News   Dec 20, 2024
UrbanToronto Year-End Poll: Vote on the Best Buildings of 2024, presented by Sapphire Balconies
 3.8K     11 
News   Dec 20, 2024
UrbanToronto's Social Media Presence Skyrocketed in 2024
 1.3K     4 
News   Dec 20, 2024
Mattamy Homes Records A Year of Accomplishments
 2.1K     0 

Toronto's Obsession With Diversity?

Status
Not open for further replies.
The diversity thing seems to be working for Toronto. Not too long ago casting officials from the US came up here to do a casting call for people of various ethnicities and varying abilities.

On the topic of ethnic integration in the US, I'll shaer an anecdote from my visit to Dayton, OH in May:
There was definately a noticable division between ethnicities in the city. Not so much in the downtown area, but in the outer regions and suburbs. In certain areas, all the people I would see were Black Americans. And in certain arears, all the people I would see were White Americans. Furthermore, "ethnic make-up" of the city appeared to by either Black Americans and White Americans. I personally never saw someone else of any other ethinicity in that city. Being multiracial, I must admit I felt a bit awkward.

A side story:
I was traveling with a friend who is a White Canadian. We were riding the bus to our hotel and approaching the downtown terminal, an older Black American man offered a "fist bump" to my friend. He then muttered something that ended with "white boy", and something along the lines of: white people did terrible things. He then told him he should watch out as the "Black sisters" were going to "get" him.

I'm of the belief race should be always viewed positively and I don't delibrately see race as "everything", but I find what I noticed was interesting and can be explored without offending anyone.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
I'm curious to hear more about this supposed Toronto accent. Where in the city do you teach high school that you're hearing this new Toronto accent? And how does it differ from a typical Ontario/Canadian accent?
Click to expand...

I first noticed subtle accent differences in Toronto when I was at York U. The purer vowels that I referred to in my last post were obviously most predominant among all the first & second generation Italian-Canadian students; however, I also noticed that rather than the Woodbridge kids adapting to more of a traditional Ontario accent, kids with names like "Smith" and "McNab" were adapting to more of a Woodbridge sound. The phrase the keeps replaying in my mind is "Hey, guy: whatuya dooing?" The "u" in guy is more clipped and almost sounds like a short a. The '"d" in "doing has the tongue placed against the back of the teeths, and the "oo" sound in "doing" is longer and purer. Long-time Ontarians normally pronounce "oo" as a diphthong -- short "i" followed by long "u" run together. In Toronto, the short "i" portion of the diphthong is fading.

I teach in south Scarborough now. I hear this accent less among Anglo-Canadians than in the west-end, but I hear it loud and clear among the south- and east-Asian kids. These kids who speak English better than their parents' languages, aren't adopting our dipthongs -- with the exception of "ou" ("out-and-about) which is totally entrenched across the city.
 
dahusbandofbath said:
I first noticed subtle accent differences in Toronto when I was at York U. The purer vowels that I referred to in my last post were obviously most predominant among all the first & second generation Italian-Canadian students; however, I also noticed that rather than the Woodbridge kids adapting to more of a traditional Ontario accent, kids with names like "Smith" and "McNab" were adapting to more of a Woodbridge sound. The phrase the keeps replaying in my mind is "Hey, guy: whatuya dooing?" The "u" in guy is more clipped and almost sounds like a short a. The '"d" in "doing has the tongue placed against the back of the teeths, and the "oo" sound in "doing" is longer and purer. Long-time Ontarians normally pronounce "oo" as a diphthong -- short "i" followed by long "u" run together. In Toronto, the short "i" portion of the diphthong is fading.

I teach in south Scarborough now. I hear this accent less among Anglo-Canadians than in the west-end, but I hear it loud and clear among the south- and east-Asian kids. These kids who speak English better than their parents' languages, aren't adopting our dipthongs -- with the exception of "ou" ("out-and-about) which is totally entrenched across the city.
Click to expand...

Now I've never been to Woodbridge, but if it sounds like Italian-American (I think I read that somewhere) then I don't think it's very widespread. Granted, I don't know a lot of Italians but I don't know any who talk like that, at least not here in Mississauga.

I'm not sure what constitutes a "long and pure" oo sound. Maybe if you used the IPA system that'd clear things up?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English

I'd be interested to see if there's been any change in the "Toronto" accent since I was in high school (late 90s early 00s).
 
Thanos said:
^ I don't know if it's always been like this on this forum but too many people here spend too much time comparing toronto to other cities. However, i never hear this when i'm peeking into others conversations around the city or with friends.
I'm wondering if forums of other cities are the same way.
Click to expand...


Check out skyscrapercity.com and you will see that people in every city compare themselves to other cities. It's quite common even for the big cities like London, NYC, LA and Chicago. It's human nature. Every time my cousins come to visit from LA & NYC they are constantly comparing Toronto to their city. I just shut up and smile.
 
I agree about Toronto being obsessed with diversity. I constantly hear people praising it, and yet I have never heard anybody mention a single advantage of it. Perhaps it's more about the city's obsession with standing out, and diversity is an easy way to do it ("It's the city where you always need to communicate with hand gestures!").
 
Ervin said:
I agree about Toronto being obsessed with diversity. I constantly hear people praising it, and yet I have never heard anybody mention a single advantage of it. Perhaps it's more about the city's obsession with standing out, and diversity is an easy way to do it ("It's the city where you always need to communicate with hand gestures!").
Click to expand...

Well here's one advantage, it's INTERESTING ! Only some people get obssesed, cities don't. Toronto, the diverse city, is incapable.
 
Ervin said:
I constantly hear people praising it, and yet I have never heard anybody mention a single advantage of it.
Click to expand...

I think one would quickly see the benefits of living in a city whose motto is "diversity our strength" by going to a place where diversity isn't seen as a positive and is instead seen as a deterioration of ones values, ones identity, and ones society. It is about accepting that we are all different and that we still can all fit in to a working society being different. Gay Pride, Diversity, etc should be seen not as a celebration of not being heterosexual or not being white.... it should be seen as a celebration of a society that is advanced enough to see that sexual orientation and race don't threaten who we are and where we are going as a country. It is being proud about the fact that no matter what orientation and race you are that you can fit in, you are not alone, and we see you as an equal partner in the future of this city and this country.
 
EnviroTO said:
I think one would quickly see the benefits of living in a city whose motto is "diversity our strength" by going to a place where diversity isn't seen as a positive and is instead seen as a deterioration of ones values, ones identity, and ones society.
Click to expand...

And remember: this isn't just black vs white America. It's also as opposed to the Europe of the BNP and Lepenistes and Geert Wilders and all that...
 
EnviroTO said:
I think one would quickly see the benefits of living in a city whose motto is "diversity our strength" by going to a place where diversity isn't seen as a positive and is instead seen as a deterioration of ones values, ones identity, and ones society. It is about accepting that we are all different and that we still can all fit in to a working society being different. Gay Pride, Diversity, etc should be seen not as a celebration of not being heterosexual or not being white.... it should be seen as a celebration of a society that is advanced enough to see that sexual orientation and race don't threaten who we are and where we are going as a country. It is being proud about the fact that no matter what orientation and race you are that you can fit in, you are not alone, and we see you as an equal partner in the future of this city and this country.
Click to expand...

Okay, so what you're saying is that the reason hundreds of thousands of minorities move into Toronto each year is so that we could all have a great big lesson on accepting each other? Can't we just watch a movie for that?
 
dahusbandofbath said:
I first noticed subtle accent differences in Toronto when I was at York U. The purer vowels that I referred to in my last post were obviously most predominant among all the first & second generation Italian-Canadian students; however, I also noticed that rather than the Woodbridge kids adapting to more of a traditional Ontario accent, kids with names like "Smith" and "McNab" were adapting to more of a Woodbridge sound. The phrase the keeps replaying in my mind is "Hey, guy: whatuya dooing?" The "u" in guy is more clipped and almost sounds like a short a. The '"d" in "doing has the tongue placed against the back of the teeths, and the "oo" sound in "doing" is longer and purer. Long-time Ontarians normally pronounce "oo" as a diphthong -- short "i" followed by long "u" run together. In Toronto, the short "i" portion of the diphthong is fading.
Click to expand...

You get this a lot in the Weston/east Etobicoke area too where there seems to be a lot of Italian/Portuguese/South American influence. But I know what type of accent you're referring to. I don't know if I've been speaking to a wide plethora Americans recently but I've been hearing the "ab-AWT" (American pronunciation of about) more frequently as well. Along with the Italians... Jamaicans have had a very large influence on the way Torontonians speak as well, it's hard not to notice it in many non-Jamaican people. It's not only the accent, also the slang we've inadvertently picked up as well.

It would be interesting if we could come out with our own distinctive Toronto accent as opposed to the rest of Ontario, but it'll take time. I think it's beginning to transition already.
 
Last edited:
HHC said:
You get this a lot in the Weston/east Etobicoke area too where there seems to be a lot of Italian/Portuguese/South American influence. But I know what type of accent you're referring to. I don't know if I've been speaking to a wide plethora Americans recently but I've been hearing the "ab-AWT" (American pronunciation of about) more frequently as well. Along with the Italians... Jamaicans have had a very large influence on the way Torontonians speak as well, it's hard not to notice it in many non-Jamaican people. It's not only the accent, also the slang we've inadvertently picked up as well.

It would be interesting if we could come out with our own distinctive Toronto accent as opposed to the rest of Ontario, but it'll take time. I think it's beginning to transition already.
Click to expand...

I'm sure Toronto will eventually have it's own accent. As time goes on, the accents in North America will only diverge further, just as they have in England.

That said, I haven't heard any people in my area (Mississauga) say "about" and "house" the American way.

I know there's lots of Jamaicans in Toronto but I haven't noticed them influencing normal people's accents. Some people may emulate them, but that's different. Unless you have some specific examples to share! :)
 
Not the right word I know lol. But I couldn't think what else to say. By normal I mean "not ghetto".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top