Zee versus zed

[Ohwhatfuckeryitistoride]

This week I've been running visual acuity tests for year 7s. I soon noticed that about 80% of them say zee instead of zed. Now I know language changes etc, it's a mix of us influences and maybe learning phonics in primary, but it made me feel unaccountably sad.
Do your kids say zed or zee?

Same here re Santa! I used to think that Father Christmas was a very posh, old-fashioned way to say Santa. “Oh Mama! Oh Papa! Father Christmas has been frightfully super to us this year” sort of thing.

If they said zee they would be corrected, in our household we speak English, not American English

Yes me too. Very lah-di-dah 🤣

I wonder if the Santa/Father Christmas difference is a geographical or generational divide.

I grew up in England (the Midlands) and had Welsh parents. I was born in the late 60s so peak time for me to believe was in the 70s.

Our family and the area we lived in were far from posh but it was always Father Christmas to everyone I knew.

I didn't hear the word Santa until I was much older.

Father Christmas is very very English to me, he was always Santa Claus/Santa/Santy in Ireland. I could swear I read on here it's a Catholic thing (Santa meaning saint) but I'm far too lazy to look it up.

I also think I've read on here (again, too lazy to check) that the Father Christmas and Saint Nick myths are different and have now merged.

Every single word of this post aside from the name in Ireland could be complete bullshit.

Think you’re right. I grew up in 70s/80s South East England not posh area, and it was always Father Christmas. By the time my kids were old enough they called him a mix of Santa/FC, as most kids at school called him Santa.

I took a nail scissors from the bathroom one night after I had been put to bed and cut off that little curl right in the middle of my forrid. The pressure was too much.

Me too - it's forehead as far as I'm concerned. DM calls it a forrid. I always thought it was a very quaint and old fashioned pronunciation.

Always Santa Claus here (grew up in Dublin).

I'm in my 40s and have always said zee. Grew up watching Sesame Street!

I do. And many moons ago I worked for the n haitch s. So I said it a lot.

Grew up hearing both j-eye and j-ay. My colleague in England laughed very hard when I said people in the west of Scotland said j-eye - thought I was having her on! I do remember some people also saying zee-bra growing up too. Yoghurt was also pronounced in what a lot of people would assume is the American way.

I now live in the north of England and it makes me chuckle when children sing the alphabet song with haitch in it. Around here people also very much say En-Haitch-Ess.

I've never said 'yoggurt'. I always said 'yo-gurt'. It's not just America. I grew up in Dublin.

Yes I was an outlier in Dublin saying yogg-urt in the 80s and 90s, I changed to yo-gurt to fit in.

Mine and 9 and 13 and both say zed

I'm not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me but I'm in agreement - it's not just America, it's very common in Scotland (and clearly Ireland) too.

Yo-gurt in NI too, despite people in England relentlessly telling me all my pronunciations are American.
See also eczema.

I'd say yogg-urt despite my dad always calling it yogg-hoort 😅

I think j-eye is maybe a south of Scotland thing as nobody here says it apart from a Glaswegian colleague.

Yes, a Scottish friend was laughed at a lot when doing a pharmacy degree in the south of England and ex-zeema came up!