Quote:
Originally posted by AXiD670
MysticCat, you beat me to it!!!
I was told that our Founders originally pronounced it as "ksee." One of our older alumnae won't say, "zee" - she always says, "Alpha ksee Delta."
ETA: So, technically, should it be pronounced, "Theta ksee?"
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Interesting AXiD670. It's a classic example of how we have anglicized the names of Greek letters. While English speakers are quite used to having "ks" and "ps" sounds in the middle or at the end of words ("axiom" and "trips"), we are not used to beginning words with such "strange" consonant combinations. So, we dropped the first consonant and ended up with "zee" (like "xylophone") and "see."
Of course, unlike many European languages, we are also used to the letter "I," when standing alone, representing the diphthong "eye" rather than single vowel "ee." So, from "ksee" to "zeye" and from "psee" to "seye."
The truth is, we have anglicized the names of most if not all of the Greek letters. Even "alpha" should really be "ahlpha." So the correct prounciation for any particular GLO is the pronunciation that particular GLO has chosen to use.