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Zee is spelled Zed Eee Eee

Sunday, September 13, 2009 by Dave Winer.

My FriendFeed friend Zee is in town for a conference, and he's worried about how Americans will take to his name. At first I was puzzled. What's so hard about the name Zee, I wondered. I had only seen it spelled out -- Zee -- cause we've never talked verbally only digitally. 

He explained: "I got a blank stare when I first said it in Starbucks. The barista asked, how do you spell that? I said 'Zed', 'E', 'E'. Received a blank stare. Then I said 'Zee', 'E', 'E', which then got him a little more confused." 

Ahhh I get it now. His name is the same as the first letter in his name when you say it in American English. In British English there's no such confusion.  

After a bit of back and forth I came up with a suggestion. 

Make up some long incomprehensible name that begins with Z (how about Zarathustra). When you get the puzzled look, say "My friends call me Zee." They'll like that for two reasons: 1. They don't have to remember the name and 2. You said you want to be a friend. Americans generally like this.  

Just a slice of life on the Internets.