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There are a handful of neighborhood and street names used in Toronto (not necessarily from Toronto) that have unusual pronunciations. Here I'll give some triples of (English spelling, actual pronunciation (IPA), a naive pronunciation (IPA)):

(Yonge, [jʌŋ], [jɑndʒ]); (Strachan, [sdʒɹɑn], [ˈsdʒɹa.tʃæn]); (Tecumseth, [tə.ˈkʌm.zi], [ˈti.kəm.sɛθ]); (Markham, [ˈmɑr.kʌm], [ˈmɑrk.hæm]), (Etobicoke, [ɛ.ˈtoʊ.bɪ.koʊ], [ɛ.ˈtoʊ.bɪ.koʊk]).

See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2cyg6bFeRc , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PmeDWvwD8M



That's because some are Indigenous names phoneticized for English speakers (Yonge and Markham on the other hand are entirely English names):

Etobicoke. From Adobigok [1]

Tecumseh (or Tecumseth). From tecumtha or takhamehse [2]

Mississauga. From Misi-zaagiing [3]

[1] https://www.etobicokehistorical.com/brief-history-of-etobico...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecumseh

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississauga




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