Matt_LRR said:
Mattteus said:
...do all Canadians say 'zed'?
That's how it's pronounced.
-m
...in England (and the Commonwealth apparently)
Edit: Oddly enough I didn't even notice James say "zed". I guess I've gotten to the point where in my mind where zed = z[ee]. Which is kind of interesting. When I started watching Stargate Atlantis that Canadian scientist would talk about needing a Z.E.D.P.M. to get them back to Earth. At the same time all the Americans were talking about how they needed a Z.P.M. to get back. Embarrassingly I think it took me 2 seasons to realize that they were talking about the same thing.
But I'm sure that isn't the case with a lot of Americans. As I mentioned in some other thread, the thing about Canadian English is that it sounds EXACTLY like the American General dialect except for about a dozen or so common words. And because they're so similar, those dozen or so words stick out like sore thumbs to a lot of us. More so than they would if those pronunciations were part of a more foreign sounding English dialect like Cockney, Aussie, Scots, New Yorker, Newfie or any of the various Southern dialects. Those pronunciations certainly aren't wrong any more than the General American pronunciation is wrong (indeed spelling usually indicates that the Canadian pronunciation is probably closer to the original pronunciation) but they sound wrong to us. It'd probably be like hearing a fellow Canadian say, "I would like tomAHtos on my potAHtoes and a tall glass of mEHlk please," (assuming Canadians pronounce those words: tomAYto, potAYto and mILk of course).I'm sure American viewers will get used to it given enough time.
Anyway, great video!