Originally published at: The second T in Toronto is silent—isn't it? | Boing Boing
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The second T in Toronto is silent—isn’t it?
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Ah, you mean, “Ttttttttor-on-tttttttto!”
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Isn’t that just an example of the fairly generalised phenomenon where locals will shorten the pronunciation of a name for convenience?
(Here in London there is an area spelled Marylebone. Visitors will say “Mary - le - bone”. Brits will generally say “Mary-le-bon”. Some Londoners will say “Marl-bon”. Locals will often say “Maw-bn”.)
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People will also try to tell you that it’s pronounced “VANG-couver,” but as someone born and raised here, that’s a more recent (and grating) popular mispronunciation.
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It’s pronounced “cash flow on the lake”.
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I won’t try to transcribe the pronunciations, but in my hometown, the words below are not what someone from the outside would say.
Detroit (Well, most everyone knows how we pronounce this one)
Livernois
Gratiot
gyro (we have a real Greektown)
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Otherwise how would you rhyme it with Donna
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Ask the Toronto Kid.
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Chicago = Shuh-CAW-go
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I love how non-locals can go ape telling locals how to pronounce where they live. A couple of hundred metres from me now in Dublin is Rialto. This is pronounced rEYE -alto here and not anywhere else. Or Ranelagh up the road is always called Renelagh by those from the area to the annoyance of absolutely everyone else.
I mean I might not say Torono but I do know my habit is wrong.
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My company has a large-ish office in “The Six,” and most of my colleagues pronounce it “Tron-o.”
YMMV ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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That is what Ben Affleck’s character said in the movie Argo.
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It’s pronounced “Tronno”. I can instantly tell how much time you’ve spent there by whether or not you know this. 
The one exception to this is if you say “Torontonians”, because “Tronnonians” sounds like some sort of alien race. Or maybe an obscure metal band name or something. 
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Why would it be?
Strong disagree with the map. I’ve never heard any Canadian in any province pronounce the second T. We can tell you are American if you don’t call it Tronno. Similarly Calgary is Calgree. Only one ‘A’.
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Trauna . cf trauma
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The T is not silent there’s just no e at the end of the city name. So it’s not
Torontoe
The first o is a little elided over and the accent (slight) is on the RON. It’s really a one syllable word with a little lift in the middle.
ToRONto
Well, yes, of course. That doesn’t make it less interesting though. I like learning about different locals pronounce their local things.
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My family lives in the GTA (Greater Torranah Area). Head about an hour northwest and the agrarian locals pronounce “Saerday” for the day after Friday.
