Wanted: World-class nickname for Toronto

[Hipster Duck]

Nowadays, I think most city nicknames that stick do so in a snide, pejorative way: La-la-land, Hongcouver, The People's Republic of Chapel Hill, etc.

The idea of coming up with a complimentary nickname like "The Big Apple" or "City of Light" is extremely dated and generally only used by people like Tony Bennett. Then there are monikers like "The Queen City of..." that are hilariously effete. I think the era of city nicknaming has gone the way of the dodo bird and to do so would be like holding a world's fair (see the world's largest gyrochronometer, located next to the hall of savages!) or a horse diving competition.

I think we should wear our nicknamelessness with pride.

 

[AKS]

I don't see why a city needs a nick name. It'll just let people make fun of / slander the city more especially if it combines with certain words or slogans.

 

[adma]

Maybe in honour of the McDonalds across from the ROM Crystal, Toronto's nickname can be "Bronx Mowgli"

 

[TKTKTK]

I don't understand why our old nicknames are no longer valid.

Is Paris still the city of lights? Really? If we're going to be literal, wouldn't that be HongKong now, or Tokyo? Is New York a big apple? Don't over think this shit.

Toronto is still HogTown, still The Big Smoke, still Toronto the Good, still New York run by the Swiss, still The Queen City, still Muddy York.

 

[Tewder]

Paris was/is the city of 'light' (meaning learning, art and reason), not 'lights'. It got bastardized over the years, and even Paris likes to jump on the bandwagon. The monuments are indeed beautifully lit at night but the overall effect is nothing compared to Times Square for example.

 

[Urban_Frog]

I live here, and that's why I like the city.

But if I were a foreigner, I don't see why I would put Toronto on the top of my traveling list. Its history is relatively less rich than a lot of North American and European cities. Its scenery is so-so when comparing to British Columbia, Quebec, or the Maritime provinces.

Personally I think one of the main reasons why people come here is to visit their relatives who moved to Toronto as immigrates, in another word, our cultural diversity is our trump card and should not be overseen.

The nickname or theme for Toronto should be developed or generated from this main characteristic of the city.

Maybe the city should open up a museum that documents this aspect.

 

[Disparishun]

Personally I think one of the main reasons why people come here is to visit their relatives who moved to Toronto as immigrates, in another word, our cultural diversity is our trump card and should not be overseen. The nickname or theme for Toronto should be developed or generated from this main characteristic of the city.

Is Toronto's ethnic diversity particularly unusual for a large North American (or Australian) city? Is the argument that we have done a particularly good job with respect to our diversity as compared to NY, LA, CHI, PHI, SF, BOS, etc.?

 

[ian]

Is Toronto's ethnic diversity particularly unusual for a large North American (or Australian) city? Is the argument that we have done a particularly good job with respect to our diversity as compared to NY, LA, CHI, PHI, SF, BOS, etc.?

With

• around 40-50% foreign born population (depending on your source)
• the fact that our foreign born population is not dominated by a single ethnic group (such as Latin Americans in Miami, and Indians in Dubai)
• a (relatively) thriving metropolis that isn't racked by violent protests (while the recent competing protests about the Israeli attacks on the West Bank did get a bit tense)

I'd say we're doing a pretty good job.

EDIT:

According to this report (from 2004), Miami has 59% foreign-born, Toronto has 44%, LA has 41%, Vancouver has 37%, New York has 36%. Further down are Sydney (31%), London (28%) and Paris (23%). It would be nice if anyone knows of an newer report, but I don't think things have drastically changed since this report was done.

 

[Urban_Frog]

The question to ask is... WHY do people want to come visit Toronto.....??

 

[Urban_Frog]

According to this report (from 2004), Miami has 59% foreign-born, Toronto has 44%, LA has 41%, Vancouver has 37%, New York has 36%. Further down are Sydney (31%), London (28%) and Paris (23%). It would be nice if anyone knows of an newer report, but I don't think things have drastically changed since this report was done.

Other than the "percentage" we should also look at the actual "population" of foreign-born citizen / residents.

 

[Disparishun]

According to this report (from 2004), Miami has 59% foreign-born, Toronto has 44%, LA has 41%, Vancouver has 37%, New York has 36%. Further down are Sydney (31%), London (28%) and Paris (23%). It would be nice if anyone knows of an newer report, but I don't think things have drastically changed since this report was done.

Right. Point being that lots of Torontonians were born elsewhere, and ditto for most other major North American (and, it seems, many other) cities. The idea that this 44% number somehow distinguishes us radically from somewhere where 31% of residents were foreign-born, or whatever, seems like a bit of a precious distinction to me.

I have nothing against the we're-so-damn-multicultural identity. I just think it comes off as arrogant when we trumpet that as unique to Toronto. It's not, and many from other cities trumpet exactly the same thing.

a (relatively) thriving metropolis that isn't racked by violent protests (while the recent competing protests about the Israeli attacks on the West Bank did get a bit tense)

Again, I think we're doing just fine, and so are lots of other places. Let's take pride in our diversity, by all means, but let's not implicitly belittle other cities who certainly merit similar pride in something similar.

(By the way: there weren't competing protests about "Israeli attacks on the West Bank". There were competing protests about the Gazan-Israeli conflict, one of which framed that conflict as "Israeli attacks on Gaza" and one of which, obviously, framed it differently.)

 

[ian]

(By the way: there weren't competing protests about "Israeli attacks on the West Bank". There were competing protests about the Gazan-Israeli conflict, one of which framed that conflict as "Israeli attacks on Gaza" and one of which, obviously, framed it differently.)

Sorry, I knew that was phrased imprecisely, I was trying not to go off on a tangent. I left it in in my haste to post the rest of that message. Please do not let that side-note derail the discussion!

 

[Tewder]

Arguing which city has the largest number of foreign-born or the largest variety of ethnic groups is rather silly. It is public perception that matters. The public perceives Toronto as diverse, which is a good thing but not a very outstanding thing. People from most cities will boast of this quality but it doesn't set them apart. My friends and family in London England can't stop boasting about how diverse their city is (neighbourhoods, cuisine and cultural events etc) and are really not likely to be compelled to venture to Toronto just by me trying to convince them it is somehow more so here.

 

[jaycola]

"Toronto, Your Invited!" Campaign

I have an idea to boost tourism and local business.

I'd like to see a campaign where we encourage Torontonians to invite friends and family to the city. We could tie invitations to the many festivals we have here in during the year.

Like many here have pointed out there are large diverse populations in many cities throughout North America and Europe, not to mention the native populations in their homelands. We could invite cultural associations from other cities to be part of our celebrations.

This could help our own festivals become more vibrant and the media reporting in other cities of troups of ethnic performers (for example) traveling to Toronto to share in celebrations could further highlight the city.

The same could be done for our Arts festivals, our music and theatre festivals.

The best part is the low cost. Produce a few web e-vites. Give away free invitation post cards featuring photos of the events.

Just encourage people to invite their friends and family to Toronto.

I might just help

 

[OttoSchloss]

The question to ask is... WHY do people want to come visit Toronto.....??

I can completely understand why people would want to MOVE to Toronto. As far as visiting, it's really only a matter of good marketing. It really needs to figure out how to market being all things to all people (which it is) instead of always seeming to narrow its ad focus i.e. this year we'll market to hip 30something sophisticates/wannabes, in 3 years we'll try to attract families.

I don't think I've ever been to the eastern Beaches (or the Islands) in summer when it's not full of young & old things, sunning, playing volleyball etc. While not the most unique feature of the city (Chicago has it too), it's pretty unique in of itself for a major urban area. Why not celebrate that? "Come drop trou and meet a pretty young thing in a bikini of either sex".

Instead of focusing on the ethnic neighborhoods, focus on the cuisine. Yeah you can get reasonably priced Peruvian cuisine in New York or L.A. but can you get it in Canton, OH? Toronto's one of the better cities to hear live music, but instead they focus on the big imported theater productions and the Opera co. -great but most towns have theaters, traveling Broadway prods and an Opera house -but not all cities have thriving & quality live music scenes like Toronto does (and historically has had -play that up), or the variety of small theaters and dance groups. And until something is done about the 2.a.m. last call, no one cares about clubbing nightlife and unless it's unique or scene based no one is coming here for that. No one really cares that there are 5 chinatowns in the city. They only care that there is one. And no one cares about the biggest or tallest because that's not necessarily unique and if your talking to other Canadians about it, it only makes them feel inadequate and hateful. And lastly employ Margaret Atwood to greet planes at the airport. etc.