Jay Zee or Jay Zed? I can tell your age by your answer
Z has always been trouble. The letter began as an axe some 3000 years ago. Picture an upper-case I, with serifs at either end, a symbolic hatchet the Phoenicians called zayin. Centuries later, the Greeks tilted its central shaft and tweaked the strokes. They called it zeta, a clone of our Z on paper.
Julius Caesar and co, however, turned up their aquiline noses. Who needed Z if S could serve? Begrudgingly, the zigzag heirloom lingered in Greek loanwords – like zona or zoologica. A cameo compared to the subsequent Gaul rendezvous. Soon zeta was reborn as zède, the French seed of the English zed.
Come the early 1400s, a Middle English document placed zed above the alternatives of izzard, zad, shard, ezod and zee. Despite that, Z remained a phonic puzzle. Proof arrived two centuries on, a Somerset priest named Thomas Lye (also known as Leigh or Lee) crowning zee as czar in his New Spelling Book, the label an offshoot of the bee-cee-dee pattern.
By then, America was finding its colonial feet. New England wasn't England after all. Breakaway pilgrims delighted in maverick ways of speaking and spelling. Noah Webster led the way, the Connecticut lexicographer usurping -ISE with -IZE in multiple forms, as well as declaring zee the logical pronunciation, as if to ostracize (sic) the motherland. Add The ABC Song, haunting Boston in the early 1800s, and the Yankee zee was enshrined.
Zed meanwhile sizzled in Britain, and her obedient outposts. That's despite Shakespeare's burn in King Lear, where the Earl of Kent reminds Oswald, his uppity servant, how he's nothing short of 'thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter!' Officially, the Oxford Dictionary concedes both pronunciations, with Canada, Australia and NZ ('En-Zed') leaning towards the Anglophilic. Until now, it seems.
Loading
There's been a shift. Have you noticed? Maybe Sesame Street moved the needle, or ZZ Top. Perhaps Dragonball-Z or Video-Ezy played a role. Or Jay-Z and Z-Boy skaters of Santa Monica. Was it World War Z: Brad Pitt versus the zombies? Whichever the culprit, the zee-drift is accelerating in Australia, just as Gen-Z is seizing society's joystick.
Ideal really, since Gen-Z is its own shibboleth, a language test to betray your true colours, if not your age. Since those in the club, be they Gen-Z members or timeline neighbours, will opt for 'Gen-Zee' in pronunciation, as if daring you to correct them.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Prep for success: Fuel your week with these easy make-ahead meals
This one-pot curry is perfect for meal prep. Not only do the flavours improve, but you also get endless serving options for weekly variety – pair it with brown or white rice, scoop it up with roti or naan, or serve it over quinoa. Need a quick, healthy option later? Freeze a few portions. INGREDIENTS 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely diced 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 3cm piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped 1 kg chicken thighs, cut into 4 cm cubes 2 tbsp cornflour 250g (about 2 cups) Kent pumpkin, cut into 3cm cubes 1 large zucchini, cut into 2cm rounds 170g (¾ cup) unsweetened Greek yoghurt juice of 1 lime 60g (2 cups) baby spinach leaves 2 tsp brown sugar CURRY PASTE 3 tbsp tomato paste ⅔ cup chicken stock 2 tsp curry powder 2 tsp garam masala 2 tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp sea salt flakes 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

The Age
a day ago
- The Age
Prep for success: Fuel your week with these easy make-ahead meals
This one-pot curry is perfect for meal prep. Not only do the flavours improve, but you also get endless serving options for weekly variety – pair it with brown or white rice, scoop it up with roti or naan, or serve it over quinoa. Need a quick, healthy option later? Freeze a few portions. INGREDIENTS 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely diced 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 3cm piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped 1 kg chicken thighs, cut into 4 cm cubes 2 tbsp cornflour 250g (about 2 cups) Kent pumpkin, cut into 3cm cubes 1 large zucchini, cut into 2cm rounds 170g (¾ cup) unsweetened Greek yoghurt juice of 1 lime 60g (2 cups) baby spinach leaves 2 tsp brown sugar CURRY PASTE 3 tbsp tomato paste ⅔ cup chicken stock 2 tsp curry powder 2 tsp garam masala 2 tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp sea salt flakes 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper


The Age
4 days ago
- The Age
HK Cafe
This cafe is a finalist for best food in Good Food's Essential Melbourne Cafes and Bakeries of 2025. Essential Melbourne Cafes and Bakeries of 2025: Food See all stories. Cha chaan tengs are Hong Kong's beloved cafes where Cantonese and Western cuisine meet, and this modern example delivers the same trademark comfort food. Slide into a booth and tuck in to rice hidden under gooey scrambled egg flecked with shallots and slices of silky beef, with curried fish balls the perfect snack to order while you wait. Must order: Decadent Hong Kong-style French toast, filled with peanut butter and dripping with condensed milk.