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Still a lot of ignorance from the downtowners re: T.O?

Eug said:
Yes I've often heard the traffic news report something like "To the west on the 401 at Hurontario there are delays due to lane closures" but the traffic reports I listen to never call it "Toronto".
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CBC Radio 1 is a Toronto station. If they say "delays on the 401 in the west end of the city" how can that mean anything other than Toronto/GTA?

Like it or not, the West End now encompasses both Etobicoke and Mississauga, Oakville, and maybe even Burlington too. Similiarly, I'm sure I've heard the "north end" refer to York region, and "east end" refer to Scarborough and Ajax and Pickering.
 
Well, it depends on whether they say "west end of the city", as opposed to "GTA", or just generically north/east/west...
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
CBC Radio 1 is a Toronto station. If they say "delays on the 401 in the west end of the city" how can that mean anything other than Toronto/GTA?
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680 News is a Toronto station and they say "west" too, but referring to the GTA.

The GTA is not the same thing as Toronto.

If CBC 1 really is calling Mississauga as the west part of the city of Toronto, then they need to be educated, because it's simply wrong. Furthermore, other traffic reporters don't do that, cuz it's wrong.

BTW, there delays on the 401 in the west end of the city of Toronto (416 area) all the time. Same goes for the 401 in the east end of the city of Toronto (416) too. However, it's plausible they could be referring to traffic delays from Etobicoke all the way out into Mississauga, because that happens too.
 
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Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
CBC Radio 1 is a Toronto station. If they say "delays on the 401 in the west end of the city" how can that mean anything other than Toronto/GTA?
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It can mean Mississauga as well. Mississauga is technically a city, and it does have a west end... or it could just west end of Toronto proper. Never would anyone refer to the entire GTA as "the city"
 
In 1792, York County includes present-day Peel Region, Halton Region, Toronto, part of Durham Region and the city of Hamilton. By 1852, York County was divided with Peel County to the west and Ontario County to the east. By 1953, Metropolitan Toronto separated from York County. By 1971, York County disappeared, replaced by York Region.
 
doady said:
It can mean Mississauga as well. Mississauga is technically a city, and it does have a west end... or it could just west end of Toronto proper. Never would anyone refer to the entire GTA as "the city"
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Hurontario is clearly not the west end of Mississauga, so that's not it.

I think we have to accept that GTA = Toronto. I think people do refer to the GTA as "the city".

Go ahead and listen to some traffic reports. Hearing "west end" or "west end of the city" refer to traffic problems at Mavis or Hurontario is pretty common now that I listen for it.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
Hurontario is clearly not the west end of Mississauga, so that's not it.

I think we have to accept that GTA = Toronto. I think people do refer to the GTA as "the city".

Go ahead and listen to some traffic reports. Hearing "west end" or "west end of the city" refer to traffic problems at Mavis or Hurontario is pretty common now that I listen for it.
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I don't know, it seems kind of strange. I've never experienced Toronto = GTA in everyday conversation. Then again I don't listen the traffic reports.
 
doady said:
I don't know, it seems kind of strange. I've never experienced Toronto = GTA in everyday conversation. Then again I don't listen the traffic reports.
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I hear traffic reports every day. Although they rarely if ever mention that my route is slow, even though it nearly always is (401-410).
 
"downtown" is such an American word though, isn't it? I'm beginning to think it's really not that appropriate for Toronto... we're really unlike US cities like L.A., Seattle, Houston, where this term has a very visible and clear-cut definition.

I guess they use the term in NYC but to lesser extents. I've never heard anyone say "downtown New York" but I have heard "downtown Manhattan".
Perhaps we should make like the Asians and use the term 'CBD'.

I do agree that there is this phenomenom that the old "city of toronto" = downtown, for some people. Esp when I lived at Yonge/Eglinton people would say "Hey I'm coming downtown wanna meet up?"

DTowner said:
Buying a condo downtown costs the same as in the suburbs.
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Not true. I was just in the market for a condo last year, and was priced out of "downtown" given the type of unit I was looking for.


Electrify said:
If someone lives in a condo at Empress Walk, gets their groceries from the Loblaws downstairs, and works in one of the near by office towers,
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lol... hi!
 
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For me, I would casually refer to "downtown" as being a box roughly encompassing the area between Bloor Street south to the waterfront, west from about Bathurst over to the DVP in the east. The edges are pretty fuzzy, though. Is there actually an official definition of "downtown" though, I wonder? Some might consider it just to be the financial district, but that seems very limiting.
 
CityPainter said:
For me, I would casually refer to "downtown" as being a box roughly encompassing the area between Bloor Street south to the waterfront, west from about Bathurst over to the DVP in the east. The edges are pretty fuzzy, though. Is there actually an official definition of "downtown" though, I wonder? Some might consider it just to be the financial district, but that seems very limiting.
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The reason why I like to use "downtown" to refer to the financial district only is because it doesn't have any other name.

Whereas the other neighborhoods have actual names, i.e. The Distillery district, St. Lawrence, Yorkville, Queen West, Church-Wellesley, The Annex, Liberty village, The beaches, etc.

But then you run into the problem where people from outside "downtown" don't know about the individual neighborhood names, so...
 
Coltaine79 said:
"downtown" is such an American word though, isn't it? I'm beginning to think it's really not that appropriate for Toronto... we're really unlike US cities like L.A., Seattle, Houston, where this term has a very visible and clear-cut definition.
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Well... technically, what is Canadian is also American, because the term "American" actually refers to the continent, North plus South America, and there is no such country called America. So, not only are we are all Americans because we are all Canadians, but in fact it is impossible to be Canadian without being American, the same way it is impossible to be Mexican without being American, or Argentinian without being American. So "downtown" being an American word doesn't mean it is not fit for Toronto since it is an American city.
 
doady said:
Well... technically, what is Canadian is also American, because the term "American" actually refers to the continent, North plus South America, and there is no such country called America.
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Technically yes ...

... but langauge is based on usaged, not codification. A quick look in a Canadian dictionary shows the primary meaning of American is "relating to, or characterstic of the US or it's inhabitants". As that's the primary usage, using it for another similar usage will only create unnecessary ambiguity.
 
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