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Post: How do you pronounce 'Toronto'

As an ex-pat Englishman I have always said Toh-ron-toh. Those "t's" are there for pronunciation people. Of course, that leds me to another one of my language pet peeves....those that believe "pronounciation" is a word.

Agreed with 'pronounciation' not being a word. I hate that one too. I have to disagree with your first argument though. I am an ex-pat Brit also, but locals have the last say as to how to pronounce the place they live in.

I'd never tell someone from Detroit that it should be De-trois or that Connecticut should drop the second 'c' if they aren't going to acknowledge that it is there.

Teronno is what it is even though foreigners are surprised when they hear Canadians say it.
 
I am an ex-pat Brit also, but locals have the last say as to how to pronounce the place they live in.
Oh, they can say it however they wish, but I'm sticking to keeping the hard t's. I wouldn't be the first immigrant to not match the local pronunciation - I used to work at a customs inspector at Pearson and you should hear the pronunciation of Toronto from an aircraft originating from Hong Kong or Texas.

I've been living here in the Maritimes for three years, and I refuse to pick up the local colloquialisms and manner of speach. Whenever I hear someone say "where you at", "he drives bus" or "I talk proper", etc. I shudder inside. Actually the poor state of the education system here (and the career-killing speech patterns it generates) is one of the prime drivers of my move back to Toronto.
 
It depends on the context, no? When speaking more formally, I lean more towards Toronto (but without the emphasis on the last sylabyl that usually gives away non-locals), but when speaking informally I tend to speak with a more pronounced accent, using Toronno. I think it's more or less a Canada-wide phenomenon, pronouncing Toronto without the last 't'....
 
^ Along those lines, I say terAWNoh informally and t[e/o]rAWNto (with the ter coming in somewhere between ter and tor for the latter) in more formal settings.
 
Canada-are there numerous regional dialects?

Everyone: I read aboot(note the spelling-the Ontario pronunciation of the word) the way people say toronno(note that one also) and I was thinking myself about Canadian speech-as I mention accents fascinate me-I know of regional speech such as the way French Quebecers accent their English as well as the Newfoundland accent-which I have noticed myself. How about the Maritimes? Does a city like Halifax have a accent of its own? Maybe some of you can chime in on questions I have-Can you tell if someone is from Toronto or Hamilton or for that matter other Southern Ontario towns or cities like Windsor or London or for that matter Northern areas like North Bay or Sudbury or Thunder Bay? What about going west-Winnipeg or other prairie cities like Regina? The Alberta cities of Edmonton and Calgary? Or BC cities like Vancouver or I recall that someone had mentioned that Victoria,BC has an accent - British? of its very own. I would like some insight on this-Thanks to all in advance - LI MIKE
 
Pronounce it however you want, but spell it "Torontoe"
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LI Mike,

It seems to me that everyone west of Ottawa in Canada speaks English with more or less the same accent, especially in urban areas. The Maritimes definitely have an accent. Nfld's is somewhat different, perhaps a bit stronger. I don't think Halifax has an accent much different than the rest of the Maritimes.
 
Oh, they can say it however they wish, but I'm sticking to keeping the hard t's. I wouldn't be the first immigrant to not match the local pronunciation - I used to work at a customs inspector at Pearson and you should hear the pronunciation of Toronto from an aircraft originating from Hong Kong or Texas.

I've been living here in the Maritimes for three years, and I refuse to pick up the local colloquialisms and manner of speach. Whenever I hear someone say "where you at", "he drives bus" or "I talk proper", etc. I shudder inside. Actually the poor state of the education system here (and the career-killing speech patterns it generates) is one of the prime drivers of my move back to Toronto.

Fair enough, but poor English is a different matter entirely. 'Teronno' is fine with me, 'I talk good', is not.
 
After being told that I should take the London tube to the "Suth-ik" stop and after finally having to ask someone to point it out on the map where it's spelled Southwark, I don't think that the English can complain about people not pronouncing words the way that are spelled.
 

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