I heard a CBC Radio 1 announcer tonight talking about Spokane, Washington, pronouncing it to rhyme with "cocaine."

(It's properly said as "spoe-CAN," of course.)

But c'mon, "pen in soo-la?" That's just something you should know from going to basic public school for 12 years. There's simply no reason to get that one wrong.

And the same guy did it again at the top of the hour while I was listening. What I can't figure out is why, as a team, the other newscaster on that night didn't tap him on the shoulder during a break and correct him. Surely they can't both be this ignorant.

Okay, all of you who have posted comments above this one: What city do you live in?  You know, the capital of Ontario.  Do you pronounce the last syllable of it?
Yep. Thought so.  Those who live in glass houses shuh-int through stones.

Radio Bob wrote:

Okay, all of you who have posted comments above this one: What city do you live in?  You know, the capital of Ontario.  Do you pronounce the last syllable of it?
Yep. Thought so.  Those who live in glass houses shuh-int through stones.

However for many years, the local accepted, and most common pronunciation of Tor-on-TOE, is Tor-on-doe, with much less emphasis on the "doe."  If this is what most people say (and they do) then this would be the correct pronunciation.
 
I have never heard a Torontonian or anyone in Southern Ontario refer to the city as "Tarranna" as some "out of towners" seem to hear when speaking to a local. But let's face it, tourists can and will pronounce Toronto however they want.

The most common and accepted pronunciation of better, is still... better.  Not this mangled and contrived beh-er. that the cool kids, or those who are trying to be cool are now using.

Jim Richards on CFRB insists on pronouncing "picture" as "pitcher." This has nothing to do with his dyslexia and it's easily correctible but he never does.

My home town is Iroquois Falls.  Imagine how much the first word in that is mangled. And just when you think you've heard 'em all, BAM!
 

Back in the 1920s, the BBC established a Pronunciation Unit whose responsibility was to keep tabs on correct usage.  Apparently it may still exist.  There are so many cringeworthy mistakes being perpetuated, among them the accent on the second syllable of Caribbean.  And there was George Bush and his inability to pronounce new-clee-ar (his was new-cue-lar).  Kenya is not "keen-ya".
I had a stern high school English teacher who would stamp her feet and turn beet red if you said "due to" instead of "because of".  Her rule was very simple: "due to" must follow a copula verb, i.e. "is", "was".  It is classically incorrect to say "due to technical difficulties", but common usage has displaced correctness even in Great Britain.

Skywave wrote:

Back in the 1920s, the BBC established a Pronunciation Unit whose responsibility was to keep tabs on correct usage.  Apparently it may still exist.  There are so many cringeworthy mistakes being perpetuated, among them the accent on the second syllable of Caribbean.  And there was George Bush and his inability to pronounce new-clee-ar (his was new-cue-lar).  Kenya is not "keen-ya".
I had a stern high school English teacher who would stamp her feet and turn beet red if you said "due to" instead of "because of".  Her rule was very simple: "due to" must follow a copula verb, i.e. "is", "was".  It is classically incorrect to say "due to technical difficulties", but common usage has displaced correctness even in Great Britain.

Unfortunately, many Canadian on-air staff, influenced by post WW2 BBC, are gone.  We now have staff that have been influenced by rap music and US based "apps" that do not use the Queen's English.


 

turkeytop wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

When working up in Grey/Bruce I was told right from the get go, that the pronunciation of Southampton, Ontario was South-ampton.  No hamptons for the folks north or south of the checkerboard...

I grew up and lived much of my life about a mile from the checkerboard. I always pronounce the H in Southampton.

Another common mispronunciation up there is, instead of Tobermory they say Tubmurry, or somtimes, just "The Tub."

Another is "Chizley" instead of Chesley.

And, of course, Wiarton is pronounced as "Wire-n."
 

I never heard anyone from Southampton say the name of the town with the H.  Or never heard Chesley called Chizley except for making fun of the name.  We would always need to tell new announcers that is was Chesley and not Chelsey, which seemed to be a common error. 

Wiarton pronounced Wire-n??  Only north or near the checkerboard...

paterson1 wrote:

I never heard anyone from Southampton say the name of the town with the H.  Or never heard Chesley called Chizley except for making fun of the name.  We would always need to tell new announcers that is was Chesley and not Chelsey, which seemed to be a common error. 

Wiarton pronounced Wire-n??  Only north or near the checkerboard...

Another one is Kincardine pronounced as "Kingcardine."
 

fybush wrote:

I heard a CBC Radio 1 announcer tonight talking about Spokane, Washington, pronouncing it to rhyme with "cocaine."

(It's properly said as "spoe-CAN," of course.)

Wow, I've always heard people say Spo-CANE (including US broadcasers) and assumed that was the proper pronunciation. I think that's a very common mispronunciation. 

Even the greats can mispronounce things. I remember when the Mississauga train derailment happened in 1979, Walter Cronkite badly mangled "Mississauga" on the CBS Evening News. Less excusable is Tucker Carlson who seems to think the capital of Canada is aw-TA-wa.

Lorne Greene, who was a newscasting legend in Canada during World War II, long before becoming Pa Cartwright on Bonanza, was once asked how he managed to pronounce the names of obscure Russian and Ukrainian towns when giving news about Eastern Front battles. His answer - he made it up but said it with authority. To the untutored ear you can get away with mispronouncing something as well as you do it with confidence. 

All of which reminds me of this





 

Oh and I should also mention the traffic reporter on CITY news who keeps talking about VEEKLES on the road.
Aaargh!

 

Here is the original Let's Go To The Ex TV commercial from 1982...
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=558631697&rlz=1C1GGRV_enCA751CA751&q=Lets+Go+to+the+Ex+commercial&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj60cH4yuyAAxUfkYkEHRElBPI4ChDVAnoECB0QAQ&biw=1355&bih=634&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:0853ca2d,vid:bgs7j4GGeww

Born and raised here in “the six” and I’ve always pronounced our city as Tor-on-toe.

If you worked for the previous owners of CKPC, they made the announcers and newscasters always say BRANT-FORD not Brant-FERD as is most often pronounced.   I think FERD is really the most common pronunciation.

Years ago, when I was music director for the old CHSC in St. Catharines, we had a kid (early 20’s) filling in during the evening show and, I kid you not, he backsold a song by west coast band CHILLY-WACK, not CHILLA-WACK as it should be, CHILLY-WACK.   I nearly hit the roof so I coached him in the correct pronunciation.

This thread triggered a memory for me of a few years back when a  traffic reporter on a Barrie station kept referring to the town of Brechin on highway 12 as Bretch inn , sounding like a rhyme to wretch. After several times hearing this , I called in and spoke with the fellow, gave him the proper pronunciation, on the next report, he stumbled over it, and ended up saying  Bretch inn again.  I switched stations.