The Sound of Z

My Friday night has been so boring tonight- as in boring with a capital somebody-please-help-me-I'm-dying-here-folks-B. I've read. I've meandered around my new condo aimlessly. I've plugged in a lamp. I've even watched several episodes of the Playboy Mansion reality show. Still...absolutely bored. Excuse me, Bored. So, the only thing left to do was order in some food. I decided to try a new Cantonese/Mandarin joint called Honk Kong Chef. (I'm still waiting for it to arrive.)

I decided to pay with a credit card and was quite taken aback when the asian lady on the other end of the line repeated back my number. Instead of hearing six-zero-zero-zero, I heard sis-yero-yero-yero. Like year-o. It was just so amazing to realize that she literally could not pronounce the "Z" sound; that no matter how hard she tried, her lips/tounge/teeth/mouth would never be able to coordinate and produce the sound of Z. She got the "S" though, so I was confused as to why she didn't go for, sero-sero-sero, which would have been my personal choice vs. the rather humerous and unexplained yero. Oh well, props to her for really nailing that "Y" sound.