Admiral Beez
Superstar
This reminds me of my old topic, how do you pronounce "asked"? Many people seem to think it's correct to used the past tense of "ass", such as "he assed me a question"
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- Thread starter wyliepoon
- Start date
Mystic Point
Active Member
I have a friend in Atlanta and the second T issue rages there. Is it Atlanta? Or Atlanna?
old boy
Senior Member
Tronnoe it is, but non-natives often say the more formal Toe-ron-toe.
dunkalunk
Senior Member
Tch(u)ronno
or alternatively
Tron-O.
Also, another pet peeve. Please stop pronouncing Waterloo with emphasis on the Wat. The emphasis is on the Loo. It's a water 'loo instead of a dry 'loo.
or alternatively
Tron-O.
Also, another pet peeve. Please stop pronouncing Waterloo with emphasis on the Wat. The emphasis is on the Loo. It's a water 'loo instead of a dry 'loo.
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spider
Senior Member
Our late unlamented mayor Miller used to display what an outsider he was every time he said Toronto.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
I've lived in Toronto since 1976 and still say Toe Ron Toe.
When I step back and look at it, Toronto really is a ridiculous name for a city, especially a provincial capital. Other major cities are named after the founders, or a important or distinct geographic feature. Instead Toronto is named after a mis-translation of the Mohawk word "tkaronto", meaning "where there are trees standing in the water". There was never a settlement named Toronto before the European arrived.
Should have just called it York, IMO, or named it after someone important, or one of the founding officials or citizens. If you want to pay homage to the Mohawks, then we could have used one of their leader's names, or the name of the tribe, like the capital of Wyoming, Cheyenne.
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Nick.
Banned
Canada is named after a mis-interperatation of a native word as well, dunno why you would rather it be called York which is the name of many other places and a derivative of the latin word for "city". I'm glad Toronto isn't called something so unimaginative.
G
gabe
Guest
I like the name Toronto. Could be worse...... like Dildo, Newfoundland
flonicky
Active Member
Agree with "ter onno".
btw, it's De-troyt, not De-troy-it.
btw, it's De-troyt, not De-troy-it.
Red October
Senior Member
grey
Senior Member
No it's not.
RC8
Senior Member
Toronto's name should be pronounced ToronTo, simply because it is most similar to the way in which the word it's based on was pronounced by native Americans.
Not doing so shows to me the lamentable North American mentality to put little effort to preserve anything.
Also, watching or listening old radio or TV recordings you can tell that historically the city was always called ToronTo, and that it was only in modern times dominated by the American media that Toronno became acceptable formally.
Not doing so shows to me the lamentable North American mentality to put little effort to preserve anything.
Also, watching or listening old radio or TV recordings you can tell that historically the city was always called ToronTo, and that it was only in modern times dominated by the American media that Toronno became acceptable formally.
flonicky
Active Member
My mistake, I meant to say DEEEEEEEEEEEEE-troyt.
toraerach
Active Member
The word "Toronto" is derived from did not refer to this city or to anything in its general vicinity. "Toronto" comes from the name of a channel of water between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching. There's no reason why we should attempt to stay true to the Aboriginal pronunciation of the word if we're not going to simultaneously attempt to stay true to its original meaning (we might as well rename the city something like Taiaiagon, which was an actual large settlement in the area).
Besides, words are borrowed between languages all the time and their pronunciations change to suit the phonology of the borrowing language/dialects.
I wouldn't rely on old recordings for information on the common pronunciation of words. Historically, people in the media (whether radio, television, or the movies) were trained to speak in certain ways (for example, see the Mid-Atlantic dialect that was created specially for spoken media). In Britain, "BBC English" dominated the media for decades. Even today in Canada, if you pay close enough attention, you'll notice standardized pronunciation in the media that does not reflect local, everyday conversation (for example, it's always "CBC Nyews")
RC8
Senior Member
This is a weak argument. The main reason why people pronounce the city's name as Toronno is lazyness. I too pronounce it that way when in a hurry.
Our York shouldn't be referred to as Yark just because it isn't in York, UK.
I'm pretty certain that those who first called our city by its current name pronounced the second 't'. I respect the name that was given for whatever reason or by chance to Toronto by pronouncing it like that.