Dear Urban Toronto,
My name is Lashaiya Coleman, a grade 12 student currently studying at Etobicoke School of the Arts, and as a Toronto citizen, I would like to address a concern I have with it.
This is a concern about the pronunciation of Toronto's name but I wanted to share some brief history of how the name originated. Named in honour of Prince Frederick, Duke of York, "York" became the name of our city. The residents were in opposition of the name and petitioned to have it changed back to its original name, "Toronto." That was back in 1834, and from then, it has always purposely been pronounced the way it is spelled. Our city was always pronounced with the second T and should always be pronounced with it. Excluding one of the letters is:
a) Trying to re-write history
b) Causes confusion for the ones who have not yet known how to properly pronounce it/ who do not know much about Toronto
c) Making citizens of our city look like they do not know how to properly represent it
d) Extracts Toronto's historical and cultural values
e) Constitutes an idealistic society
"Turonno" is not a word out of the 171,476 words in the English dictionary, nor in any dictionary or encyclopedia, nor is it a city. Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario, located in the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario, and it called what it is, "Toronto." We call ourselves "Torontonians" and we enunciate the second T in it, and it does not make sense to live in "Turonno" and be called a "Torontonian." It is like providing a false address by spelling the street the way one would pronounce it rather than correctly spelling the name of the actual street. Packages and parcels would never be delivered!
It has been taken out of proportion and has been put on t-shirts/ merchandise to comoditate consumers. When visitors and travellers come here and want to buy souvenirs and keepsakes to say that they have visited Toronto, it will be spelled in such an incorrect way, and they will automatically think that it is correct when it is actually not. It is sad enough that many Canadians do not even know how to properly pronounce Toronto, emphasizing the purposely added T in it. No silent T.
I know and understand that some people who have accents do not exaggerate the second T, but just because it is a "new and different" way of saying it does NOT make it the correct way. There is also a new way of speaking for certain individuals who live in Toronto known as the "Toronto Mans" or "Hood Mans Accent." Those individuals pronounce Toronto with the second T so an accent might not even have an impact on they way the city is pronounced much less someone who does not have one. Once it is clarified, anyone should be able to pronounce it correctly.
Correct pronunciation according to CBC and Wiktionary:
- "tor-AWN-toh."
- IPA: /ˈtoronto/, [ˈt̪o̞ro̞nt̪o̞]
TuronNO, is a big no no. Turanna, Teranna, Taranna, Toranna, T'rono, and Chrono are all non-existent cities. So is every other spelling but "Toronto."
We should be respectfully representing our city and not change or re-write the history of it because we cannot do that. We need to teach our younger generation the right way and not the wrong, and we should educate them rather than trying to teach them facts and feed them information that does not exist. This is a major concern to be reiterated to the wonderful citizens of Toronto, and correct the actual mistake of the way we "pronounce" our city. As citizens, we should all be able to pronounce our home correctly. Toronto has changed enough - not all for the better - but it has changed internally, so at this point it is fine just the way it is and does not need a new title. Adjust it economically and not verbally. Do not relabel a package.
Fun Fact: Toronto's landmark, the CN Tower, will forever remind us of the second T in the name of the city because of the way it is shaped, like a T. Take a look at the adorable keychain image attached to this message!
Thank you,
LColeman
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