Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

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Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by floofychan333 » Sat Feb 11, 2017 4:37 pm

I know, I'm Canadian so I say Zed instead of Zee. However, most people, even in Canada, call it "Dragon Ball Zee," and I think it was even called that in the Ocean dub. Technically, "Zed" is more accurate to the original pronunciation of "Zetto". So does anybody else pronounce it like I do?
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by precita » Sat Feb 11, 2017 4:44 pm

Yes, yes you are.

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by TheGreatness25 » Sat Feb 11, 2017 4:55 pm

It appears that every English-speaking country outside of the United States says "Zed" for the letter "Z." So, surely there must be someone else. Since "Dragon Ball Z" is the title of the series, and nobody actually uses the term in the series, I guess you can say it however you'd like. Now if pronunciation affected anything in-story, it would probably matter more. The only thing that is actually pronounced in the series is the term "Z Warrior." So don't worry, pronounce it however you'd like.

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Ajay » Sat Feb 11, 2017 4:56 pm

People say 'Zed' instead of 'Zee' here, but never in my life have I heard anyone pronounce the Z in Dragon Ball Z as anything other than 'Zee'.
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by ChronoTwigger » Sat Feb 11, 2017 5:43 pm

As italian, i pronounce it "ZETA", like in "tZEH TAH". (Zeta is the letter, but is pronounced ZZZ, that's impossible).
It's fun. Try it.
DRAH GON BOWHLL tZEH TAH.
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by floofychan333 » Sat Feb 11, 2017 8:34 pm

Ajay wrote:People say 'Zed' instead of 'Zee' here, but never in my life have I heard anyone pronounce the Z in Dragon Ball Z as anything other than 'Zee'.
Really? This surprises me because Britain is the birthplace of the Queen's English, which says "Zed." I guess it's because you guys got the FUNimation dub that says "Zee" and some of the Big Green dub?
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Ajay » Sat Feb 11, 2017 8:38 pm

floofychan333 wrote:I guess it's because you guys got the FUNimation dub that says "Zee" and some of the Big Green dub?
We had almost exactly what you Canadians had. Ocean, then Funi for a bit, then Westwood. Considering the Westwood opening literally went, "DRAGON, DRAGON BALL... DRAGON BALL ZEEEE", that pronunciation is deep in our skulls. Well, that and the narrator also saying 'Zee'.
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by floofychan333 » Sat Feb 11, 2017 8:42 pm

Ajay wrote:
floofychan333 wrote:I guess it's because you guys got the FUNimation dub that says "Zee" and some of the Big Green dub?
We had almost exactly what you Canadians had. Ocean, then Funi for a bit, then Westwood. Considering the Westwood opening literally went, "DRAGON, DRAGON BALL... DRAGON BALL ZEEEE", that pronunciation is deep in our skulls. Well, that and the narrator also saying 'Zee'.
I saw "Dragon Ball Z" written on the spine of a manga volume I saw in the library before I heard it said, so I've always assumed it's "Zed."
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Robo4900 » Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:18 pm

I've always said "Zed." Even though I grew up with the theme song saying "ZEEEE", my peers were very much in the camp of "That's just the way those silly 'muricans say it." So that attitude has stuck with me.
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by LordCrumb » Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:22 pm

It's pronounced Zee, so anyone who says 'Zed' is just wrong. Regardless of your own countries pronunciation.

We say 'Mum' here, but when Bad Moms came out, it was called Bad Moms, and people said Mom.

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Bardock the Mexican » Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:28 pm

ChronoTwigger wrote:As italian, i pronounce it "ZETA", like in "tZEH TAH". (Zeta is the letter, but is pronounced ZZZ, that's impossible).
It's fun. Try it.
DRAH GON BOWHLL tZEH TAH.
Same with both Spanish versions. This even though in Mexico there is a powerful cartel called the Zetas. I guess that didn't bother the translators, because they used it anyway.

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Soppa Saia People » Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:35 pm

LordCrumb wrote:It's pronounced Zee, so anyone who says 'Zed' is just wrong. Regardless of your own countries pronunciation.

We say 'Mum' here, but when Bad Moms came out, it was called Bad Moms, and people said Mom.
Isn't it "Zetta" in Japan ?
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Nejishiki » Sun Feb 12, 2017 1:12 am

It's a separate suffix sound but you're more or less correct.

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by dario03 » Sun Feb 12, 2017 1:26 am

Soppa Saia People wrote:
LordCrumb wrote:It's pronounced Zee, so anyone who says 'Zed' is just wrong. Regardless of your own countries pronunciation.

We say 'Mum' here, but when Bad Moms came out, it was called Bad Moms, and people said Mom.
Isn't it "Zetta" in Japan ?
I've always seen "Doragon Bōru Zetto" in the lyrics of We Gotta Power!... Including on this website (wait, theres a website too?)

Though when watching the opening it always sounded more like "Doragon Bōru ZeeiiAAAAAAAaa!!!!" to me. Zetto in other places.

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Cetra » Sun Feb 12, 2017 4:04 am

The katakana below the name say "Zetto", in Germany we pronounce it as "Dragon Ball Zed", I used to pronounce it as Zed. These days I am used to say "Zee" but I will always be aware of the katakana saying what they say.
It's pronounced Zee, so anyone who says 'Zed' is just wrong. Regardless of your own countries pronunciation.
Err, no. If anything, when it comes to contextualizing and therefore decoding the message reflecting the original intention, Zet/Zed is the most accurate one as it is exactly what stands under the regular name while "Zee" would then come next together with all the other "possible meanings that are legitimate but not as accurate as the former one and then the "legitimate but context-wise wrong ones"". That is how decoding messages in communication works if you do not want something to result in a disturbance of communication.
Last edited by Cetra on Sun Feb 12, 2017 5:26 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by dbgtFO » Sun Feb 12, 2017 4:24 am

Cetra wrote:
It's pronounced Zee, so anyone who says 'Zed' is just wrong. Regardless of your own countries pronunciation.
Err, no.
Says a lot about the community, that so far no one has tried to belittle that person, as he so nonchalantly does to everyone who doesn't share his opinion.
And I'm from Denmark and have always pronounced it as Zed, cause that's how we pronounce Z.

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Kid Buu » Sun Feb 12, 2017 4:30 am

I'm British and even I say Zee when talking about the shows title. American TV/Movies are popular in the UK so I never found American English too foreign.

Interesting that Canada uses Zed too. Makes me wonder how other countries where English is the official language such as India and Australia use Zee or Zed.
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by Jinzoningen MULE » Sun Feb 12, 2017 4:56 am

Kid Buu wrote:I'm British and even I say Zee when talking about the shows title. American TV/Movies are popular in the UK so I never found American English too foreign.

Interesting that Canada uses Zed too. Makes me wonder how other countries where English is the official language such as India and Australia use Zee or Zed.
Zee is an American-only pronunciation, as far as I know. Australia definitely uses Zed, and I imagine India does to, since their English descends directly from the motherland.
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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by JimmyRustam » Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:39 am

No, you aren't. We also say "Zed" here in Germany. Though i don't know why...

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Re: Am I the only person who says "Dragon Ball Zed?"

Post by SHINOBI-03 » Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:52 am

I use Zed as well. Especially with another franchise that had the letter before DBZ (Mazinger Z).
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