It would appear that the US is actually the odd one out when it comes to pronunciation of Z.
Just found this online:
It’s not just the British that pronounce “z” as “zed”. The vast majority of the English speaking world does this. The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where “z” is pronounced “zee”.
The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”. This gave rise to the Old French “zede”, which resulted in the English “zed” around the 15th century.
As to why people in the United States call “z”, “zee”, it is thought that this is likely simply adopted from the pronunciation of the letters “bee”, “cee”, “dee”, “eee”, “gee”, “pee”, “tee”, and “vee”.
From: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/10/why-do-the-british-pronounce-z-as-zed/
Hee hee hee. I think it just fits the song better.
Okay, so last night I was watching one of those "how they make it" shows and it was highlighting the potato chip/crisp.
The story of how the potato chip came into existence was in New York where there was a very fussy business man at a restaurant he frequented. He kept saying the traditional chip was too think and he wanted them thin and crispy. The chef tried to beat him at his own game by slicing the potato wafer thin, frying them, and then loading them with salt. But instead of the customer hating them, he loved them. And thus the potato chip/crisp was born.
But the British person presenting the show was not happy with this. They contacted a food historian who did a lot of research and found a recipe book dated 30 years prior to the NY restaurant story. The recipe said to slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch strips and then fry. Apparently that means the Brits invented the chip/crisp. <sigh>
Okay:
1. A 1/4 slice is NOT a chip/crisp
2. Does it matter if it was the Americans or Brits who invented it? Can't we just eat it and be happy and thankful that they DO exist?
