/zi:/ vs. /zɛd/

[Tchaik1994]

Zed is how you say z in French as well. The last three letters x,y, and are /eiks/, /e-grek/, /zed/ which all come from Latin. Izard might be celtic?

[tallatstarbucks]

@Tchaik1994 It's not Celtic. It's from a dialect of old French, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

[cvs2fan]

nah i will go with /zed/ :B

[smartmusicalusername]

I love you!

[filibusterfirework74]

That is fantastic! The third way to say z is by far my favorite :)

[mysss29]

Extra fun fact: after reading Dracula I now spell "meow" "miau" whenever I can. Or do I mean the even more gratuitous "miaow?" I like the vowelly one best because...well, cats don't really do consonants--it's really more like "iao" anyway, I think.

[Tripicality]

Elemenopee! :D

[myfeetdontlikeshoes]

from now on I'm only saying /izerd/ forever and ever

[ArtymesEtc]

Using /izerd/ also opens up new rhmyes at the end featuring wizards :D

Also finally! someone else who pronounces aitch properly (:

[tallatstarbucks]

@ArtymesEtc And lizard wizards! And lizards and wizards in blizzards!

[BlueBoxFinder]

Dude you're hilarious!! :D

[tallatstarbucks]

@BlueBoxFinder Thank you!

[rhetoricallyyours]

We say 'zed' in Canada but I think pretty much everyone I know says it 'zee' when singing the ABC's because you're right, it does sound dumb otherwise.

[iliveonplanetspace]

For izard sounds like something snoop-dog might say.

[PolesitterPictures]

/izard/ you say? Then /izard/ it is! YAY for a linguistics video!

[michelli92]

HUG!!! (>")> <("<)

[theleprechaunninja]

My name is Liz and a few of my friends call me Lizard so the "izerd" pronunciation of Z makes me very happy

[sincemarchoflastyear]

When I sing the alphabet I say zi, but when I say the letter any other time it's zed, because that's what I've been brought up to say :) It's really interesting how so many different pronunciations of letters and words are so different but can be equally correct though.

[rossexton]

L-z

(a new breed of linguistic jokes have been born)

Also, /zed/ ftw

[tallatstarbucks]

@rossexton That took me way too long to get. haha.

[kieranrichard16]

I learnt my alphabet from Seasme Street so I would say /zi:/ and my Primary School teachers would be like no, it's /zed/. It's strange really when you think about it.

[BabyAutumnSkye]

I love linguistic adventures like this

[tallatstarbucks]

@BabyAutumnSkye =D

[shaylaluna]

Izard. I like that a lot!

[KatieAtLarge]

This made me pretty happy. You're a cool person.

...But I'm still going to say zed. c;

[tallatstarbucks]

@KatieAtLarge I like you.

Say zed! It doesn't matter to me which you say =]

[SpeedyReedyTV]

Zed's dead, baby...Zed's dead.

[PhoebeLee24]

izerd sounds like gizzard. or lizard. i like lizards. 

[NatalieZenaLouise]

Zed is my favourite.

[centreofdauniverse]

In Australia it's more commonly taught as zed what with us still using the UK English and stuffs but it's more commonly said as zi because of the whole Americanisation of our country through pop culture and American media.

But from now on I will whole heartedly be telling people it is pronounced "izard"

[tallatstarbucks]

@centreofdauniverse That's really interesting--that it's taught one way, but used the other.

[warpedkawaii]

for a second I felt like you may pop out of the computer during that hug, lol and also I vote izard to, I am using that from now on.

[uberwren]

Oh my god I actually understood all of that!!! I feel like I have learned something from my linguistics course!

And I agree, [Iz∂rd] is far superior to [z3d] [zi]. And now I'm just doing that to prove to myself that I can. I FEEL SO ACCOMPLISHED!

Very interesting video though. I think perhaps you should make more videos about your major because it's really interesting and if shows that you are interested in the subject matter.

[tallatstarbucks]

@uberwren Yay! I'm so glad you understood it!

IPA is so cool.

I definitely plan on making more videos about linguistics. Although it's actually not my major--it's my minor. But it would probably be my major if Vassar had a linguistics department.

[Tokkemon]

Zed. Proud Commonwealth heritage.

[olsonche13]

This is interesting! I think that from now on I will call it izerd ^_^

[TheNomadknight]

I remember my grandpa explaining to me about zi and zed when I was a kid. Have to admit that using zed for a week was so much fun but then I reverted to zi because you can't change the alphabet on me after singing that song so many times in school. Maybe an experimentation with izerd is in order but I feel like that would just make me tongue tied lol

[AliandJordanVlogs]

*hug* :) hahahaha i may just say izzard from now on cause that just awesome lmao

[deviantJeff]

"Hey, how do you spell that?"

"Oh, uh... c-r-a-izerd-y."

...yup, I'm totally using izerd now.

(Perhaps more on topic, I was raised with zi, and continue to say zi, despite the fact that I'm relatively sure Canadians are supposed to say zed. Oh well. Zi's better.)

[TheCooper365Project]

Obviously I was raised on 'zed', but you make some pretty clear arguments to sway me towards 'zee'! The rhyming thing is SO TRUE. Pretty hard to change old habits, though. I think the brilliance of 'izard' could be a transition pronunciation to wean me off 'zed' as I make my way towards 'zee'!

[WayhoRachel]

I like zi more because it's shorter. The less my mouth has to move the better (insert blowjob joke here).

[tallatstarbucks]

@WayhoRachel I LOVE YOU.

[TimH078]

stop melting my brain

[tallatstarbucks]

@TimH078 I'm sorry. I love you.

[wordnerd1231]

Izerd! What an epic word lol

Off topic but I love your hair. So currrrrrly :P

[tallatstarbucks]

@wordnerd1231 Thanks!

[Witified]

rofl. youre adorable. you gotta admit though, saying zed is pretty cool x]

[tallatstarbucks]

@Witified It makes me think of a robot superhero.

[lifemakesmelaf]

Haha I actually like Izerd. I wish I'd heard of this before! It sounds so cool but it doesn't sound like a letter. It sounds like a noun ):

[Emigmatiic]

Zed for the win :)

[markahenda]

Zed. All day long. Cause I'm Canadian and stuff. Also, IT UPLOADED! YAY! Did it take the full 30 hours? :P

[tallatstarbucks]

@markahenda I ended up having to cancel it and re-upload it on better internet. I tried like 4 times. It was super fun.

[dc8r17]

I grew up with /zi:/ as that was how I was taught to say it. But as time has gone on, /zɛd/ just became the way to say it for me. I still remember when in my /zi:/ days that Lord Zed from Power Rangers came in and I like :-O, messing up my alphabet you evil overlord!

[thiswestcoastweather]

I say /zɛd/ because I'm all Canadian and whatnot.

I don't really care how anyone pronounces it as long as they're consistent with using only UK English things or only US English things. Like if you say /zɛd/ then you should write 'colour' and if you say /zi:/ you should write 'color.' That kind of thing. I have some friends that mix and match and it drives me nuts.

[NonMagicFolk]

when you hugged the camera I hugged my computer :3

[tallatstarbucks]

@NonMagicFolk =D

[LoudIndoorVoice]

Oh yeah it's shit like this is why I love you.....

you just made the alphabet way more funny an interesting than it was in playschool.

[tallatstarbucks]

@LoudIndoorVoice I LOVE YOU.

[DeadlikeaPixel]

Canada and I believe Australia also says Zed :3

[tallatstarbucks]

@DeadlikeaPixel Yupp. Zed is much more common.

[MattiHeartsHP]

I like the video, but I'm sticking with 'zed' I guess it's 'cause I learnt it that way growing up haha

[tallatstarbucks]

@MattiHeartsHP Glad you like the video! And that's totally fine--like I said, I don't think either pronunciation is right or wrong.

[tetsubo57]

I think Eddie Izzard has a copyright on that...

Zed is also Canadian.

'W' has always seemed far too long to me.

[tallatstarbucks]

@tetsubo57 I know. Zed is more common than zi. I didn't say zed was only used in the UK.

[ziggywolves]

The amount of times i sang my abc's when i was little and i've never realised pronouncing zi just makes the whole thing rhyme so much better... i shall sing it zi and say it zed, everyone's happy :)

[TheCoryKid]

Finally, someone who isn't crazy. I've tried explaining these things to people before, but the insist on /zɛd/. It's entirely out of place with the rest of the alphabet.

(This train terminates at... MORDOR!)