Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
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.
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Very curious. Thanks, Harry. I should point out that the pronunciations here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/menzies are both "men-zees". The citations listed are the Random House and American Heritage dictionaries. Is this another Americanization (excuse me, Americanisation)?