Favourite Brit Speak?

Can someone also tell me why Z is said as zed?  I've never understood why.  When its used in a word you don't say zed then the word.  I had to ask.

P.S. as I'm American I've only said aitch.  Never ever haitch.

lol Mark and I have had many talks about this , see my last name starts with the letter Z not Zed ! hahaha somethings are so silly to me but I would change a single one

Can someone also tell me why Z is said as zed?

It comes from the original Greek zeta via Old French zede. Us Americans changed it after our "little disagreement" with the British. According to the Concise Oxford Companion, "The modification of zed to zee appears to have been by analogy with bee, dee, vee, etc."

As to why the Brits pronounce it ars* and not ass -
The Brits are the clever ones here as the pronunciation allows you to distinguish between a part of the body and an animal called an ass.

Its funny when I say something about how a word is pronounced differenent here,like the Zed for Zee, my fiancee always reminds me that the english were here first.     Then we really start to think about why it might have been changed.  He says I make him think about things he never really thought about before. We always come back to how the Americans just wanted to be different when they left England.  lol  I am always telling him he is cruising for a bruising.  lol

I've been doing some research about aitch/haitch on the Web.  The prevalent view is that 'haitch' is an Irish Roman Catholic thing, though no one can satisfactorily explain why they add 'h' to the dictionary word.  For this reason, in both Australia and Northern Ireland, where Catholic educations are common, haitch is a bit of a shibboleth.  People who have had Catholic teachers in this country are likely to say 'haitch', though a correspondent from Lancashire who had been taught by Catholics said he had always been taught 'aitch' (perhaps because Lancashire is home to a larger than normal proportion of 'Old' Catholics - i.e., English who never accepted the Reformation?).  I myself went to an RC school for a while and had a number of Irish Fathers teach me, but they all said "aitch".  I never heard "haitch" said until travelling in Ireland as an adult.  I put it down to another amiable Irish eccentricity at the time.  But it does seem from what I've read about it to be a bit of a tribal thing.

That's interesting.  The only one of our children who has ever said 'haitch' is our oldest who goes to Catholic school.  She never said it before and I put it down to trendiness.  Hmmmm.  I'll have to quiz her about it.  

Hubby says haitch.  He's from Sunderland (up norf), his family is C of E, and educated in a grammar school.

Its funny when I say something about how a word is pronounced differenent here,like the Zed for Zee, my fiancee always reminds me that the english were here first.       lol

Mine has the same damn argument.  
However, I read recently that this isn't the case in some things!  Adding a u - colour, mould, etc - is actually a RECENT addition.  The color, mold, etc spellings are the older ones.  So next time he gets on me about my "corrupted" speech...

Have I got a good little story. The other day I had to go withdrawal money from my bank account.  The teller (is that what they are called?) asked me to write a check, which I rarely do, for the amount and make it payable to cash. No problem right? Well, I start writing the check. . . She is watching. . . And when I get to writing the “pence” portion, the lady said, “write naught naught”. I looked at her and repeated - not not (stupid American accent - can’t pronounce the “au”) she nodded her head. I proceeded and wrote - ready for this?
NOT NOT - now, I ask, who’s the BIGGEST PLONKER???

Oh, and on that note, I had to go into the hardware shop for some silicone caulking. As I am verbally challenged in pronouncing the “au” part, guess what I asked for?

Melissa

Have I got a good little story. The other day I had to go withdrawal money from my bank account.  The teller (is that what they are called?) asked me to write a check, which I rarely do, for the amount and make it payable to cash. No problem right? Well, I start writing the check. . . She is watching. . . And when I get to writing the “pence” portion, the lady said, “write naught naught”. I looked at her and repeated - not not (stupid American accent - can’t pronounce the “au”) she nodded her head. I proceeded and wrote - ready for this?
NOT NOT - now, I ask, who’s the BIGGEST PLONKER??

Hahahaha!!  

Better you than me.  Thanks for sharing that one.  

Don't be embarrassed ever by your accent, dear Missy.
 

It's a common misconception that "Brits don't pronounce their 'R's".

But this is not entirely true.  There is a roughish line that runs up this country from about Chichester in the South to halfway between Carlisle and Newcastle in the North (with a few twists and turns): west of this the peeps roll their 'R's; east of this they don't tend to.  

One of the best ways of distinguishing a Lancashire person from a Yorkshire is that a Lanky will 'rrrr', whereas a Yorkie doesn't.

Scots, Welsh and Irish all roll their 'R's.

Let's rejoice in all the accents of English worlwide, and be proud of the way each of us individually uses our wonderful common language!

A world without NY speech would be so much the poorer.

Lots of love,

Howard

Oh, Sorry.  I meant my response above to be addressed to kcg.  So sorry.
Howard.

Its funny when I say something about how a word is pronounced differenent here,like the Zed for Zee, my fiancee always reminds me that the english were here first.

Well, here's a good one for your fiancee. I was watcing the history of English the other day and a very good point was made. Obviously languages evolve and expand over periods of time. When the first English settlers set up shop in the good ol' US of A, they were speaking the English of that time. That was our jumping off point for the language. In England Englsih also evolved but in its own way. As a consequence there are words/spellings we use now that your fiancee might give you a sideways glance about but in fact are completely "English" in their origins and even "truer" than the British equivalent

Have I got a good little story. The other day I had to go withdrawal money from my bank account.  The teller (is that what they are called?) asked me to write a check, which I rarely do, for the amount and make it payable to cash. No problem right? Well, I start writing the check. . . She is watching. . . And when I get to writing the “pence” portion, the lady said, “write naught naught”. I looked at her and repeated - not not (stupid American accent - can’t pronounce the “au”) she nodded her head. I proceeded and wrote - ready for this?
NOT NOT - now, I ask, who’s the BIGGEST PLONKER???

Oh, and on that note, I had to go into the hardware shop for some silicone caulking. As I am verbally challenged in pronouncing the “au” part, guess what I asked for?

Melissa

That is fantastic! On my wife's first day of work she was typing out a letter as a co-worker was reading it out to her. Everytime the co-worker read out "full stop" that's what she typed. After proofing it she realised the whole thing looked like a telegram and confronted the co-worker. Oh the shame!

NO!

“write naught naught”. I looked at her and repeated - not not (stupid American accent - can’t pronounce the “au”)

Your're NOT one with a 'stupid American accent'!!!

There is never anything stupid about an accent.
None of us can ever speak without one.

NO!


Your're NOT one with a 'stupid American accent'!!!

There is never anything stupid about an accent.
None of us can ever speak without one.

Yeah? Well, I still felt like a dork [smiley=wacky.gif]
Melissa