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2 hours ago, cedros said:

 Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, isn't the best source for English.

Right on,especially for Canadian phrase meanings-eh! I did check not cheque  a M-Webster for the letter Z one time  and it did give the proper English phonetic as zed so why do 100% of you USA citizens mispronounce it as ZEE? -eh!. Is there an ee-zed-pee-zed answer for that?

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9 minutes ago, happyjillin said:

Right on,especially for Canadian phrase meanings-eh! I did check not cheque  a M-Webster for the letter Z one time  and it did give the proper English phonetic as zed so why do 100% of you USA citizens mispronounce it as ZEE? -eh!. Is there an ee-zed-pee-zed answer for that?

Never in my life have I heard anyone ever pronounce the letter  “z” as  “zed.” Are you saying  the last three letters of the alphabet should be “ex,” “why,” and “zed”?

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7 minutes ago, fordtruckman said:

Maybe there are more US speakers than Canadian on the planet and eazy peazy trumps your ezed peazed, eh?

Canadians by and large speak the Queen's English as is done in many other English speaking countries and a lot of non English speaking countries where it's taught in institutions of higher learning.I have German relatives who learned English at university and speak with an Oxford accent. Your quasi argument trumps nothing I have said in that regard because I use neither phrase .-SNORK!

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15 minutes ago, happyjillin said:

Canadians by and large speak the Queen's English as is done in many other English speaking countries and a lot of non English speaking countries where it's taught in institutions of higher learning.I have German relatives who learned English at university and speak with an Oxford accent. Your quasi argument trumps nothing I have said in that regard because I use neither phrase .-SNORK!

...and we sit on chesterfields. - not smoke them.

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3 hours ago, fordtruckman said:

Maybe there are more US speakers than Canadian on the planet and eazy peazy trumps your ezed peazed, eh?

There are many more English speakers in the world outside the US than in it but.......

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7 hours ago, Xena said:

Never in my life have I heard anyone ever pronounce the letter  “z” as  “zed.” Are you saying  the last three letters of the alphabet should be “ex,” “why,” and “zed”?

All my life I have heard it usually pronounced zed. The last 3 letters of the alphabet are ex, why and zed for me. I used to listen to the news from the Caribbbean-they spoke such beautiful English.

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For what it is worth;

"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”.

The first known instance of “zee” being recorded as the correct pronunciation of the letter “z” was in Lye’s New Spelling Book, published in 1677.  There still was a variety of common pronunciations in North America after this; but by the 19th century, this changed in the United States with “zee” firmly establishing itself thanks to Noah Webster putting his seal of approval on it in 1827, and, of course, the Alphabet song copyrighted in 1835, rhyming “z” with “me”.Because of the alphabet song, the pronunciation of “z” as “zee” has started to spread, much to the chagrin of elementary school teachers the English speaking world over. This has resulted in them often having to re-teach children the “correct” pronunciation of “z” as “zed”, with the children having previously learned the song and the letter the American English way from such shows as Sesame Street.

Naturally, kids are often resistant to this change owing to the fact that “tee, u, vee, w, x, y and zed, Now I know my A-B-Cs, Next time won’t you sing with me” just doesn’t quite sound as cohesive as “tee/vee/zee/me”.

Because of the problem at the end of the alphabet song with “zed” not really fitting, a variety of other endings have been created to accommodate this, such as this one:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g
h-i-j-k-lmnop
q-r-s
tu-v
w-x
y and z
Sugar on your bread
Eat it all up
Before you are dead.

Other pronunciations of “z” you might hear in the English speaking world include:  zod, zad, zard, ezod, izzard, and uzzard.

Bonus Facts:

  • The alphabet song is based on the French “Ah, vous dirai-je, maman”, which popped up in 1761 and a couple decades later Mozart used it in his Twelve Variations on Ah, vous dirai-je, maman.  This tune is also used for such children’s songs as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.
  • The letters Z and Y are the only two letters Latin borrowed directly from Greek, rather than getting them from Etruscan."
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How quickly the substance of the original post gets totally lost...why not start a new post for correct English grammar????...who would think clicking on SCAM you find how to pronounce Zeee in 10 different Language . I am terrible at English and always my weakest subject at school. But I guess it is the message that you wish to share , so for all you dunces out there please keep posting 

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On 8/20/2020 at 9:38 AM, happyjillin said:

Canadians by and large speak the Queen's English as is done in many other English speaking countries and a lot of non English speaking countries where it's taught in institutions of higher learning.I have German relatives who learned English at university and speak with an Oxford accent. Your quasi argument trumps nothing I have said in that regard because I use neither phrase .-SNORK!

Personally I believe that this whole conversation is ridiculous to say the least. There are unique accents, spellings, colloquialisms, pronunciations wherever you go in any language. So ragging on how one country pronounces a letter compared to another should be fun and interesting, nothing more or less. I have walked the Camino de Santiago many times which brings people from all over the world to walk in peace and friendship for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. I once walked with a dear friend from Australia. We entertained our friends many times arguing about WhatsApp messages regarding directions on where to meet. We ALWAYS had problems because the way we described directions using our own vernaculars made the reading of the directions by the other person similar to reading a foreign language.

I taught English in Mexico and Barcelona for about 7 years total. I am sure you have German relatives that speak with a British accent as virtually any visiting teacher in Europe had to come from an EU country. I was able to teach business English via a loophole in the law.

But without a doubt American English teachers are far more in demand in both Latin America and Europe among people who conduct business. Business people want American because international business is conducted in the minds of most in "America English".Business people want to know American English and taught by American instructors because they want to not just learn proper English, but American verbiage which often is different than the "Queen's English". They want to learn American business etiquette, slang, customs etc. It is just a fact of life, not a judgement of the way someone speaks.

You may laugh about the way Americans pronounce the letter Z. Americans can be hysterical laughing about the accent of Canadians and the way you talk also. My daughter lived in Vancouver for 3 years and would talk "like a Canadian" for entertainment. We all have our way of doing things. When it comes right down to it, who cares? Have fun and enjoy it.

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11 hours ago, LT56NY said:

Personally I believe that this whole conversation is ridiculous to say the least. There are unique accents, spellings, colloquialisms, pronunciations wherever you go in any language. So ragging on how one country pronounces a letter compared to another should be fun and interesting, nothing more or less. I have walked the Camino de Santiago many times which brings people from all over the world to walk in peace and friendship for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. I once walked with a dear friend from Australia. We entertained our friends many times arguing about WhatsApp messages regarding directions on where to meet. We ALWAYS had problems because the way we described directions using our own vernaculars made the reading of the directions by the other person similar to reading a foreign language.

I taught English in Mexico and Barcelona for about 7 years total. I am sure you have German relatives that speak with a British accent as virtually any visiting teacher in Europe had to come from an EU country. I was able to teach business English via a loophole in the law.

But without a doubt American English teachers are far more in demand in both Latin America and Europe among people who conduct business. Business people want American because international business is conducted in the minds of most in "America English".Business people want to know American English and taught by American instructors because they want to not just learn proper English, but American verbiage which often is different than the "Queen's English". They want to learn American business etiquette, slang, customs etc. It is just a fact of life, not a judgement of the way someone speaks.

You may laugh about the way Americans pronounce the letter Z. Americans can be hysterical laughing about the accent of Canadians and the way you talk also. My daughter lived in Vancouver for 3 years and would talk "like a Canadian" for entertainment. We all have our way of doing things. When it comes right down to it, who cares? Have fun and enjoy it.

Since you are inclined to the anecdotal as to American English teachers are in great demand around the world I will put forth my view in the same vein-eh!  I put it to you that they ain't  so much in demand over teachers from other English speaking countries,  but seeking work elsewhere of their own volition because of the lack of respect for their profession and the corresponding under funding and low pay in most if not all of the USA including  Knew Yawk-eh! Known as a brain drain-eh!

pedro kertesz ,husband of a retired Canadian teacher-eh!

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Interesting but my personal experience has been different. I had a house outside Puerto Vallarta for years during which time I had contact with many well educated people-lawyers and teachers at the American school there in particular. There hope for their children was that their children could go to school in Canada rather than in the US as they thought much better English was taught in Canada. That surprised me. I have flown back and forth to Canada from Mexico a number of times and met a number of Mexicans who have moved to Canada so that their children can get an education there. You never know.

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1 hour ago, cedros said:

There hope for their children was that their children could go to school in Canada rather than in the US as they thought much better English was taught in Canada.

The hope of those I have talked to over the years was that Canada had an easier visa and there was none of the street violence portrayed on US TV.

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22 hours ago, happyjillin said:

Since you are inclined to the anecdotal as to American English teachers are in great demand around the world I will put forth my view in the same vein-eh!  I put it to you that they ain't  so much in demand over teachers from other English speaking countries,  but seeking work elsewhere because of the lack of respect for their profession and the corresponding under funding and low pay in most if not all of the USA including  Knew Yawk-eh! Known as a brain drain-eh!

pedro kertesz ,husband of a retired Canadian teacher-eh!

I am not sure what you are trying to say her. I think you are saying that there is a lack of respect for the teaching profession in the United States which is without a doubt 100% accurate and very sad. But to extrapolate that out to say that teachers leave America to teach overseas is not accurate at all. Although teachers receive lower pay for the most part than they deserve they still earn a far higher salary than those who teach English overseas. They also are paid for the entire year (although some places teachers have the option of being paid over 10 or 12 months.) They also for the most part have good/excellent health care coverage and dental and visual and a pension which after 25-30 pays usually between 70-80% of their average salary of the final three years of teaching. People who teach English earn a far lower salary. In Mexico City I received about $12US per hour through International House which is one of the largest schools that teach English. I exclusively went to corporations. My private lessons were $20 per hour. In Barcelona I earned about $20US per hour. At most because of all the travel you can work about 20-25 hours a week. You also get no benefits whatsoever. During the summer and during the 3 weeks before, during and after Semana Santa you do not work or for about 1 month during Christmas vacation. When you do not work you do not get paid. If I had not had a corporate job for many years I could not have made it on my salary especially in Barcelona. I was a teacher for a few years in the United States and I quit that because the pay was too low. But the amount of pay that an ESL, TESLA, TOFLE teacher earns is minuscule next to a full time public school teacher, especially when you include the value of the benefits. I also was in higher demand as an English teacher because I had been in the corporate world for 25 years. There is absolutely no doubt that students in middle to upper management positions wanted me over the British/Irish/Australian teachers because I understood far better than they did American slang, vernacular and most of the other teachers were young and had no practical work experience, how business in the United States is conducted. To my students my knowledge was invaluable to them. I did not just teach English, we held mock telephone meetings, interviews, I rewrote countless emails, helped structure business presentations etc, etc, etc. These were things the vast majority of teachers were not able to do. Not because I was smarter but because I WAS American and more importantly I WAS in the corporate world. But the rest of what you said I don't have a clue to what you are talking about.

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15 hours ago, cedros said:

Interesting but my personal experience has been different. I had a house outside Puerto Vallarta for years during which time I had contact with many well educated people-lawyers and teachers at the American school there in particular. There hope for their children was that their children could go to school in Canada rather than in the US as they thought much better English was taught in Canada. That surprised me. I have flown back and forth to Canada from Mexico a number of times and met a number of Mexicans who have moved to Canada so that their children can get an education there. You never know.

I live in Puerto Vallarta now, will be moving to Chapala very soon. I sold real estate and worked in a Mexican Real Estate company. It is called Domus. Maybe you have heard of it. We had far more wealthy Mexican clients than the other large Vallarta agencies. When I left last year Domus and Timothy were the two largest agencies. The reason we had more Mexican clients was that all the agents except for myself and one other Canadian were Mexican. All our company correspondence and our meetings were in Spanish. I think it is true that the vast majority of Mexican families send their kids to Canada for English language training. My wife is Mexican and all of our friends except 1 person is Mexican. My friends and my clients send their children to school for a semester or summer in Canada because of the perception that it is safer in Canada than in the United States. Virtually all of the Mexican families that can afford it send their children to the American School in the Marina where all instruction is in American English except for Spanish class. When it comes (this is changing slightly but not that much because of the situation in the Untied States, not the Pandemic but politically), going to University, if a child is not going to one of the top Mexican universities virtually all parents want their children going to an American University. Who knows how this may change in the future. I mentioned in another post that I taught English in some very large corporations in Mexico City, Siemans, Novo Nordisk, Pepsico, and Coca Cola to name a few. I taught mostly upper management executives. I often had conversations with these people about their children's education. To a person as I stated above every executive wanted to learn American English because that is who they did the majority of their business with. Also virtually every executive told me that if they had two young Mexican applicants that had exactly the same CV's they would choose the applicant that went to even an average American university over someone who went to a top Mexican University. This is not my bias, this is what I was told in our conversations. I am not saying this in any way to say the United States is better than anywhere else. I think just turning on the news disproves that hypothesis emphatically today. 

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On ‎8‎/‎20‎/‎2020 at 9:07 AM, fordtruckman said:

Maybe there are more US speakers than Canadian on the planet and eazy peazy trumps your ezed peazed, eh?

The true English also say "NO GERMAN SWEAR WORDS"     If you're not familiar with it, look it up.   Or just grab a mirror.

 MOD5

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