MetaChat - The Alphabet Song in the UK

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13 May 2009

The Alphabet Song in the UK Everyone who grew up in an English speaking country knows the Alphabet song.

I was recently thinking that in the UK, Z is pronounced "zed" rather than "zee". So are the lyrics different in the UK so the song will rhyme at the end?

post by: reenum at: 11:29 | 12 comments

In Canada , we say 'zed' but the rhyme is the same.

posted by typewriter 13 May | 11:35

In the UK, they pronounce "v" as "ved," of course.

posted by mrmoonpie 13 May | 11:37

From the age of 6 I was schooled in the UK and never learned the Alphabet Song, nor in Australia before that. I always assumed it was a North American song.

posted by essexjan 13 May | 11:39

I grew up in the UK and learnt it, but I can't remember where (possibly off Sesame Street)? Kids in the UK just learn at an early stage that there are Other People in the World who speak English, but Slightly Differently to Us.

In other words, the rhyme is the same, but British people still say "zed".

posted by altolinguistic 13 May | 11:45

I learned the alphabet song in French, but Francophones can correct me if I'm wrong:

Z is pronounced "zed" in the French alphabet song, and phonetically V is pronounced "vay", as G is pronounced "jhay" and P is pronounced "pay". IE, the Z doesn't rhyme with the other consonants that it rhymes with in the American version.

posted by muddgirl 13 May | 12:07

Yeah, my cousins in India definitely knew the alphabet song at the appropriate age (from where, I have no idea), but they say "zed" at the end.

posted by unsurprising 13 May | 12:09

I sang it in New Zealand with "zee" even though we say "zed". I grew up thinking that it was just a way to make the song rhyme, and nobody actually said "zee".

Heh.

posted by gaspode 13 May | 12:11

I like "zed" at the end. It provides a sort of weighty conclusiveness.

posted by tangerine 13 May | 13:17

I learned the alphabet song as a child, but we just stopped at the letter 'zed' -- I think the melody was just altered into a cadence there.

It was a while later before I first heard the North American version with the two lines at the end. I remember at the time thinking it a rather trite addition. As if singing the alphabet to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is some great artistic statement.

posted by chrismear 13 May | 14:07

There's no such letter as "zed".

posted by deborah 13 May | 19:33

ha! chrismear! That's funny.

I assume you're a huge fan of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" then?

posted by terrapin 13 May | 22:28

Huh, I'd heard the title of that, but never knew about the melody.

posted by chrismear 15 May | 11:13

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