Quote:
Originally Posted by vivaldirules
Is there a known reason for this, Harry? Perhaps some past PM didn't like z's (excuse me, zed's) and declared them seditious? The owner has something of a lisp? Someone misspelt his name in the papers and he couldn't change it? Or perhaps just someone's odd sense of humor? I'm really curious.
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It's a Scottish name and, as Ricky rightly says, the "z" is a substitute for an old Norse letter called "Yogh", which was pronounced "ng".
There's a Scottish limerick which plays on this:
There wis a young lassie named Menzies,
That asked her aunt whit this thenzies.
Said her aunt wi a gasp,
"Ma dear, it's a wasp,
An you're haudin the end whaur the stenzies!"
The words at the end of the first, second, and fifth line should be pronounced "Ming is", "Thing is", and "Sting is", respectively, to understand it.