I think all over the world, the last letter of the English alphabet is ‘ZED’. But United States has to be different. They call it ZEE. When I came here, I would be asked to spell my name and I would start off “zed a k I a and h.”
The other night I was in bed and thinking thoughts, which are usually nonsensical, and I jotted this down.
For Twenty plus years, there was a zed.
I held it close to my heart. No one questioned it.
It was the identity of my name—-until I came here!
I came to this land, my dear zed became my zee!
Hope you can see the image which I got from google.
About Zakiah
I write poetry and some fiction, have a book that was published in 2012. . . Stray Thoughts/Winged Words. I have four grandchildren, ages 16 and half to almost 16 months. I love the ocean, and grew up along the Indian Ocean in South India. I am a retired physician. Don't know much else to say. Thanks for reading.
That has been my profile for so many years. My daughter Saadia a great poet and story teller, has two sons; the oldest grandson is now 21 years old, doing architectural engineering at Missouri S&T in Rolla MO. His younger brother is almost 16 and taking driving lessons seriously and is in High School. The other two grandsons, children of my son Sayeed, are 9 and 5.
I have recently published another book titled Gulistan, A home of Flowers. It has stories and memories of my childhood and of a distant land which I still consider as my HOME., even though I have lived here in the US for more than fifty years.
Hope to see you on my blog.
alabeti 
I had the opposite experience. When I was growing up – Z was zee. After we moved to Canada, it became Z became zed.
really? I didn’t think any other country used Zee for Zed except USA! Goes to show how much I know! 😉
Yep – I grew up in the Philippines and there was a very strong American influence.
Oh sure! I can see that happening. I had forgotten your Philippine childhood.
Can see the image
I love this little ditty, Zakiah — when I discovered, as a child, that zed and zee were the same thing, I extrapolated that into the pronunciations of several ‘z’ words — zedero, zedoo, zedinnia, zedebra, etc. What a strange dichotomy — it’s almost like driving in many parts of the world where they drive on the wrong side of the road!
So funny Janet. I loved reading about the way you transferred the letter to read the words by incorporating the zed! Every time I go to India, and the children start spelling some word with a zed, I almost correct them, and would like them to say zee instead.
I had no idea it was pronounced zed elsewhere. lol. Love and hugs.
yeah, England, Australia, and most English speaking countries I think.
What struck me is that
zed a k I a and h
is, Zedakiah…. like the king from the Bible (slightly different spelling)
You could almost look at Zakiah as a feminine form of Zedakiah. 🙂
Of course there was a Zacchaeus in the Bible too, so maybe Zakiah is feminine form of Zacchaeus?
Either way they are both prominent names. 🙂
Zakiah is an Arabic and Jewish name, with excellent meaning, and is taken from The Holy Quran. There is no similarity or connection to the names you have suggested Lynn.
🙂 Greetings Zakiah, I looked up your name, Zakiah, to discover its meaning. I see it means pure. Indeed a name with excellent meaning!
the meaning is the same in Hebrew and in Arabic. In Urdu and Arabic it also means innocent. There, you have it now! 🙂 🙂
Zacchaeus was a man who met Isa (or as He’s known in the west, Jesus).
Zedekiah was king of Judah.
Please see my response above. 🙂 ❤
Interestingly Zacchaeus also means pure. 🙂
I love discovering word and name associations.
I love how your mind works…and your poem! 🙂
I think Americans just changed “zed” to “zee” so it would rhyme with “bee” “cee” dee” “eee” “gee” “pee””tee” and “vee”! 😀 And so it would rhyme in The Alphabet Song….”x, y, zee, Next time won’t you sing with me”! 😛 But, it could have been written, “…x, y, zed, Next time won’t you sing with Fred…or with Ned…or with Ted…or with Fred, Ned, and Ted in bed”…!!! 😀
Okay, I’ll put myself in The Time Out Corner now.
HUGS!!! 🙂
ha ha , what a clever interpretation of the change! But you know what, we sang that song at home and we sang it with a zed, but didn’t rhyme it with Ted or Fred.
You almost have a wicked mind girl friend! ALMOST! I love you.
Hugs to you too. ❤ ❤ ❤
🙂
I wonder how the Americans sing the Alphabet of Mozart!! 🙂
Love ❤
Michell
This was the first time I watched the Alphabet of Mozart. very nice. The next link will show you how the Americans sing the Alphabet. You will have to by pass the ads.
Love ❤ ❤
Zakiah.
Interesting; I did not know this! I think you have a very interesting name. My last name ends with X, which is unusual – I was one of the few people who needed to learn how to write an X in cursive.
Only about ten or twelve years ago I was told that this name which is in Arabic, is also in the Jewish literature. The meaning is the same in both! 🙂
Writing X in cursive would be difficult!
Lol. That’s funny. The first time I encountered “zed” was watching Shaun of the Dead. And they keep saying, “stop saying the ‘zed’ word.”
Now you know! The zed word is not easily digested! 🙂
I had no idea it was pronounced differently until traveling. Must have thrown you for a loop since that is the first letter of your name!
Yes it did. Even though in the back of my mind I vaguely remembered that in this country it was called Zee. 🙂
yes. we too call it ‘zed’ here in indonesia.