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The City
A little happiness in a cup
Compiled by Rob Roberts
National Post
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Q & A
Q How do you pronounce Toronto?
A There is no way we're going to offer a definitive answer to that question, but we will discuss the possibilities. - The Merriam-Webster online dictionary says it should be pronounced: "t&-'ran-(")tO". - The CBC has a whole team of language advisors who devote their days to solving eternal questions like this. One of CBC's word gurus, Judy Maddren, proclaims the recommended CBC pronunciation of Toronto is: "tor-AWN-toh." But many Torontonians find that pronunciation ah-NOY-ing. - Wikipedia devotes an entire section to the pronunciation of Toronto saying, "Locals sometimes pronounce the city's name as 'Toronno', 'Trono', 'Toranna', 'Taranna', 'Chrono', 'Chranna' or even 'Terawhnna' ?in each case, the speaker merely pronounces 'Toronto' in the way that is most natural in his or her dialect." - Jack Chambers, a professor of linguistics at University of Toronto for more than 30 years, agrees with this logic, explaining that people born and bred in Toronto pronounce their hometown differently than outsiders because Torontonians say the name of their city repeatedly, over time becoming lazier about the pronunciation, eventually shortening it. "For people who live here their solution is to get rid of the 't' at the end."
The seemingly endless pronunciation possibilities got Steve Portigal, a Torontonian now based in San Francisco, into a heated debate this summer. On Mr. Portigal's blog, "All This ChittahChattah", he recounts the heated debate he had at a conference for new immigrants in Toronto: "I offered them some advice for fitting in? by not calling the city TOE-RON-TOE as many Americans do. Instead, I told them, we call it Trawna, and I even spelled it out - T-R-A-W-N-A."
The next morning a woman expressed her concern over this advice by asking Mr. Portigal: "Where is this Trawna thing coming from? Because? uh, we're FROM HERE and we don't say that ."
Link to article
The City
A little happiness in a cup
Compiled by Rob Roberts
National Post
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Q & A
Q How do you pronounce Toronto?
A There is no way we're going to offer a definitive answer to that question, but we will discuss the possibilities. - The Merriam-Webster online dictionary says it should be pronounced: "t&-'ran-(")tO". - The CBC has a whole team of language advisors who devote their days to solving eternal questions like this. One of CBC's word gurus, Judy Maddren, proclaims the recommended CBC pronunciation of Toronto is: "tor-AWN-toh." But many Torontonians find that pronunciation ah-NOY-ing. - Wikipedia devotes an entire section to the pronunciation of Toronto saying, "Locals sometimes pronounce the city's name as 'Toronno', 'Trono', 'Toranna', 'Taranna', 'Chrono', 'Chranna' or even 'Terawhnna' ?in each case, the speaker merely pronounces 'Toronto' in the way that is most natural in his or her dialect." - Jack Chambers, a professor of linguistics at University of Toronto for more than 30 years, agrees with this logic, explaining that people born and bred in Toronto pronounce their hometown differently than outsiders because Torontonians say the name of their city repeatedly, over time becoming lazier about the pronunciation, eventually shortening it. "For people who live here their solution is to get rid of the 't' at the end."
The seemingly endless pronunciation possibilities got Steve Portigal, a Torontonian now based in San Francisco, into a heated debate this summer. On Mr. Portigal's blog, "All This ChittahChattah", he recounts the heated debate he had at a conference for new immigrants in Toronto: "I offered them some advice for fitting in? by not calling the city TOE-RON-TOE as many Americans do. Instead, I told them, we call it Trawna, and I even spelled it out - T-R-A-W-N-A."
The next morning a woman expressed her concern over this advice by asking Mr. Portigal: "Where is this Trawna thing coming from? Because? uh, we're FROM HERE and we don't say that ."