These are the surprising Toronto place names that people mispronounce the most
A new survey about the most common mispronunciations of Toronto spots has finally answered one of the city's age-old questions: how to actually say its name.
While everyone knows true locals say Turonno (or some variation) rather than pronouncing the second "t," language learning platform Preply has gone so far as to say that the colloquial version is the proper way to say it.
Topping a new list of the places in Toronto people are enunciating incorrectly — which was compiled using Google search data — is the title itself, which the brand says should be "tuh-ronno" rather than "toe-ron-toe."
As blogTO has asserted in the past, employing the second "t" "sounds pretentious, and it's a dead giveaway that you don't live in Toronto."
(Learning to articulate the moniker like a T.O. native is even a part of the Toronto Raptors' initiation.)
My first day on air here, my boss was very adamant that no one says the second "t."
— Fearless Fred (@Fearless_Fred) April 13, 2022
Turonno.
Next in the ranking is Geoffrey, as in Geoffrey Street, which crosses another oft-misread roadway: Roncesvalles, which the survey says should be said as "rawn-SES-vay-yez," like the Spanish origin of the word, though we can all agree that "Roncey" is the easiest way to tackle it.
Also on the list are Strachan (strawn, not stratch-en or strack-en), the Esplanade (esplan-aaaahd), Wellesley (wllz-ly) and Grosvenor (gro-vner).
And, of course, Etobicoke, the delivery of which became a joke after it was absolutely butchered in the popular 2019 documentary about Luka Magnotta.
Also on the list was, surprisingly, Yonge Street, which some people apparently mispronouce with a soft "g," and Spadina, which historically is mouthed as spuh-dee-nah, not spuh-die-nah, though 6ix-dwellers will definitely fight you on that one.
Other common mistakes: Glencairn, Trethewey, Tecumseth and Sherbourne.
I've always heard it pronounced:
— Megan Houston (@_meganhouston) March 10, 2022
Spa-die-na Ave BUT Spa-die-na House (Museum).
All very confusing!
"There's nothing more embarrassing than getting to a new city and mispronouncing its name in front of a local — especially if you butcher the regional accent," reads the survey.
"[You can] sound like a native — or at least a savvy tourist — when you learn to say these place names correctly."
