Mispronunciations in next-stop announcements

[drum118]

I don't think the East/West is necessary. People don't generally give directions using the east/west thing, they usually just say "turn left at Lawrence" or "get off the bus at St. Clair".

Strange about Victoria Street. Though I do notice that the announcement for the 505 at Bathurst adds Toronto Western Hospital, as well as the 511 at Nassau (but not at Dundas).

I was on a 29N tonight and before South Dundas Street West could be announce, the south sound like dun, it was announcing North Dundas Street West since we did not stop at these stops in the first place. To close for the south stop.

No reason for East/West to be shown or announce.

Add Alma to the list as it sound like Elm.

Dufferin 29's needs to added to the Gladstone stop westbound as riders are lost considering there is no Dufferin stop at this time. Seen and heard from drivers where riders walk up to the driver and asked "when do we hit Dufferin" only to find out they pass it some stops ago. Not happy riders.

I find it odd that the 47's say St Clair Loop when we stop at St Clair in the first place. Find for the 47, but not the branches.

 

[ShonTron]

I agree that the Gladstone stop announcement for the 501 should include "Transfer to 29 Dufferin Bus" or something similar (and the display simply dsiplaying "Gladstone Ave / 29 Dufferin Bus"). This is one extra line streetcar drivers would usually say here before the automated system.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

The rest of your post is a good point, but considering the thousands of Canadians who died there, it's hard to let this go. Ypres, a town in Belgium, was most certainly not invaded by the British. Hundreds of thousands of British and Canadian soldiers gave their lives to liberate that area from the Germans who did indeed invade without provocation and in violation of Belgium's neutrality. C'mon, this is basic Canadian (and world) history.

I wasn't saying the pronunciation of Ypres was an example of the phenomenon. But I wanted to be sure not to be taken for supporting an attitude of deliberate stupidity about the names of places in which one's country has decided to intervene militarily.
Still, I'm not so sure that WWI was a "fight to liberate fellow man from bondage" any more than is our contemporary War on Terror.

 

[marcus_a_j]

Where I get off the bus on the Pharmacy North route, Glendinning, she says "Glen-dining" (dinner vs. diner)

 

[wyliepoon]

I don't really care for mispronunciations of TTC stops as long as the message gets across to the passenger. People living in the local area might think the name was butchered in the announcement, but to someone who lives on the other side of town, or a tourist, this isn't a big deal.

I've heard worse English station announcements in other cities. The Shanghai Metro English station announcements are made by a woman with a strong Mandarin accent, the stations are announced in 'pinyin' (which make no sense to English speakers who don't understand Mandarin), and apparently there are even grammatical errors in the announcements (watch this clip where the announcement is "We are now at... the South Shanghai Railway station").

 

[smuncky]

I don't really care for mispronunciations of TTC stops as long as the message gets across to the passenger. People living in the local area might think the name was butchered in the announcement, but to someone who lives on the other side of town, or a tourist, this isn't a big deal.

+1

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Yeah, but local people making usual trips make up the vast majority of riders on every route.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Is Spadina pronounced Spa-dee-na or Spa-die-na? Or is Babypoint pronounced Bob-bee-point or bey-bee-point?

 

[RedRocket191]

Is Spadina pronounced Spa-dee-na or Spa-die-na? Or is Babypoint pronounced Bob-bee-point or bey-bee-point?

Spa-die-na was the way the working class people living on Spadina Avenue pronounced it. Spa-dee-na was the way the wealthy people living on Spadina Road pronounced it.

Bob-bee-point comes from the original french, but the spelling (and pronounciation) was corrupted over time to become bey-bee-point.

 

[Sir Novelty Fashion]

On an only semi-related note, the electronic sign on the Jane bus (and possibly others) announces "Saint Clair West," which is downright bizarre. The one time an electronic sign SHOULD have used an abbreviation to save space...

 

[interchange42]

Spa-die-na was the way the working class people living on Spadina Avenue pronounced it. Spa-dee-na was the way the wealthy people living on Spadina Road pronounced it.

The pronunciation "Spa-dee-na" lives on in the name of the historic home on the hill beside Casa Loma, while the Road and Avenue are now pronounced the other way of course.

Bob-bee-point comes from the original french, but the spelling (and pronounciation) was corrupted over time to become bey-bee-point.

Not quite. Wikipedia's got it right. From the article:

Baby Point is an upscale residential neighbourhood in west end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The name is pronounced "Babby Point" by long-time residents, a corruption of the French pronunciation of Baby, after whom the neighbourhood is named.

James Baby was a member of a prominent Quebec fur trading family and a former politician in Upper Canada.

---

So, those who don't know it at all pronounce it Bay-bee. Those who know it's not Bay-bee often say Bob-bee, while Babby is used by longtimers there as it is closest to the French Baby.

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