The Beach-Riverdale Mirror

That is zed as it applies to the last letter in the alphabet or at least it used to, but now Canadians in increasing numbers are pronouncing it zee just like our neighbours who reside south of the border.

The thing about zed is that when pronounced in that manner, it conveys the definite impression that you have arrived at the end of something.

When it is pronounced zee, which seems to be the style preferred by fancy-schmancy small ell liberals who think they are better than the rest of us. it leaves the impression that there must surely be more to the alphabet than that.

Zed is a pronunciation that befits all those right-thinking Canadians who made this country what it is today, whereas zee is a flopping kind of sound that wriggles around the end of one's tongue in a most unconvincing manner.

In my defence of my position I present the following scenario.

The tags on our luggage when we arrive at Pearson airport read YYZ and when properly pronounced, it tells you beyond question you have arrived at your destination but YYZee has an uncertain air to it that leaves travelers nervously looking around for connecting flights.

I know I am not alone in my concerns and I believe we Zedheads should band together and tell the authorities to put a stop to this repellent practice.

It should be simple to do this because remember this is Canada and an authority is never far away. There is only one proper way to pronounce Zed in this country and you just read it assuming of course that you are still perusing this column.

Creeping EE-ism, that is what I call this latest attack on our Canadian way of life and it is time we started fighting back. By sheer coincidence a communique signed by someone who uses the nom de plume Concerned Reader crossed my desk, today, alerting me to an ad by a communications company seeking business and it reads as follow. From A to Z, the calls are free.

My response to that is pronounce it zed or my phone goes dead.

To sum up, I believe Creeping EE-ism has no place in the vocabulary of Canadians and I solicit your support in my campaign