From an article from Glasgow Live. I am a Weegie and I say Jai 😁
^It could be the case that Glaswegians, and our fellow 'jai' users hang on to what was the original pronunciation of the letter J (aligned with the French pronunciation), while others have moved on to adopt and pronounce it in its modern (Anglicised) interpretation.
The Oxford English Dictionary (1st edition) states: "The name of the letter, now jay, was formerly jy, rhyming with I, and corresponding to French ji; this is still common in Scotland and elsewhere."^
According to Joan C Beal, Professor of English Language at the University of Sheffield, this may offer an explanation.
She told Glasgow Live : "The Oxford English Dictionary is right that the Scottish pronunciation would have been more common elsewhere formerly. ‘J’ has only relatively recently been considered a separate letter of the English (and Scots) alphabet.
Well into the 18th century, many dictionaries would have words beginning with the consonant ‘j’ in the same section as the vowel ‘i’. So it’s not surprising that it would be pronounced to rhyme with ‘i’."
Professor Beal also suggested it might be linked to how Scottish children are taught the alphabet in schools as it would not only stay with them but also be considered correct - and references a story that US border guards use this to discover whether someone is Canadian, as Canadians, like us, say ‘zed’ not ‘zee’ for the final letter.
We put this suggestion to a Glasgow primary school teacher, who said that kids in the city are taught the 'correct' pronunciation of the word - so perhaps, rather than the classroom, its a phenomenon that comes from the playground or indeed from the home, and how we hear our parents pronounce it.
Whatever the case, that weird 'jai' seems to be written into the DNA of Glaswegians, whether we like it or not - much to the amusement of those from outside the city.
So forget quizzes and bits of trivia - how can you really tell if someone is from Glasgow? Just ask them to say the Letter J.