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Catch some zzz's

Posted by Brian from Shawnee February 05, 2007In reply to Catch some zzz's posted by ESC on February 04, 2007


My 6 year old wants to know why people sometimes use the phrase, "Catch some zzz's," when referring to sleeping or napping. Any help with the origin of this slang would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Susan

ZZZZ is the conventional cartoon representation of sleeping noises (big letters if it's snoring, smaller letters if it's just napping.)

Cartoonists have been using "zzz" to represent sleep for at least 50 years, according to Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

I wonder if people in Canada and the U.K. say "catch some zed's" or "catch some zee's"?

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