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#atozchallenge: Z is for…Zed and Zedland

Simply Romance Posted on by

In April, I’m posting 26 blogs, one for every letter of the alphabet. I write historical romance set in Regency England, and I’m offering a brief lexicon of words to help you understand the story world of my Regency characters. Follow the links for more in depth information.

Dear Readers, I found “Z” almost as difficult as “X”!

Z is for Zed:

“Zed” is the pronunciation our Regency characters would use for this last letter of the alphabet, as opposed to the American, “Zee”. “Zed” is still in use, so it’s not truly a Regency term.

It is, however, a good reminder to upstart Americans writing historical romances set in Regency England that American English is not always the same as British English. In one of the online groups I belong to, members recently held a spirited discussion about the use of the word “gotten”. One British participant said that when she comes across the word “gotten“ in a Regency, she immediately tosses the book because she knows it was written by an American. How sad for the Yankee author who has gotten–er–got a good story into that kind of trouble!

Just for fun, do you want to see “How Good is Your British English?” The Oxford Dictionaries site has a test for you!

And Z is for Zedland:

The Regency Assembly Press has a wonderful collection of Regency terms and slang, but not much for the letter Z. Here’s a fun term, though:

Zedland–Great part of the west country, where the letter Z is substituted for S; as zee for See, zun for sun.

I’ve never seen “Zedland” used in a Regency novel. Does anyone have a Regency reference for this? Is the term still in use in England? I checked out some YouTube clips of British dialects, but I didn’t find any with a pronounced “Z” for “S” usage.

This closes out the A to Z Challenge month. I’ve had so much fun checking in on other A to Z-ers and putting together these posts! A big thanks to everyone who visited and especially to those who commented! I’ll be back to my regular weekly posts on Tuesday.

Images: badge, a-to-zchallenge.com; all others, Wikimedia

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Comments

#atozchallenge: Z is for…Zed and Zedland — 4 Comments

  1. You can say that again and I agree wholeheartedly, American English is not British English. When I first moved to Europe, I had to more than acquaint myself with British English because I was teaching English in the business world. Naturally the companies here in Germany wanted native British English teachers.

    I learned because I had to and today I am glad I did.

    Wishing you all the best.

    Visiting from the A to Z Blog Challenge.

    Shalom,
    Patricia @ EverythingMustChange

    • Learning a different kind of English in order to teach Germans! That must have been challenging. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

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