MovieChat Forums > Men in Black II (2002) Discussion > Why he isn't named agent z?

Why he isn't named agent z?


Why doesn't Zed go by Agent Z?

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Zed is how non americans say z. And if you say agent z fast it sounds like agency, so that could be the reason too.

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"Zed is how non Americans say z"

How is that? Z is a letter, not a word that can be spelled differently and pronounced the same. Hmm

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You have it backwards. It's not that they're spelled differently and pronounced the same. The letter looks the same wherever you are but are called different things. How do you think the letters got to be called what they're called? Because people gave them names. Think about it. The Greek alphabet is alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, etc. In non-American English-speaking countries, the letter is called "zed." My guess is like everything else, we Americans decided to change it (most likely because it went with the other letters better). Just like in the US we call them cookies but in England they call them biscuits, or how in the US we call them sweatshirts but in Australia they're called jumpers.

Crouton! Crouton! Crunchy friends in a liquid broth.

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Having lived in Nigeria for over a year, I can definitely confirm they do NOT say "z". They will (including all the children I taught) pronounce Z as "zed".

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Biscuits and cookies are two different things - we have cookies in England, we don't call them anything else.

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Crouton! Crouton! Crunchy friends in a liquid broth.


Is there any other kind?

I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!

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No, like this. Here's how the alphabet is pronounced:

Aay
Bee
See
Dee
Eee
Eff
Gee

See where I'm going with that? But when you get to the end, it's...

Double-ewe
Ex
Wie
Zee (In American)
Zed (elsewhere)

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Exactly.

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Because he is not a field agent. He is in charge if MIB and has the final say, the last word. Thus he is Zed, the last letter.

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OP didn't realize "Zed" is how everyone else on Earth says the last letter of the alphabet, and so assumed it was a proper name.

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