So, I've been curious. In Canada and New Zealand and possibly other countries, the name of the letter Z is pronounced "Zed" (as a certain IRC quit line recently reminded me).
I'm wondering why.
Just about every consonant in the alphabet has a name which includes the sound the letter makes an an "e" sound either before or after. Let's go through the consonants.
Bee. Cee. Dee. Ef. Gee. H is odd, but I think that's because it makes a sound which is difficult to pronounce by itself and even more so with an "e" sound attached. Jay and Kay are odd, but that's to distinguish them from G and C, respectively (and G and J are pronounced the other way in French). El. Em. En. Pee. Q is odd, but that's because it's Q (the only letter which must be paired with another specific letter). It also kind of overlaps with C and K. Not sure why R is an exception. Es. Tee. Vee. W was named "double u," because that's what it looks like. At least there's a reason for it breaking the pattern. Ex. Y, like H, is almost a vowel, so it needed to be irregular.
Finally... Zee. It fits the pattern along with about 75% of the remaining consonants.
Why on Earth would you suddenly decide to pronounce it Zed? It doesn't fit with anything. There's no reason for it that I can see. The worst thing is that it completely ruins the ending of the Alphabet Song, which relys on that regularity to rhyme the letters at key points.
Ay bee cee dee ee eff gee
aitch eye jay kay el em en oh pee
que arr ess tee yu vee
double-yu ecks why and... zed???
Now I know my Ay Bee Cees
Next time, won't you sing with me?
It just doesn't work!
So, do you say "zee" or "zed"? What countries use which?
If you do say "zed," do you have any idea why?
Paul
