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grey said:
Dia-beetus.
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lolcatsdotcom3x26wat1f2fl5kv5.jpg
 
lesouris said:
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")
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I always say "nyews" as you characterize it rather than "noooz". New(s) should rhyme with few, not two. Other than that, I agree with you. CBC also says "leftenant" which I've never heard anyone say in RL.

RC8 said:
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.
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I find Americans most guilty of pronouncing the second T, not the other way around.

When I was watching TV today I heard a commercial for some Toronto union I think and while the workers said "Toe-ron-to" the announcer lady says "Toronno" the way I do.
 
Local radio personality Gord Stellick called Toronto "Megacity" during the amalgamation debate of the late 90s, and he put the stress on the "ga" to differentiate it from the generic meaning.

Too bad that didn't catch on.
 
LOL I don't think I've ever heard "pool" pronounced that way. I certainly don't :p
 
Overseas (in the UK) it's helpful to pronounce Toronto deliberately, as "TO RON TOE". A slurred "Tronna" will mostly get blank stares. In one case, Toronto was confused with Tirana, the capital of Albania. It was an awkward conversation.
 
Maybe Britons should adapt to our pronunciation and not the other way around?
 
I'm about 50/50 with how I say Toronto. If it's slow, it's To-ron-to, and if it's fast it's To-ronno. I wouldn't get hung up on it either way. Sometimes even careful speakers say "gonna" instead of "going to" in quick, fluid speech. It's a natural process of language with words in common use. Although I've lived in Toronto for over half my life, I grew up in Hamilton. I would never assert that "real" Hamiltonians actually pronounce it "Hamilˀen" with a glottal stop replacing the -t-. Although you will hear the latter pronunciation often enough in quick speech.

Although I typically say either To-ron-to /tƏ'rɔnto/ or To-ronno /tƏ'rɔno/. I would say a very common variant I hear is simply "Cheronno" /tʃƏ'rɔno/. I've sometimes heard people joke (as if it's a funny way of saying it?) about a local pronunciation being "Trana" but I'm not sure I have actually known or encountered anyone who says it that way. Who made that one up?

I agree with the comment above about former mayor Miller. Even though I also at times say the name in full (To-ron-to), the slow and studied way that he said our fair city's name just sounded a bit odd and used to make me cringe a bit.
 
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The_Architect said:
So should I tell people I got a nyew car then? ;)
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I hear noo from time to time. I wonder if it's related to the pronounciation of Quebec (Kabek ... hmm or Kebek ... hmm, that first vowel floats somewhere between an 'a' and an 'e'. ... though often in Ontario I keep hearing Kyabec or Kyebec).
 
Ben Lamond said:
I'm about 50/50 with how I say Toronto. If it's slow, it's To-ron-to, and if it's fast it's To-ronno. I wouldn't get hung up on it either way. Sometimes even careful speakers say "gonna" instead of "going to" in quick, fluid speech. It's a natural process of language with words in common use. Although I've lived in Toronto for over half my life, I grew up in Hamilton. I would never assert that "real" Hamiltonians actually pronounce it "Hamilˀen" with a glottal stop replacing the -t-. Although you will hear the latter pronunciation often enough in quick speech.

Although I typically say either To-ron-to /tƏ'rɔnto/ or To-ronno /tƏ'rɔno/. I would say a very common variant I hear is simply "Cheronno" /tʃƏ'rɔno/. I've sometimes heard people joke (as if it's a funny way of saying it?) about a local pronunciation being "Trana" but I'm not sure I have actually known or encountered anyone who says it that way. Who made that one up?

I agree with the comment above about former mayor Miller. Even though I also at times say the name in full (To-ron-to), the slow and studied way that he said our fair city's name just sounded a bit odd and used to make me cringe a bit.
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Although I agree with almost everything you say, I've never, ever heard anyone say "Cheronno"!
 
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