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My b-day is July 15; I win!

I second the "flame" idea to commemorate the burning of our parliament buildings. Clever idea!

This is a really important piece of land that deserves better than what it's had! I would love to see this project proceed.

Why not, indeed!

So, now that this ho-hum building is pretty much done, doesn't this mean that something is going to happen across the street where Hakeem is now? I thought I recalled this being a two-parter.

I've been scouring Youtube for an example of an "e" that sounds a bit like short "a". I've been listening to a lot of Canadian accents. Firstly, I would like to retract what I said about Canadian oldtimers pronouncing "e" like short "a". Perhaps an American might make that assertion based...

Absolutely! Highly priced = highly sought after.

I'm going to defend Lezouris about the short "e" sounding like short "a", though, at first, I wondered what you were talking about! I don't think it's as common as "abe-ot", but I have a friend from Mississauga who's 34 and totally does this (in conjunction with what I'd call a "Valley Girl"...

Alright. Then, I should have said "Until WWII, most Ontarians were the progeny of British immigrants."

Until WWII, most Ontarians WERE British immigrants! Alas, I have the strong impression that new (non-British) immigrants to Canada are more influenced by how people speak in Hollywood than by how they speak next-door!

Definitely HHHHerbs. (But I hear both all the time!)

Thanks for that, TrickyRicky! I can see how longer tenancies could lead to more pride of place, but I suspect well kept Swiss, Badish and Bavarian buildings have mostly a culture of orderliness and perfection to thank. I can think of many old buildings in Toronto with very old tenants who have...

I'd encourage you to listen carefully the next time you're talking face to face with a Californian. Listen to words like: forest, sorry, dollar, got, Canada, sad, route, louse. Because we hear a Californian accent all the time on TV, we stop noticing it. It is, however, different than an...

I second that: granite and cobble stone EVERYWHERE!

I agree! I've talked a lot about an incipient Toronto accent; however, it's nothing I've heard from people over 25, and it certainly hasn't gelled yet. I expect it will over the next few generations as white, brown and black people slowly become beige!

Smitherman has pledged to create a sort of "heritage police" to make sure historic buildings are being maintained. It's one thing to make promises: another to keep them. I sure want to believe him, though! I'd love to know what rules the Swiss and Germans have. Now these are countries with A...

The only thing that Woodbridge has in common with Brooklyn or Staten Island is the Italian influence. Brooklyners would say "noo yawk", "aba-ot" and "kee-anada" as other East Coasters would. Woodbridgers would say "noo yorrk", "abe-ot" and "Canada" (often with less hint of "ee" than most...

I agree. I talked a lot about this over on the "Toronto's Obsession with Diversity" thread. What's interesting is how different ethnic groups in the city are affecting each other's accent. I hear kids named "Wang" and "Smith" adopting Italian and Jamaican inflections and expressions. I also...

I've been thinking of things all day that I should have mentioned!

Please forgive this rant, but sometimes I get the impression from Torontians of non-British heritage that they think we Anglo-Canadians have no culture or traditions. I can assure you, we do! Unfortunately, without a huge pop-culture industry to project it, new-arrivals to Canada often don't...