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I would ask “why did you left ponders choose to change the pronunciation to zee?” - though given many USAian pronunciations are, apparently, closer to Elizabethan English than the current UK sounds I wouldn’t like to guess which came first the zed or the zee…
Yeh cheese as cheeze is an odd one - especially considering the z is “zed” not “zee”… I guess cheese is where the idea of “zee” came from?
You seem like the sort of person that would pronounce the word often with a hard T,
Not at all. Used to make fun of people who did.
yet still pronounce the letter A as if it was an O.
No - there are two sounds for A, bath (short, as in cat) for tub of usually hot water and Bath (long, as in car) for the city famous for its hot water. Never heard it like O - no, wait… RP has an O sounding A doesn’t it? Lloyd Grossman was famous for his mangling of vowel sounds.
ETA that distinction for the A sound is probably familial rather than regional; grew up with Geordie mam and Home counties dad.
I’m not sure where you’re from, but the th is indeed silent in my area regarding the word ‘clothes’. I’ve never heard it pronounced any different than ‘close’.
I’m not sure where you’re from, the th in is always pronounced in my area regarding the word ‘clothes’. I’ve never heard it pronounced the same as ‘close’
I will say that people got called out for pronouncing it the same as the spice ‘cloves’.
FWIW My area = rural southern UK.
Fighting talk, sirrah! Fighting talk… But yes, I guess.
British English has been described as three languages dressed up in a trenchcoat that go around mugging other languages in dark alleys and stealing the best bits…