Why do we write "Les Miz" and not "Les Mis"?
Why do we write "Les Miz" and not "Les Mis"?
DrTheatre
Broadway Star Joined: 9/23/05
#1Why do we write "Les Miz" and not "Les Mis"?
Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:40pm
I noticed that there is no Z anywhere in the spelling of Les Miserables, so why is it often shorten with one?
"In the U.S.A.
You can have your say,
You can set you goals
And seize the day,
You've been given the freedom
To work your way
To the head of the line-
To the head of the line!"
---Stephen Sondheim
Updated On: 7/29/08 at 11:40 PM
Tag
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
#2re: Why do we write 'Le Miz' and not 'Le Mis'?
Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:42pmWell to start it is Les Miserables.
#2re: Why do we write 'Le Miz' and not 'Le Mis'?
Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:43pmBecause we're Americans and we feel like we can take a certain ownership of it by Americanizing it with the "z."
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"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
miss pennywise
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
#3re: Why do we write 'Le Miz' and not 'Le Mis'?
Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:46pm
Yeah, it's Les Miz. And the reason it's "Miz" is that Cameron Macintosh was a marketing genius who planted print advertisements for the show as "Les Miz" everywhere, all the time.
Lez Mis was the show that started all the merchandising. (Or maybe it's "merchantizing." 
)
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
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#4re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:52pm
Richard Jay Alexander specified in THE BARRICADE that he used the "z" for all the American productions and an "s" for all the others.
FWIW.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Tag
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
#5re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:57pmMaybe so that Americans would pronounce it properly?
#6re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/28/08 at 11:59pmThen they would have done Le Miz. I STILL hear people say it wrong when they read the poster I have.
"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable."
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LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
miss pennywise
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
#8re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 12:06amThe janitor at the end THE DROWSY CHAPERONE said, "Less Miss."
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
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"If any relationship involves a flow chart, get out of it...FAST!"
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LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
miss pennywise
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
#10re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 12:20am
Fromey, we should change our screen names to brdgenius1 and brdgenius2!
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
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"If any relationship involves a flow chart, get out of it...FAST!"
~ Best12Bars
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
miss pennywise
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
#12re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 12:28amThanks. Now it's going through my head! (But I think it's a scream, so it's okay!)
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
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"If any relationship involves a flow chart, get out of it...FAST!"
~ Best12Bars
lightguy06222
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/3/06
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#14re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:02am
Richard Jay Alexander specified in THE BARRICADE that he used the "z" for all the American productions and an "s" for all the others.
But doesn't the London marquee use a "z"?
I'm too lazy to go back to the Marquee thread to check. But I know the Les Miserables one from London is in there. Somewhere...
<-----Bernadette Peters and Alexander Hanson in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.
Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!
"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim
Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!
"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim
#15re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 4:17am
I took this a couple of years ago, no idea if they've changed it since then...
Queen's Theatre, London
#16re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 5:30amOkay, nevermind me. It was the Broadway revival that said "Les Miz"
<-----Bernadette Peters and Alexander Hanson in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.
Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!
"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim
Send in the clowns...Send in the crowds!
"I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."-Stephen Sondheim
#17re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 9:56amSo did the tour when it came back to San Francisco in summer 2005. I assume that wasn't the only city on tour that did that...
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#18re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 9:59am
Speak for yourself. I much prefer to type out 'Les Miserables' in full, because it REALLY doesn't take that long. ^_^
On the occasions I have abbreviated it, I've gone with 'Les Mis'. Isn't the website www.lesmis.com?
#19re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 10:05amYes, but they also registered lesmiz.com.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#20re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 10:17am
Oh how odd! Also www.lesmiserables.com. Cameron really does believe in base-covering, doesn't he?
brochatkid
Stand-by Joined: 5/10/08
#21re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 10:35amZ is really great for marketing, especially in the U.S. That's why all the prescription drug names start with Z (e.g., Zyprexa, Zithromax, etc.).
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
p.s.
Broadway Star Joined: 10/30/06
#23re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 11:00am
I used to refer to New York's Les Miserables as Les Miz (with a zee) and London's as Les Mis (with an ess). The side view of the marquee at Queen's Theatre reads (vertically, large letters) LES MIZ (with a zed).
There should be no further argument. The short name of Les Miserables is Les Miz.
p.s. To answer the original question:
The reason we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis' is because we say 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'.
[Once it's been established that the 's' in the first word is silent, we must write a 'z' in the second word, because otherwise you might try to pronounce it 'Lay Mee'.]
#24re: Why do we write 'Les Miz' and not 'Les Mis'?
Posted: 7/29/08 at 11:39am
Thank you, p.s. 
I have always written LES MIZ- ever since I was child. It's odd when I see it as LES MIS.
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
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