No, not at all a one-off.
Millennial and gen Z announcers are notorious for lax pronunciation and enunciation.
It just really isn't taught anymore.
Hearing a news announcer with bad pronunciation is like if you went to see your doctor and he or she told you they really never learned how to take blood pressure.
Or if you called the CAA and they arrived and said they were not sure how to change a tire.
In broadcasting that means you have supposedly professional announcers saying Blur Street, or for that matter Eggelton Avenue, which I have also heard.
When I first came to Toronto in the 80s I was confused when I heard traffic reports where the announcer would talk about the "corn collectors."
It took me a while to realize they were talking about the "core and collectors," referring to highway lanes.
Nowadays I roll my eyes as I drive alone when the radio announcer tells me there's a stawed veekle on the DVP.
(stalled vehicle.)



 

I worked briefly in Windsor, and was shocked to discover local pronunciations.
Windsor's main street, Pierre, is pronounced PEER-ee.
I spoke to a city police sergeant whose name was Langlois, except he told me it was pronounced LANG-loyz.
There are similar agonizing anglo pronunciations in Toronto, like RON-sez-Vales for Roncesvalles.
Also AY-jin-kort for Agincourt.
Coming from BC where we don't even speak French all that much we would pronouce these rons-VALL and AH-zhen-koor
 

Last edited by newsguy1 (April 21, 2024 9:39 pm)

A funny story I remember from my college years (2001-2003) was from long-time Kingston morning man Greg "Great White" Hunter (CKLC/CFLY), a fellow Loyalist radio alum... class of '77. One major roadway in Kingston's downtown area is Bagot Street. Not long after he arrived in K-Town, thinking of the francophones in the area, he thought the street name was pronounced "ba-GO"... it's actually "BAG-it". I can only imagine what newbies in Kingston think when they see names like Cataraqui or Waaban or Gananoque...

Here in the Valley, my father-in-law heard a local radio news reporter talking about Junior A hockey, and said reporter referred to the Navan Grads team as the "na-VAN" Grads... it's actually "NAV-in".

In London there is a street named Westminster Drive. I've heard it on the radio called West Minister Drive.

Binson Echorec wrote:

Long since removed from the curriculum, the upcoming generation has no idea what phonetics are. The only 'shwa they know is east of Toronto.

Good ol' Dirty Shwa... 

Forward Power wrote:

A funny story I remember from my college years (2001-2003) was from long-time Kingston morning man Greg "Great White" Hunter (CKLC/CFLY), a fellow Loyalist radio alum... class of '77. One major roadway in Kingston's downtown area is Bagot Street. Not long after he arrived in K-Town, thinking of the francophones in the area, he thought the street name was pronounced "ba-GO"... it's actually "BAG-it". I can only imagine what newbies in Kingston think when they see names like Cataraqui or Waaban or Gananoque...

Here in the Valley, my father-in-law heard a local radio news reporter talking about Junior A hockey, and said reporter referred to the Navan Grads team as the "na-VAN" Grads... it's actually "NAV-in".

I lived in Ottawa for a few years as a youngin, and it took me a while to pronounce North Gower as “Gore” and not “Gow-er”.

fyshtalk wrote:

Heard a commercial recently where the announcer talks about pushing the scent "budden"!

The 'd' sound replacing the sound of a single or double 't' is becoming way more common. I know two people who speak this way in real life. There is also a traffic reporter who calls it 'Mar-din Grove'.

Conversely, I've noticed that the word 'second' has been replaced by the word 'secant', especially in sport when referring to placement; first, secant, third.