why do Americans say "Zee" when they pronounce letter "Z"?

Rumour has it that it started with the alphabet song. They got to 'Z' (zed) and couldn't think of anything to rhyme it with, so they changed it to 'zee'- that's my rumour.

many things are pronounced differently in the U.S. from U.K. countries

schedule

vitamins

weekend

jaguar

etc

also words are spelled differently

color

colour etc

recognize

recognise etc

Elizabeth

Elisabeth etc

also some words in U.K. double the l before some words ending in er and we do not

it is just the way language evolved over time in these countries

that is where the expression separation by a common language comes from

no reason for some people here to get their panties in a bunch over it

btw

countries that speak spanish in the western hemisphere i.e. mexico central and south america pronounce words differently than they do in spain and french speaking canadians speak differently from people in france so it is not unique to english speaking people

From Wikipedia:

The letter Z is the twenty-sixth and the last letter in the Latin Alphabet.

In almost all dialects of English other than American English, the letter is named zed /zɛd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta (see below). Other European languages use a similar form, e.g. the French zède, German tset, Spanish, Catalan and Italian zeta, and Dutch zet. The American English form zee /ziː/ derives from an English late 17th-century dialectal form, now obsolete in England (the letter rhymes with "V" in the "Alphabet song" nursery rhyme). Another English dialectal form is izzard, which dates from the mid 18th-century, probably deriving from French et zède meaning and z, or else from s hard.

G, in america, rhymes with Z. Its pronounced "gee."

BCDEGPTV all rhyme, and Z wanted to join the -ee party.

everyone pronounces things differently such as the english in most words add an r when they say words with an 'a' in. Where Americans do actually say the letter 'a' so perhaps we are wrong and they are correct. This Question always comes up its just how it is.

Mmmm funny that isn't it? My kids have some toys with American voices which they won't play with because they are forever correcting the ZEE to Zed.

Probably for the same reason that in the UK, the word cat is written with a C (see) and not with a K (kay).

uuummmm......?? why do Americans say alot of the things we say....kinda funny huh?

it just boils down to difference, let the Americans pronounce it they way they see fit!

it's up to them to decide

besides

why is it called american english----cause it's different

!!!