1 week ago by unknowablenight@piefed.social to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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All of the Canadian youtubers that I watch pronounce the letter z as "zi", as is done in the United States. However, I have read online that it is more common for Canadians to pronounce it as "zed", as is done in the United Kingdom. Is this a regional thing? How do you pronounce the letter z?

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[+] stormio@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 week ago

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[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This Canadian youtuber doesn't.

I'm Canadian, and I pronounce things the proper Canadian way.

When mentioning measurements or temperature, I use metric, and if I also happen to translate to imperial, I joke that it is a courtesy translation for the 3 countries in the world still stuck in the obsolete units.

[-] unknowablenight@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago

That makes sense. I assume it's that, as well as perhaps consuming a lot of American media. I've noticed a lot of non-Americans sometimes using USD.

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

consuming a lot of American media.

They export American exceptionalism as a default attitude.

And, after a century or more, it has taken hold far more than it has any right to.

I hope the increasing boycott of all things American that Trump has caused will start to reverse somehow that. But it will take a long time to undo - that shit is pervasive.

[-] zikzak025@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

As a mumbling Canadian, I always say Zed to avoid confusion with the letter C.

In my experience, I find it's usually g/z that tends to get the most easily confused when pronouncing as "zee," guessing because both are voiced consonants. One of those cases where I have to request phonetic alphabet spelling if call/chat quality is too low to tell.