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May 19, 2003

Zed's Dead Baby

It's usually after meeting me a few times before most Americans realize I'm not one of them. Whether it be my pronunciation of out, or my adversarial views on America's foreign policy (I don't want to go on a rant here...), there's just something about me that's different.

One of the things that I've noticed is the way a conversation abruptly stops when I say "Zed". If I'm in the middle of a sentence, and that letter comes up (it came up a lot over the weekend trying to solve word puzzles), every American in the room feels the need to interrupt me by exclaiming "Zed?! You mean Zee!", and then I have to take the next few minutes explaining how the US is the only English-speaking nation that pronounces the 26th letter in that way. As a result, the conversation is derailed and my original point (which was undoubtedly important) is lost. So I've found myself pronouncing Z the American way, if for no other reason than to be able to finish a conversation.

And yes, I feel dirty every time I do it.

00:00 | America

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