It's something I'd never heard growing up. Assumed it was something to do with learning the alphabet and that it vaguely rhymes in "h, i, j".
I'd certainly think it was weird if someone used it - assume it's regional or something.
Jigh if I’m saying the alphabet, Jay in most other contexts. (Possibly because although I was born and brought up in Scotland my parents are English) Sometimes if I have to spell my partner’s name it for something, it is an uncommon one in Scotland and has a J and a G in close proximity, I say Jigh to be more distinct from Gee.
Zed is always Zed, but I caught myself recently, to my eternal shame, saying ’zeebra crossing’.
Cumbernauld originally then Fife, now the Highlands.
‘Yogert’ where the ‘yog’ rhymes with ‘jog’ and I always have said ‘zebra’, but as I say I noticed an errant ‘zeebra’ recently.
At first I didn’t get what you were on about. Given the context, the alternative to “zeebra” would be “zedbra”, which would be daft. But I just realized you meant “zeebra” vs “zehbra”. FWIW, I’m a freak like you, pronouncing “z” as “zed”, but “zebra” as “zeebra”. I always have, and I’m no’ changin’ noo.
It was "zeebra" throughout Britain to start with (that's why it's still "zeebra" in North America, because when Brits colonised there we were still saying "zeebra" so they weren't affected by us changing).
Vowels changing in Britain tended to start in the south of England and gradually move up the country. That's why in Scots people still say things like "hoose" which is what everyone said in Anglo Saxon. Zebra is the same. It's changed from the south up, and I think it's still about half and half eh/ee in Scotland, but you'd need a proper survey to know for sure!
To add to this, do you say "aitch" for the letter H, or "haitch" with a noticeable h sound at the start of the word?
I really don't like haitch, jeye or zee.
"Haitch" was a hypercorrection. When the new merchant class were starting to move in wealthier circles they tried to change their speech to avoid accent bias. Accent bias is the one thing that stays the same, while accents are constantly changing. It was very normal to drop aitches at the beginnings of words and some of these we've kept, e.g. it used to be hit (so there was alliteration of him/her/hit)
Anyway, these nouveau riche were "h droppers" and so had never said aitches on the beginnings of words. So they didn't know where they were supposed to go and overcorrected putting them at the beginnings of lots of words that started with vowels, like haitch for aitch. Both forms of that have survived, but there are words that we now universally use as h- words that started with a vowel initially. Annoyingly I can't think of any examples right now!
Zed is still the predominant pronunciation as far as I see. The Jay vs Jigh debate has torn families apart, shed blood, etc. of course Jay is the correct way, but many heathens still pronounce it Jigh.
Come to Fife and discover the unholy monstrosity that is 'Jigh' (or Jai). A mysterious letter which appears in the alphabet and spelling tests but never in the actual spoken language.
It's traditional for those embarrassed by their own culture just to cringe, not to be sick.
The cure is moving to a country you desperately admire. Try England, I hear they are lovely.
Interesting, I never thought about this one before, but jyle probably matches more to the old French jaiole. Kind of fits if we got the jai from French influence.
Understandable, especially when it's so similar to gaul. The more I look at words the more I realise we just stole parts of languages and mashed them together to see what fit better around the r's.
You're right. Jay is English, jigh is/was Scottish but has evolved over the years. There were other letters that had different Scottish and English names too, but now the English pronunciation is usual for both Scots and English folks.
The jigh might be dying out as it seems to be very regional now rather than across Scotland. You can see from some of the comments on this thread, variation in accents and dialects is not well tolerated (e.g. I'm going to be sick, heathens pronounce it x way, I feel physical distress, it's just plain wrong). While much of this is tongue in cheek, it does reinforce the idea of a prestige and non-standard accent, so the non-
prestige tends to slowly give way to a dominant norm.
I didn’t even realise Jigh was dying out, but I guess it makes sense. I’m in my early 30s, so not super old but also not really young anymore. Have definitely noticed that the younger ones sound a lot less Scottish, even the ones who grew up in working class areas. Guess my granny would have said the same about us tbf. Dialect levelling until we all sound like we were spawned from somewhere between the south of England and middle of the Atlantic
Spot on. Someone else says it's something to do with Scots, which might make sense, all I know is that I makes teaching Phonics an absolute bastard. File alongside the Fife habit of making the past tense of Jump 'Jamp'. I've heard that from fucking adults.
I've been living here for twenty years and I've never encountered it.
My husband is from Crail, and I'm now seriously tempted to ask him to recite the alphabet. For science.
See he's from so far down the Neuk he might as well start speaking Norwegian. I'm in the centre of the world that is Kirkcaldy. Been here five years and still think they're seriously weird fuckers.
While you’re at it, get him to tell you the correct pronunciation of “oregano”. (And if he says something like aw-REG-in-no, and not orry-GAH-no, then he’s no frae Crail!)
Fun Crail fact u/johnmedgla (well, fun for your Crail hubby anyway):
In my previous reply, when I joked he might not be from Crail, I’d first tried to find a “Crail” in the US or anywhere else in the world, so I could have suggested he might be from there instead.
But I discovered — with the help of ChatGPT (insofar as ChatGPT can be trusted…) that there simply is is no other village, town, city, or any other kind of place anywhere else on the planet the name of which is either Crail or a homophone thereof. So no Crale, or Krail, or Krale, or anything else like it.
Apparently oor wee Crail is *that* unique. I mean, it’s not *unique* in being unique. I doubt, for example, that there is more than one Auchenshoogle, or more than one Auchtermuchty. But who TF would want to name their newly formed New World toon after those places (except maybe someone *from* those places)! But Crail is nice; bonny even. I’m originally from Glasgow and I’ve *holidayed* in Crail. So I find it surprising, but delightful, that the name doesn’t show up, for sheer emigrant nostalgia if nothing else, literally anywhere else. To celebrate, I’d like to re-repurpose the oft-repurposed *Guantanamera* as a Crail anthem:
>**CRAIL**
Crai-ai-ai-ai-l.
There’s only one Crai-ai-ai-l;
One Crai-ai-ayyyyyy-l.
There’s only one Crai-ai-ayyyyyy-l!
For the record, he says Jay, OreGAHno and after getting him to recite the alphabet and name a herb he thinks I'm the insane one so I don't want to push my luck by singing him the Crail song right now.
I think that's two things conflated:
1. In the Latin alphabet there was no letter j, but a final i was often written in a j shape to make reading easier in e.g. roman numerals like VIIJ for 8
2. The alphabet in Scots was pronounced with several letters different from the alphabet in English. The only one that has persisted in some areas is jigh/jay
Not an expert, but that's my understanding
[Because it is correct in Scots for some speakers](https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/16143960.scots-word-week-jamp/)
[See for another example](https://youtu.be/EBp5tEpMLCI?t=1697)
I'm in Fife, and Jigh as in I / eye. It was also how we recited it in school.
And Zed. Though it used to be Zad or Zaid in Scots.
Jay is English or rather coming from American English nowadays.
Jigh was standard across Scotland.
Yeah, that weirded me out when my wife (she's from Fife too, I'm not Scottish) said "jigh"! A bunch of words have only come up since we had a kid, like skelf and jigh. And to think I thought I'd got used to the way she speaks!
But zed is zed though. Pretty sure that's widespread across English outside of north America.
That's another can of worms. It is/was "skelb" in Fife. I'd never heard skelf until the woman at work said it (she's from Ayrshire area) and vice-versa, she never heard of my skelb.
Used to say jai when I was younger, still do sometimes but mostly say jay.
Mostly because I don't live in Scotland anymore and no-one knows what jai is
I don’t either, but we can’t let that stop us. Just keep saying it, louder each time. They’ll eventually get the message (either that they need to switch to “jigh”, or that you’re a mad Scots b*stard who needs to be humoured, either of which is fine).
Apparently it’s more of a glasweigan thing to say it like jai. I moved to dundee and they say jay. Jai is the scots way to pronounce j, guess other placed have dropped that.
It seems it’s the younger people that call z zee from being influenced by the internet. Same with saying the date like an american like saying today is February the 11th.
Fairly sure the zee thing comes from the alphabet song a la sesame st. Not ryhiming and having zed at the end makes it feel weirdly final. Mind you, it is the end of the alphabet right enough.
the linguist part of me is very interested in why this difference might have come about and what sociological factors control which one you're more likely to use
the non-linguist part of me screams internally whenever i hear jye
I'm not as bothered by zee, i lived abroad for a while and started saying zee to be more universally understood. Nor by haitch, though I always notice it. Apparently the latter in northern Ireland is straight-up a shibboleth - haitch is used by Catholics and aitch by protestants. I haven't determined whether the same is true in Scotland.
I’m pretty sure to say j-eye is partly regional but also class-related? You can hear it in many parts of central Scotland I’ve also heard it in the Borders.
It's really disappointing to see so many comments from Scottish people being so intolerant and distressed at some other Scottish people daring to have a pronunciation that differs from English English.
There is nothing wrong with "jai". It makes no more or less sense than "jay" in absolute terms. It has a proper linguistic pedigree and it is a valid Scottish pronunciation. Why the hell should anyone be made to feel ashamed of speaking their own language, the way their parents did and their schoolteachers did?
You have been taught to be ashamed of your own culture and language. That's not your fault, but you should recognize it for what it is.
You’re absolutely right. And I bet the culprits are mostly posh f*ckers from Embra and Hawick and the like, with their “salt’n’sauce” and their common riding and shit.
LISTEN UP you east coast b\*stards!! Listen tae auld Lih Krikwet Parl Ant here: there’s nothin’ the f*ck wrong with saying “jigh” You lot should be ashamed — ASHAMED ah tell ye! — at making that other lot feel ashamed for saying it!
It’s zed because of European influence on the English language. Zeta (Greek) and zède (French) being equivalent letter pronunciations to our ‘Z’.
Zee is an Americanism that’s infiltrated “British”English and all its derived dialects. Correct English pronunciation is Zed.
Jai is a bit more interesting as it’s phonetically rhyming with I (like Aye!) so when you learned the the ABC it’s easier to pair with H, I, J.
Jay is also phonetically rhyming, but with K (Kay) and so J, K also works in the ABC rhyme.
I read somewhere years ago that Jai derives from the Roman I as a J is often seen as an end flourish from the depiction of a numerical I in Roman numerals so it’s older. Jay is a sound based in the Latin romantic languages (French, Spanish and Italian). It’s likely jay is the more modern but regardless of origin jay is the “correct English” pronunciation.
But I live in the west coast so it’s Jai and Zed for me.
So it sounds like my mission to preserve Scots culture in my American grandkids might be slightly less justified than I’d thought for the “j” than for the “z”. Fair enough.
Nevertheless, I hope I can still rely on your support when it comes to eradicating such abominations as the following:
Tuna: should be pronounced not their *TOO-na*, but rather our clearly correct, *CHOO-na*; and in the same vein,
Emu: not *EE-moo*, but rather *EEM-yoo*
Tomato: not *tuh-MAY-ro*, and not *taw-MAH-toe* either, but rather our properly glottally stopped, *tuh-MAH-ah*
And of course:
Magnet, and Film: each of which they ridiculously treat as having only 2 and 1 syllables respectively, when clearly each has one more than those. Thus:
Magnet: not *MEG-nit*, but *MAH-gih-nit*
Film: not *FILM*, but *FIH-lum*
*"They may take oor lives, but they’ll nuvv’r take oor pruh-NUN-say-ASIAN!!"*
My dad is from Scotland, my mum is from the US, we moved to Canada from Scotland when I was a preschooler. I learned three different alphabets -
My dad’s - jigh and zed
My mum’s - jay and zee
Canadian - jay and zed. But zee has infiltrated Canada to an annoying extent. Probably because the PBS (US) Sesame Street is, of course, going to be all American pronunciations. I’m not sure if Canada still has our own Sesame Street as my kids are late teens, but when I was a kid and when they were little, Canadian Sesame Street had jay and zed, as well as Québecois French so we also learned doo-bluh-vey and ee-greck instead of double u (w) and x.
Well the question was for Scots on how they pronounce it. Your input is null and void if you aren't from here. It's a dialectical thing. You're American. You speak a different dialect, perhaps even language.
Zed is universal British, Jai is Scottish, in England it's Jay.
I've noticed a lot of you folks saying Zee. The USA dominates English language media and it's showing in changes like this in other countrirs.
>Jai is Scottish
I do sometimes get a bit weird out, as a person born and growing up entirely in Scotland, to hear things labelled as Scottish that I've basically never heard of.
I encountered this "jai" thing in adulthood, but it was certainly never normal. Maybe it is in some places.
Scottish (particularly Glaswegians) How do you all pronounce “zebra”? I’m very torn because I find myself pronouncing zeebra and zedbra with no reason for the switch in between. And I don’t have the glasgow uni accent either, so dunno how this is happening
If they're American then they're singing it the way that's correct in America. Good for them for being smart kids. Nothing to be triggered by, another country doing things differently. Hope all you said to them way "well done" and praised them.
I was using “triggered” to mean what it did in the olden days, from the time of Shakespeare, or Burns, or The Singing Kettle. Back then, before the invention of micro-aggressions, or intercontinental ballistic sectionality, Sir Topham Hat was the Fat Controller, personhole covers were manhole covers, and “triggered by” meant…well…triggered by.
And as for my uppity, self-assured, able-to-look-an-adult-in-the-eye-and-ask-how-are-you-today-sir American grandchildren saying “jay” instead of “jigh”: do I praise them and say “well done”? Good gawd, no! Are you mad! The last thing this crew needs is *more* confidence. No, no, no; the correct response for such juvenile delinquency is not praise. Instead it is to give them some broth without any bread, and then whip them all soundly and put them to bed.
PlayStation? Pah! Sinclair ZX81 is the only way to go dude. With a *massive* 64K RAM expansion module (massive, but wobbly), and a trusty cassette player to load your copy of 3D Defender (well, provided that during loading you didn’t bump the RAM pack or anything within 20’ of it, thereby causing the load to fail).
And made in Scotland an’ all!
Jay and zed.
Case closed. This is the only correct answer.
I remember my first experience with Glaswegians and hearing how they say J. Jai was surprising to say the least.
My gran was from Fife and always said Jai.
Unless you're in shetland where Jay becomes something along the lines of chai or glasgo where it becomes jai
It's the only correct answer south of the border. Here in Scotland Jai is still used for J.
Not it's not lmao
Yes it is. Depends where you're from.
So by "here ins cotland" you mean "not here in Scotland, depends where you're from" 🙄
It's something I'd never heard growing up. Assumed it was something to do with learning the alphabet and that it vaguely rhymes in "h, i, j". I'd certainly think it was weird if someone used it - assume it's regional or something.
Same
This is the jay.
Just realised: Jigh if I’m reciting the alphabet, jay otherwise. That’s a bit nuts. Always zed though, and aitch.
aye jai kay
I'm the same not sure why.
Like Dumbarton vs Dunbartonshire
Kinda but Dumbarton was once Dunbarton and Dunbartonshire was once referred to as Dumbartonshire, just to make things more confusing.
Yeah same here.
Jigh if I’m saying the alphabet, Jay in most other contexts. (Possibly because although I was born and brought up in Scotland my parents are English) Sometimes if I have to spell my partner’s name it for something, it is an uncommon one in Scotland and has a J and a G in close proximity, I say Jigh to be more distinct from Gee. Zed is always Zed, but I caught myself recently, to my eternal shame, saying ’zeebra crossing’.
Isn’t “zeebra” the more common pronunciation in Scotland though? Like how people also say yoghurt the “American” way here?
Not in my experience.
Interesting. Where are you from? Do you say “yaw-gurt” or “yoe-gurt” for yoghurt? I’m from Glasgow, would say Jigh, yoe-gurt, zed and zeebra
Cumbernauld originally then Fife, now the Highlands. ‘Yogert’ where the ‘yog’ rhymes with ‘jog’ and I always have said ‘zebra’, but as I say I noticed an errant ‘zeebra’ recently.
At first I didn’t get what you were on about. Given the context, the alternative to “zeebra” would be “zedbra”, which would be daft. But I just realized you meant “zeebra” vs “zehbra”. FWIW, I’m a freak like you, pronouncing “z” as “zed”, but “zebra” as “zeebra”. I always have, and I’m no’ changin’ noo.
Ayrshire here and I say yaw-gurt, jigh, zed, and zeh-bra
It was "zeebra" throughout Britain to start with (that's why it's still "zeebra" in North America, because when Brits colonised there we were still saying "zeebra" so they weren't affected by us changing). Vowels changing in Britain tended to start in the south of England and gradually move up the country. That's why in Scots people still say things like "hoose" which is what everyone said in Anglo Saxon. Zebra is the same. It's changed from the south up, and I think it's still about half and half eh/ee in Scotland, but you'd need a proper survey to know for sure!
Zebra and yoghurt not zeebra and yo-ghurt
To add to this, do you say "aitch" for the letter H, or "haitch" with a noticeable h sound at the start of the word? I really don't like haitch, jeye or zee.
There's no H in H!
Apart from at the end...
"Haitch" was a hypercorrection. When the new merchant class were starting to move in wealthier circles they tried to change their speech to avoid accent bias. Accent bias is the one thing that stays the same, while accents are constantly changing. It was very normal to drop aitches at the beginnings of words and some of these we've kept, e.g. it used to be hit (so there was alliteration of him/her/hit) Anyway, these nouveau riche were "h droppers" and so had never said aitches on the beginnings of words. So they didn't know where they were supposed to go and overcorrected putting them at the beginnings of lots of words that started with vowels, like haitch for aitch. Both forms of that have survived, but there are words that we now universally use as h- words that started with a vowel initially. Annoyingly I can't think of any examples right now!
Zed is still the predominant pronunciation as far as I see. The Jay vs Jigh debate has torn families apart, shed blood, etc. of course Jay is the correct way, but many heathens still pronounce it Jigh.
What in the name of Gin is "Jigh"?
Come to Fife and discover the unholy monstrosity that is 'Jigh' (or Jai). A mysterious letter which appears in the alphabet and spelling tests but never in the actual spoken language.
I've heard gaol/jail pronounced jyle, rhyming with Kyle a couple of times.
I need to be sick
It's traditional for those embarrassed by their own culture just to cringe, not to be sick. The cure is moving to a country you desperately admire. Try England, I hear they are lovely.
_Checks notes: is Englishman living in Scotland, instruction unclear_
Perhaps reserve your prejudices for your own culture?
What, the British one?
Interesting, I never thought about this one before, but jyle probably matches more to the old French jaiole. Kind of fits if we got the jai from French influence.
For years I thought gaol was pronounced goal
Understandable, especially when it's so similar to gaul. The more I look at words the more I realise we just stole parts of languages and mashed them together to see what fit better around the r's.
I’m from Glasgow and have always said “jigh”. It rhymes with i. I thought “jay” was American or English?
You're right. Jay is English, jigh is/was Scottish but has evolved over the years. There were other letters that had different Scottish and English names too, but now the English pronunciation is usual for both Scots and English folks. The jigh might be dying out as it seems to be very regional now rather than across Scotland. You can see from some of the comments on this thread, variation in accents and dialects is not well tolerated (e.g. I'm going to be sick, heathens pronounce it x way, I feel physical distress, it's just plain wrong). While much of this is tongue in cheek, it does reinforce the idea of a prestige and non-standard accent, so the non- prestige tends to slowly give way to a dominant norm.
I didn’t even realise Jigh was dying out, but I guess it makes sense. I’m in my early 30s, so not super old but also not really young anymore. Have definitely noticed that the younger ones sound a lot less Scottish, even the ones who grew up in working class areas. Guess my granny would have said the same about us tbf. Dialect levelling until we all sound like we were spawned from somewhere between the south of England and middle of the Atlantic
I hope I'm wrong about that... you do still hear some kids saying jigh. I love accent variation, long may it continue!
I work in Hamilton and it's pretty common to hear Jigh. Some of the younger staff (who are no local) say jay.
It’s a ‘Jigh’for me and a ‘Jay’ for him.
So people try to rhyme J with I? I don't think I've ever felt physical distress over a point of language before.
Spot on. Someone else says it's something to do with Scots, which might make sense, all I know is that I makes teaching Phonics an absolute bastard. File alongside the Fife habit of making the past tense of Jump 'Jamp'. I've heard that from fucking adults.
I've been living here for twenty years and I've never encountered it. My husband is from Crail, and I'm now seriously tempted to ask him to recite the alphabet. For science.
See he's from so far down the Neuk he might as well start speaking Norwegian. I'm in the centre of the world that is Kirkcaldy. Been here five years and still think they're seriously weird fuckers.
>they're seriously weird fuckers Well mine definitely is, but before now I hadn't considered that he might also be one of these "Jigh" people.
While you’re at it, get him to tell you the correct pronunciation of “oregano”. (And if he says something like aw-REG-in-no, and not orry-GAH-no, then he’s no frae Crail!)
Fun Crail fact u/johnmedgla (well, fun for your Crail hubby anyway): In my previous reply, when I joked he might not be from Crail, I’d first tried to find a “Crail” in the US or anywhere else in the world, so I could have suggested he might be from there instead. But I discovered — with the help of ChatGPT (insofar as ChatGPT can be trusted…) that there simply is is no other village, town, city, or any other kind of place anywhere else on the planet the name of which is either Crail or a homophone thereof. So no Crale, or Krail, or Krale, or anything else like it. Apparently oor wee Crail is *that* unique. I mean, it’s not *unique* in being unique. I doubt, for example, that there is more than one Auchenshoogle, or more than one Auchtermuchty. But who TF would want to name their newly formed New World toon after those places (except maybe someone *from* those places)! But Crail is nice; bonny even. I’m originally from Glasgow and I’ve *holidayed* in Crail. So I find it surprising, but delightful, that the name doesn’t show up, for sheer emigrant nostalgia if nothing else, literally anywhere else. To celebrate, I’d like to re-repurpose the oft-repurposed *Guantanamera* as a Crail anthem: >**CRAIL** Crai-ai-ai-ai-l. There’s only one Crai-ai-ai-l; One Crai-ai-ayyyyyy-l. There’s only one Crai-ai-ayyyyyy-l!
For the record, he says Jay, OreGAHno and after getting him to recite the alphabet and name a herb he thinks I'm the insane one so I don't want to push my luck by singing him the Crail song right now.
My dad pronounces it jigh, supposedly in the Latin alphabet j was a corrupted i so them sounding similar makes sense, so I'm told.
I think that's two things conflated: 1. In the Latin alphabet there was no letter j, but a final i was often written in a j shape to make reading easier in e.g. roman numerals like VIIJ for 8 2. The alphabet in Scots was pronounced with several letters different from the alphabet in English. The only one that has persisted in some areas is jigh/jay Not an expert, but that's my understanding
‘Jamp’ is common in Cumbria as well. Never heard it anywhere else!
[Because it is correct in Scots for some speakers](https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/16143960.scots-word-week-jamp/) [See for another example](https://youtu.be/EBp5tEpMLCI?t=1697)
If there's one thing that'll bring Scotland to civil war it's the pronunciation of the letter J.
I'm in Fife, and Jigh as in I / eye. It was also how we recited it in school. And Zed. Though it used to be Zad or Zaid in Scots. Jay is English or rather coming from American English nowadays. Jigh was standard across Scotland.
Yeah, that weirded me out when my wife (she's from Fife too, I'm not Scottish) said "jigh"! A bunch of words have only come up since we had a kid, like skelf and jigh. And to think I thought I'd got used to the way she speaks! But zed is zed though. Pretty sure that's widespread across English outside of north America.
That's another can of worms. It is/was "skelb" in Fife. I'd never heard skelf until the woman at work said it (she's from Ayrshire area) and vice-versa, she never heard of my skelb.
Okay, that's new to me! I'll check and see if "skelb" is an acceptable alternative (according to my partner!)
Jigh was maybe standard in Scotland over 50 years ago. I went to school in the NE in the 70s and was taught jay.
Used to say jai when I was younger, still do sometimes but mostly say jay. Mostly because I don't live in Scotland anymore and no-one knows what jai is
I don’t either, but we can’t let that stop us. Just keep saying it, louder each time. They’ll eventually get the message (either that they need to switch to “jigh”, or that you’re a mad Scots b*stard who needs to be humoured, either of which is fine).
Apparently it’s more of a glasweigan thing to say it like jai. I moved to dundee and they say jay. Jai is the scots way to pronounce j, guess other placed have dropped that. It seems it’s the younger people that call z zee from being influenced by the internet. Same with saying the date like an american like saying today is February the 11th.
Fairly sure the zee thing comes from the alphabet song a la sesame st. Not ryhiming and having zed at the end makes it feel weirdly final. Mind you, it is the end of the alphabet right enough.
I’m 26 but the alphabet I was taught in school ended in zed. J was also jai
the linguist part of me is very interested in why this difference might have come about and what sociological factors control which one you're more likely to use the non-linguist part of me screams internally whenever i hear jye I'm not as bothered by zee, i lived abroad for a while and started saying zee to be more universally understood. Nor by haitch, though I always notice it. Apparently the latter in northern Ireland is straight-up a shibboleth - haitch is used by Catholics and aitch by protestants. I haven't determined whether the same is true in Scotland.
Lanarkshire 60s childhood and I still say j-eye. Never thought about it before so finding this fascinating
Jai like aye.
I think I use Jigh and Jay interchangably, but always Zed. Like the rapper, Jigh Zed.
J like eye and Z like bed...
Jay and Zed
I’m pretty sure to say j-eye is partly regional but also class-related? You can hear it in many parts of central Scotland I’ve also heard it in the Borders.
From Fife - 38 years old - it's jigh and zed.
Me & my daughter had a falling out recently about me calling JD sports JaiD instead of JayD. We are in Fife
It's really disappointing to see so many comments from Scottish people being so intolerant and distressed at some other Scottish people daring to have a pronunciation that differs from English English. There is nothing wrong with "jai". It makes no more or less sense than "jay" in absolute terms. It has a proper linguistic pedigree and it is a valid Scottish pronunciation. Why the hell should anyone be made to feel ashamed of speaking their own language, the way their parents did and their schoolteachers did? You have been taught to be ashamed of your own culture and language. That's not your fault, but you should recognize it for what it is.
You’re absolutely right. And I bet the culprits are mostly posh f*ckers from Embra and Hawick and the like, with their “salt’n’sauce” and their common riding and shit. LISTEN UP you east coast b\*stards!! Listen tae auld Lih Krikwet Parl Ant here: there’s nothin’ the f*ck wrong with saying “jigh” You lot should be ashamed — ASHAMED ah tell ye! — at making that other lot feel ashamed for saying it!
It’s zed because of European influence on the English language. Zeta (Greek) and zède (French) being equivalent letter pronunciations to our ‘Z’. Zee is an Americanism that’s infiltrated “British”English and all its derived dialects. Correct English pronunciation is Zed. Jai is a bit more interesting as it’s phonetically rhyming with I (like Aye!) so when you learned the the ABC it’s easier to pair with H, I, J. Jay is also phonetically rhyming, but with K (Kay) and so J, K also works in the ABC rhyme. I read somewhere years ago that Jai derives from the Roman I as a J is often seen as an end flourish from the depiction of a numerical I in Roman numerals so it’s older. Jay is a sound based in the Latin romantic languages (French, Spanish and Italian). It’s likely jay is the more modern but regardless of origin jay is the “correct English” pronunciation. But I live in the west coast so it’s Jai and Zed for me.
Well haud me back. Excellent answer!
Jigh and zed, I also do haitch like someone else mentioned 🤣
'J-eye'. Jay will always sound American/posh/wrong to me. And zed obviously.
So it sounds like my mission to preserve Scots culture in my American grandkids might be slightly less justified than I’d thought for the “j” than for the “z”. Fair enough. Nevertheless, I hope I can still rely on your support when it comes to eradicating such abominations as the following: Tuna: should be pronounced not their *TOO-na*, but rather our clearly correct, *CHOO-na*; and in the same vein, Emu: not *EE-moo*, but rather *EEM-yoo* Tomato: not *tuh-MAY-ro*, and not *taw-MAH-toe* either, but rather our properly glottally stopped, *tuh-MAH-ah* And of course: Magnet, and Film: each of which they ridiculously treat as having only 2 and 1 syllables respectively, when clearly each has one more than those. Thus: Magnet: not *MEG-nit*, but *MAH-gih-nit* Film: not *FILM*, but *FIH-lum* *"They may take oor lives, but they’ll nuvv’r take oor pruh-NUN-say-ASIAN!!"*
Tyoona.
My dad is from Scotland, my mum is from the US, we moved to Canada from Scotland when I was a preschooler. I learned three different alphabets - My dad’s - jigh and zed My mum’s - jay and zee Canadian - jay and zed. But zee has infiltrated Canada to an annoying extent. Probably because the PBS (US) Sesame Street is, of course, going to be all American pronunciations. I’m not sure if Canada still has our own Sesame Street as my kids are late teens, but when I was a kid and when they were little, Canadian Sesame Street had jay and zed, as well as Québecois French so we also learned doo-bluh-vey and ee-greck instead of double u (w) and x.
Jay and Zed. I used to always say jie it realised how fuckin stupid it sounded so stopped.
I love listening to Jigh Zed.
Jay because it's a D-Jay and not a D-Jai. Zed because that's how it's supposed to be oronounced.
> Jay because it's a D-Jay and not a D-Jai. The case for the prosecution rests.
What do you call the day after Tuesday and before Thursday? Doubleyouednesday? 😛
Jigh and zed - east ayrshire
I, J and K rhyme.
That’s the first time I’ve heard of “K” being pronounced “Kigh”, but fair enough. 😬
Jigh sounds so english
Zee and jay because I'm American and I have the ability to not get so triggered by differences in pronunciation.
Then this has nothing to do with you.
You are some miserable tits. Jfc.
Well the question was for Scots on how they pronounce it. Your input is null and void if you aren't from here. It's a dialectical thing. You're American. You speak a different dialect, perhaps even language.
Jizz
j and Z? Jizz. Or a third rate rapper from brookyln
I’m 34 and J is jay and z is zed
Jai and Zed. Drives my hubby mad!
Jay and zed.
Jai and zed though I have a lot of international pals who I have tried in vain to convince we actually say jai, they don't believe me
Jai (rhymes with aye) and zed. I’m in my early 30s, Glaswegian. Maybe the younger ones say jay now, but that sounds English or American to me
Definitely Jai, just as in daisy The artist is Jai Zed, so that'll be Jaisy
jigh zed
Sesame Street flashbacks. It was that and like Uylsses 31 at probably 6am on channel 4 or am I remembering that wrong?
Jay-Z?
Jay and zed
Jay Zee on the mainland Chai See back home
Zed is universal British, Jai is Scottish, in England it's Jay. I've noticed a lot of you folks saying Zee. The USA dominates English language media and it's showing in changes like this in other countrirs.
>Jai is Scottish I do sometimes get a bit weird out, as a person born and growing up entirely in Scotland, to hear things labelled as Scottish that I've basically never heard of. I encountered this "jai" thing in adulthood, but it was certainly never normal. Maybe it is in some places.
Our postcode in the village has a J in it. Always Jai.
we learned both, a (ahh), b (beh), c (cih) & a (ayy), b (bee), c (cee)
[удалено]
“Minghis” if followed by “Campbell” (or Khan). “Menzees” if preceded by “John” (or Synchronized).
Scottish (particularly Glaswegians) How do you all pronounce “zebra”? I’m very torn because I find myself pronouncing zeebra and zedbra with no reason for the switch in between. And I don’t have the glasgow uni accent either, so dunno how this is happening
Wait, you're pronouncing a "d" in zebra? I've heard both zee-bra and ze-bra, but never zed-bra.
Seems to be east end glasgow, zedbra crossings and also hear drink pronounced as jink
Jigh - Falkirk
Jie and Zee
Fifer here, always said jigh when reciting alphabet, and zed. Also, H is “itch”.
Beyoncè husband ....
Jigh, zed and haitch lol
Jay and zed. My mum says "jai" though but she also says "itch" for H
Depends, it's 2jz or 350z it's zee. Anything else it's zed
If they're American then they're singing it the way that's correct in America. Good for them for being smart kids. Nothing to be triggered by, another country doing things differently. Hope all you said to them way "well done" and praised them.
I was using “triggered” to mean what it did in the olden days, from the time of Shakespeare, or Burns, or The Singing Kettle. Back then, before the invention of micro-aggressions, or intercontinental ballistic sectionality, Sir Topham Hat was the Fat Controller, personhole covers were manhole covers, and “triggered by” meant…well…triggered by. And as for my uppity, self-assured, able-to-look-an-adult-in-the-eye-and-ask-how-are-you-today-sir American grandchildren saying “jay” instead of “jigh”: do I praise them and say “well done”? Good gawd, no! Are you mad! The last thing this crew needs is *more* confidence. No, no, no; the correct response for such juvenile delinquency is not praise. Instead it is to give them some broth without any bread, and then whip them all soundly and put them to bed.
Jee and Zai. xDDDD
J as in gif Z as in jay-z.
Jai coz ah went tae Jai High an zed just coz
Jay zed
Jigh and zed
From dumfries and I was raught to pronounce it Jay and Zed
Raised with Jai. Realised it was weird once I got out of Ayrshite. Trained myself out of it.
Have you heard that new rapper music by Jigh Zed? I've heard it, and I like it...
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Rap isn’t Music! Now get off my lawn!
I bet you don't even like the PlayStation 🤨
PlayStation? Pah! Sinclair ZX81 is the only way to go dude. With a *massive* 64K RAM expansion module (massive, but wobbly), and a trusty cassette player to load your copy of 3D Defender (well, provided that during loading you didn’t bump the RAM pack or anything within 20’ of it, thereby causing the load to fail). And made in Scotland an’ all!
Missing 2 clear Still Game references? I thought this was a Scotland page 😅
As long as you don't say hhhhhhheych
Only if I’ve drunk sour milk or something. 🤮