What the hell is a Nezz?

[Dire 51]

Due to my current living arrangement, I get to interact with the children of the woman my family and I share our house with (two boys, ages 11 and 14) and their friends every other week. The older boy, Ian, and his friends are into videogames... mostly the new consoles and handhelds, but they have an appreciation for the older games as well (in fact, I've gotten Ian and his group of friends completely hooked on the Gradius series, but that's another story entirely).

A while back, Ian and one of his friends were asking me about some of the games I owned, and I brought up the NES. Now I always refer to it as the NES, by actually saying all three letters in turn (enn-eee-ess). When I mentioned it to them, though, they both gave me kind of a blank look. That puzzled me, as Ian and I had discussed a couple of the games for the NES before, and I said as much to him. At that point he said "oh, you mean the Nezz."

Nezz?

Now it was my turn to give him the blank look. "What the hell is a Nezz?" I asked. He then explained to me that that was what he and apparently all of the kids his age that play games and know about the NES, at least in his school, call it. He also said that they call the SNES the Snezz.

I was kind of dumbfounded at this point. How in the world had they come up with that? Turns out that none of them knew that NES and SNES were acronyms for anything, and they made up their own way to pronounce those two acronyms from there. I did my best to set them straight on the whole issue, but I still hear Nezz and Snezz being tossed around here from time to time, especially by the younger boy nowadays.

What I'm wondering... has anyone here heard anyone (younger gamers in particular) refer to the NES and SNES as the Nezz and Snezz, or am I the only one that has?

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

They may have actually been asking you for a Turkish pop singer.

[Dire 51]

They may have actually been asking you for a Turkish pop singer.

I dunno... somehow, I don't think so.

[RugalSizzler]

What the hell is a Nezz?

Well for starters I am dissapointed that you used the word Hell in front of your children

Second cross reference Nezz with Nintendo and after that just type in Nezz and you will get some pretty art pictures of some woman and a art page with a mp3.

[thegardentool]

Well for starters I am dissapointed that you used the word Hell in front of your children

I could understand more if he said "fuck". Hell is thrown away all too often these days especially on the televangelist programs. I heard my parents say much worse in the front of me. Actually the other day, I met with my stepfather for lunch and he told me a story about going to the store and he called somebody a "fuck nut" for whipping in and out of traffic or something. My youngest sister, 13, asked him in the store what a "fuck nut" was. Ah, that was a nice laugh over lunch.

[Nesmaster]

Lots of people on Xbox Live call me Nezzmaster too... Personally it's pronounced Ness to me.

[Mayhem]

Now it was my turn to give him the blank look. "What the hell is a Nezz?" I asked. He then explained to me that that was what he and apparently all of the kids his age that play games and know about the NES, at least in his school, call it. He also said that they call the SNES the Snezz.

First person to use "snezz" over here in the UK was a female presenter called Violet Berlin on the gaming TV show "Bad Influence" in the early 90s. And it's stayed ever since. Most people I know here, even those from the 80s and before who lived the era, use the terms "nezz" and "snezz" to describe Nintendo's first two home consoles, not "en-ee-es" or "es-en-ee-es". Have to admit it's a far easier and quicker way to say the names!

Doubtful that your younger friends would have seen our show, so I guess they came up with the same thing on their own accord! Hell, I use "nezz" and "snezz" myself because it's ingrained now...

[idrougge]

I have always pronounced them "ness" and "sness".

[FlufflePuff]

I've never heard nezz or snezz. Personally, we always used N-E-S and Super N-E-S. Never said S-N-E-S though. Don't know why.

[Dire 51]

Well for starters I am dissapointed that you used the word Hell in front of your children

Who said I said it in front of my kids? I didn't. And even if I did, so what? As far as profanity goes, that's pretty mild.

Mayhem - that's pretty interesting. You're right, they've probably never seen the show, but you never know... I'll have to ask.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I've always referred to them as Zippy and George.

[Dire 51]

I've always referred to them as Zippy and George.

I'd tell you what I heard my younger brother call the NES once, but I don't know if this thread could handle that kind of profanity. I will say that I'm glad there were no children around when he said it... you know, besides him.

[DarthKur]

That's odd. I've never heard anyone refer to either console by other than pronouncing the actual letters.
"Zippy and George" I got a good chuckle out of that.

[Lady Jaye]

We always said the Nintendo or Nin. For the SNES, it was the Super Nin.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I have always pronounced them "ness" and "sness".

Yes, but you're a Swedish weirdo. BORK BORK BORK! *hides*

Down here, it was always Nintendo and Super Nintendo, or just the Super.

[KREATIVEassassin]

I've only ever heard someone call it a Ness in person once, and it was a 30+ year old guy I work with. However, I have read it quite a bit over at GameFAQs and it drives me nuts. Ness and Nezz both sound completely ridiculous to me.

[Pantechnicon]

In my own head I say ness or sness, but I've never heard any of those others out loud: nezz, ness, sness or snezz. I've only heard En-ee-ess or ess-en-ee-ess.

I can sort of see where a young'un today might think a single "s" at the end of a word always means a soft sibilant sound, That's obviously not the case, but bear in mind that we live in a country where kids think a sentence such as "I could of been alot nicer." is grammatically correct.

Maybe they were thinking of the Nazz?



@RugalSizzler: You're the last person I expect to criticize someone based on what they say or how they say it.

[Gentlegamer]

It's pronounced "Nintendo" and "Super Nintendo."

[Mayhem]

Actually you'll find it's pronounced "throat warbler mangrove"...

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

No, no, I have it here...it's "Hyenas - Any of several large strong nocturnal carnivorous Old World mammals (family Hyaenidae) that ususally feed as scavengers."

Maybe they were thinking of the Nazz?

That's not the Nazz, *THIS* is the Nazz:


I hate people who speak in acronyms. I don't even like hearing people say "PS3."


...word is bondage...