The Zeta Wars (Long e)

[The Backlash Cometh]

We'll all know we've lost this cultural war when the telemarketers from India start schooling us on grammar. I just called in to cancel a flight. So when I give the flight number I try to make it easier, I say, "G" as in George, "H" as in Ham, and "I" as in..." I hesitated, and she jumps in triumphantly, "I" as in "India."

Okay, fine. India. No prob. Then she asks standard add-on questions that were said so quickly that I couldn't understand if they were questions or statements. That part surprised me. She wasn't even trying to sound coherent. Okay, fine. Then she gave me my cancellation number. Zeta, zeta, eight.

What? I said. I don't know what you're saying. She repeated it three more times before I realized she was saying "zero." Now, it's fine with me learning something new, but what surprised me, was that she knew she was speaking to an American customer, and didn't even try to adjust when I repeated the numbers back to her. Apparently, "zeta" is how they say it in England.

I think we're turning a corner here.

[lldu]

1. Maybe she said "Zed", they use it for zero N/T

[enlightenment]

3. Actually, zed is how they say 'Z'

it comes from the Latin - zeta.

Zero is sometimes (but not always) pronounced as 'nowt' (nought) - like 'noughts and crosses' (tic tac toe). Mostly (I add on edit for clarity) they say 'O' (like the letter) to refer to the number, so the cancellation number would be 'Oh, Oh, eight'.

I think the lady the OP was speaking with was simply confused.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Does it matter? Zed or Zeta? Goes to show you how little I understood.

In 100 years, this may all be moot and we may all be more worldly. But for now, when our goal is to get these jobs back into America, was it a smart thing for her to do? Shouldn't she have been trained better so as not to add fuel to this controversial issue?

[emrivers]

2. LOL that is to funny

Man, you have a great way of putting words together! I am a newbie but have been lurking for a few days. I read this post and had to respond. "and "I" as in..." I hesitated, and she jumps in triumphantly, "I" as in "India."" That's great..... This happened to me when I called DELL support a few days ago. The rep on the phone corrected me 2 times!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. That's one confident phone teller.

I feel like I've been hit by a shoe.

[nykym]

6. Well I am Still

confused! This from wikipedia

Zeta (uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; Greek: Ζήτα Zita) is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Zayin Zayin. Letters that arose from Zeta include the Roman Z and Cyrillic З (Ze).

Unlike the other Greek letters, this letter did not take its name from the Phoenician letter it was derived from; it was given a new name on the pattern of beta, eta and theta.

Zeta has the numerical value 7 rather than 6 because the letter digamma (also called 'stigma' as a Greek numeral) was originally in the sixth position in the alphabet.

Zeta can be said to be the origin of the most common pronunciation of the Roman letter Z.

Don't see no goose eggs here!

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. I don't get it either.

Isn't Earl Grey from England? Maybe he would know.

[Dr. Strange]

8. The Riemann Hypothesis says...

that the nontrivial zeros of the Zeta function all have a real part of 1/2. I trust that this fact does absolutely nothing to clear up any confusion you may have had. But if you can prove the hypothesis, you win $1000000: http://www.claymath.org/millennium/Riemann_Hypothesis/