(no subject)

[boogara.livejournal.com]

Okay, can we stop acting like 4chan please? It's been made clear time & time again that I'm in the wrong here...

This one's short, but still gets to me A LOT.

So, at my job, we handle dealer and supplier calls as well as x employee calls as well.

To make this short and sweet...

Dear People-From-Non-English-Speaking-English-Country,

You speak English. If you can't understand me when I say "S for Sam", don't yell into the phone. Don't get pissy either because you tell me on more than one occasion you can't hear me, so I figure speaking louder towards you would rectify the issue. Also, when I tell you that a particular ID I need from you is the ID you use to log into the x computer, don't continue to give me a website ID. Website != computer, thank you. One last thing...when I ask you to spell your ID/name/whatever phonetically, I mean to spell it phonetically...not like you're on speed or again in the fashion where I did not understand you the first time.

Your soon to be unemployed support

P.S.: If you're wondering 'bout the whole "Dear..." line, it's simple. Zed is not Z. Zed is a word, not a letter. Just like how "u" is not a word, but a letter. A is not the same as I. If you don't know a word for any of the letters in the alphabet, go back to pre-school, please.

Comments

[falnfenix]

i assume you're American?

the caller in question...might they have been speaking English taught to them by Brits?

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

or possibly Australians. or even just the Canadians.

*cues up Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady"*

...There even are places where English COMPLETELY disappears.
(mutters) In America, they haven't spoken it for years!...

*grin*

p.s. Yes, I am an American, your point?

[betawriter.livejournal.com]

Zed is not Z. Zed is a word, not a letter.

Many people in English-speaking countries say 'Zed' instead of 'Zee'. It's pretty acceptable to do (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z).

Also, if you're going to snark on someone for saying 'Zed', I would suggest you use the Alpha Bravo Charlie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet) method and use 'S as in Sierra'. Just sayin'.

[boogara.livejournal.com]

I know it's a language barrier kind of thing. But, they're not doing it phonetically, either...it's just how they pronounce Z.

[kuang.livejournal.com]

What's a Non-English-Speaking-English-Country?

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

Anywhere but the US, apparently.

[amynnah.livejournal.com]

I run into people who have a hard time hearing me on occasion (I'm very soft-spoken)... and vice versa. :)

Good times. :(

[boogara.livejournal.com]

Haha, I used to be soft-spoken...until I dealt w/ plant workers. :D

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

'S' as in Sierra. 'Z' as in Zulu.

[digitalraven]

Zed is a letter. Please learn English. I understand that "American" has some common terms, but it isn't English, and your "Dear" line is thus entirely incorrect.

Actually...

[chintimin.livejournal.com]

Yes. It is a letter. SO. If you say "Z as in Zed", you're not making any goddamn sense. ZEBRA. ZEBRA. ZEBRA. nuff said.

[reanimated.livejournal.com]

non english speaking english country? what, ya cannae understand the scots or something? i don't think they are the problem...aside from the wrong password thing. that's just annoying.

[alpha-orionis-v.livejournal.com]

Z is pronounced Zed in every English-speaking country, and some non-English countries except for the states.

[phyphor.livejournal.com]

Dear techsupport person,

1) In English, and most of the English speaking world, the letter Z is properly said "Zed" - as previously stated by others.

2) If you're spelling things out phonetically then use the standard NATO phonetic alphabet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet), e.g. S for Sierra, Z for Zulu.
Otherwise I am perfectly entitled to use the bastard phonetic alphabet which includes such delights as:
A for Aye
C for Cue
E for Eye (or ewe)
S for Sea
Y for You
and so on.

If that doesn't meet your fancy there's also the Cockney alphabet:
A for 'orses
B for lamb
C for yerself
etc.

[alpha-orionis-v.livejournal.com]

It amazes me when I spell something out Sierra-Mike-Indigo-Tango-Hotel, and the person on the other end is amazed that I can do that.

Even more disappointing is that maybe five of us on the floor can do that, and the rest just make shit up as they go.

[jformaldehydem.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I'm not from America so I'm not used to translating redneck.

Ya'll didn put nuff all in the pickep and now it done caught fahr

[alpha-orionis-v.livejournal.com]

The most redneck thing I hear (and I get it twenty times a day) is "Let it cut it on real quick."

You can cut something off... but on? O_o

[kitleen.livejournal.com]

"Zed is not Z. Zed is a word, not a letter."

it is a letter. just like how color and colour are both words, and realize and realise, and just like how soccer and football can mean the same thing, and so on. american-english is not the only correct english. why do you even bother arguing about this? "zee" and "zed" are both correct- you will just get shit from everyone.

"Don't get pissy either because you tell me on more than one occasion you can't hear me"

and hey, maybe the "people-from-non-english-speaking-english-country" are RIGHT- maybe you should speak more clearly. maybe it just turns out that you're stubborn and close-minded. has that occurred to you?

[reanimated.livejournal.com]

shhh, you'll confuse him. after all, he knows colour and realise are totally spelled wrong. gawd.

[hotclaws.livejournal.com]

Z was zed long before Webster decided it was zee.

[mippy.livejournal.com]

I think the problem is not so much their ability to speak English, as your insistence in speaking foolish.

[spleenjournal.livejournal.com]

I'm Canadian, I say 'zed'... in fact, one of the tags on my LJ is 'sup zed-words', because that's how I was taught in school, that it was pronounced. American Sesame Street confused me with its Zee tactics....

[skramamme.livejournal.com]

Yes! My daughter gets confused because I also switch between z and zed, as I grew up in London and New York and now live in Australia. Sesame Street doesn't help.

[sarig.livejournal.com]

You know, one of the stereotypes here in Europe is that Americans are horribly and arrogantly ethnocentric.

You're not really helping.

[skramamme.livejournal.com]

HI I'M AN ARROGANT AMERICAN... WHY DON'T YOU ALL SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH LIKE US??? BAWWWWWWW

hey mate, go find a large plaster replica of the letter zed and insert it up your arse, this may help you learn that America=/=Teh World ~dude~
Drongo >:(

[definatalie.livejournal.com]

ahhahaha

COME ORF THE GRASS

[girlfight.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is some big-ass English FAIL on your part.

[boogara.livejournal.com]

I'd believe that more if you told me how so.

[lady-borg.livejournal.com]

its not that there might be better forms of english out there...its the fact that there are other forms of english out there and accepting and undersanding that and not judging it is what I care about.
Are you also going have a go at us because we spell things differntly as well?
And telling aussies to go back to preschool because we dont speak american english. No that cant be slightly racist(sorta).

[boogara.livejournal.com]

I fully accept there's other forms of English out there.

Maybe the preschool thing was harsh, which I'll apologize for. But, that's not being racist, since Australians aren't a race, they're a nationality.

[fredtheavenger.livejournal.com]

If "Zed" is a word, rather than a letter, I thought it must be in the dictionary.

I discovered that it is.

Zed
The letter z.

This response deserves trophies.

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

[beetle-breath.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha.

Thanks for the laugh!

[boogara.livejournal.com]

No problem. Glad to be of service! :)

[trayce.livejournal.com]

A devious part of me wants to submit this thread to mock_the_stupid.

I won't, but only because I am kind, despite having just been insulted for being Australian and apparently being unable to speak English correctly.

Failsauce!

[candika.livejournal.com]

I'm English, living in Australia, so she's pissed me off on both counts!

[tatteredreverie.livejournal.com]

Your combination of ignorance and arrogance is literally making my head hurt.

I suggest you learn that the USA is not the centre of the Universe.

[ravenofdreams.livejournal.com]

Zed for zee (Z) is perfectly acceptable in nine-tenths of the world. Even the English-speaking world. You're just going to have to get over that, I'm sorry. American English is not better than any other kind, and even some of us Americans use zed for z. I do, and you're making me a bit ashamed to have to admit that I am American in the process. (And you're rather being an ass about the whole thing, in any event.)

[reanimated.livejournal.com]

nice edit. that blah blah blah sure convinced me.

(can't help winding up back here when responding to others' comments in my mailbox...)

[sdaemon.livejournal.com]

The ITU's phonetic alphabet is largely accepted as the "standard" phonetic alphabet for use in exactly these kinds of situations, for avoiding exactly the annoyances you describe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

Having had radio conversations with people who spoke English impeccably, but not as their first language and thus not always used to whatever random phonetics some western radio operator felt like coming up with, I can honestly see the benefit in the standard phonetic alphabet, and even seek to promote the use of it.