Greater Toronto English, Multicultural Toronto English (abbreviated MTE), Toronto English, or informally Toronto Mans Accent, is a sociolect linguistic variety of English dialect that is spoken in Canada.[1][2] It is spoken specifically within the Greater Toronto Area and inner-city Toronto, generally by young, working-class people, in an area known for its multicultural diverse population and Caribbean influence.[3] It includes the variants which have emerged in other diverse neighbourhoods and urban cities as well, such as Ottawa,[4] Hamilton, Barrie, and parts of Montréal, Calgary and Edmonton.^{[citation needed]} Greater Toronto English has also developed in a similar manner to Multicultural London English (abbreviated MLE), with the exception of Greater Toronto English having arisen differently and having a different accent with its own vocabulary.[5][6][7]

History

The origin of MTE goes all the way back to its widespread migration from the Caribbean to Canada in the 1960s and 1970s, when the vast majority of people from places such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Barbados, and other islands had largely migrated to Toronto and other parts of the region.[8][9] People have also migrated to Canada from West Africa, East Africa, and South Asia.[10][11]

Vocabulary

For a list of words relating to Greater Toronto English, see the Greater Toronto English category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2022)

Here is a list of common words in Greater Toronto English:

Adjectives

• "Bare" (very/a lot/many)[12][13]
• "Bait" (sketchy/dangerous)^{[citation needed]}
• "Beat" (something that looks ugly, can be used to describe an object) [14]
• "Cheesed" (pissed, mad, angry)[15]
• "Dutty" (dirty, bad, ugly)[16]
• "Dry" (uncool, lame, boring, uninterested)[17]
• "Greezy" (something impressive or attractive in a fashionable use)[18][19]
• "Likkle" (patois word from the English word "little")[16]
• "Marved" (starving)[20]
• "Merked" (ugly, unattractive)^{[citation needed]}
• "Mod" (bad/crazy)^{[citation needed]}
• "Peng" (describes a person who is attractive)^{[citation needed]}
• "Soft" (a person who is weak, scared, or afraid)[21]
• "Sweeterman/gyal (a person with sweet personalities and good looks)[21][22]^{[citation needed]}

Interjections

• "Ahlie!" (expression to agree with something or "am I lying?")[23]
• "Are you dumb?" (to describe someone who behaves stupidly and completely idiotically)[23]
• "Bless up!" (expression of greeting or farewell)[24]
• "Dun Know" (another way of saying "you already know," "of course," or "I know")[25]
• "Holy!" (often used when a person needs to chill out or to stop doing too much)[26]
• "Jokes!" ("that's jokes!", compliments something funny or hilarious)[27]
• "Wagwan" (an equivalent greeting to "what's up" or "what's going on?") [28][23]
• "Wallahi" (an Arabic word meaning to swear to god)[29]
• "What you sayin?" ("what you up to?" used as an expression of greeting)[27]

Pronouns

• "Mans"[lower-alpha 1] (he/it, first or second-person singular)[30]
• "You" (second-person singular)
• "You mans" (you, plural)
• "My mans" (third-person singular, masculine)
• "My guy" (close friend or aquantance)
• "Them/dem mans/mandem" (them)
• "Us mans" (we)

Nouns

• "6ix" (slang term for both the area code (416) and 647), also stands for the 6 pre-merger governments in Toronto)[31]
• "Blem" (a cigarette, marijuana, or joint, also used to describe someone who is extremely high)^{[citation needed]}
• "Bucktee/bean" (someone who is a crackhead or acts stupidly)[32][33]
• "Cro/crodie" (crip version of 'bro/brodie' but usually refers to a friend)^{[citation needed]}
• "Cronem" (group of 'cros', crip version of 'bronem', and refers to a group of friends)^{[citation needed]}
• "Cyattie" (describes a female who is being loud and obnoxious)[34]
• "Deafaz" (giving a hard physical slap or punch to someone)[35]
• "Dukes" (slang term for parents)[30]
• "Cuzzo" (cousin)[36]
• "Ends" (area, or neighbourhood)^{[citation needed]}
• "Fam" (short for "family" but generally used to refer to a "friend")[37][38]
• "Gyal" (girl)[39]
• "Gyallis" (a guy who can pick up ladies easily"[40]
• "Gyaldem" (group of girls)[18]
• "Hoodman" (a young working-class person involved in crime and drugs, similar to the equivalent word "roadman" used in MLE)[30][41]
• "Mandem" (a group of males or male friends)[42]
• "Side ting" (sexual partner other than a girlfriend/wife)^{[citation needed]}
• "Snake" (an untrustworthy person)[18]
• "Styll" (pronounced "still" and means agree to someone or the truth and is occasionally used at the last part of a statement)[43][44]
• "T-Dot" (abbreviation word for "Toronto")[45][46]
• "Telly" (slang for a hotel or a hotel room)[47]
• "Ting" (a thing but usually refers to an attractive female)[23]
• "Two-Four" (refers to a case of 24 pack beers)[34] This noun is not unique to Toronto but is used across Canada.
• "Wasteman/wasteyute)" (a worthless, garbage, insensible idiotic person who makes bad decisions with their life, both words being used interchangeably)[15]
• "Two-Twos" (unexpectedly or quickly)[48]
• "Wifey" (girlfriend, or wife)[49]
• "Yute" (Patois word from English "youth")[16]

Verbs

• "Allow/Lowe it/that" (to ignore, forget or not bother with)[13]
• "Ball up" (smoking marijuana)^{[citation needed]}
• "Beef" (argument, fight)^{[citation needed]}
• "Buss" (to give/to send, to bust, or to ejaculate)^{[citation needed]}
• "Flex" (to show off such as money and clothes)[50]
• "Link (up)" (to meet up, give someone something, pre-relationship status)[51]^{[citation needed]}
• "Nize it/that" (to tell someone to shut up or stop talking)[25]
• "Pree" (to pay and look close attention to)[30]
• "Reach/come thru" (synonyms for "come by" or "attend")[52]
• "Scoop me" (to get a ride somewhere, get picked up)[26]
• "Scrap" (to fight)[21]
• "Y-pree" (patois word, meaning "what's up?" or to mind your own: "why are you in my business?")[53]

Controversy

The article on VICE, dated October 21, 2019, by Sharine Taylor, featured a CityNews article, "New Toronto slang growing in popularity," and has sparkled controversy within the community, which stated that it failed to represent Toronto slang.[54] Following up, she stated the problem is the slangs are not "new," as the title had implied, and belong not to Toronto but to Black communities within Toronto, which were notably absent, as mentioned previously, from the coverage.[55]

On May 17, 2016, Max Weinstein wrote an XXL article explaining the Twitter controversy surrounding Drake's usage of Jamaican Patois because of his failure to acknowledge Toronto slang and its origin.[56] Another writer, Sajae Elder, wrote a similar article on BuzzFeed News.[57]

In popular culture

• In 2017, Drake was featured in a Toronto-based comedy show called (T-Dot Goon Scrap DVD 2), where he heavily spoke Multicultural Toronto English.[58]
• In a Vanity Fair YouTube video, Shawn Mendes, a popular Canadian singer and songwriter, was featured, teaching about Canadian slang (primarily Toronto slang vocabulary).[59]

See also

• Canadian English
• Greater Toronto Area
• Toronto
• Multicultural London English
• Multiethnolect
• Sociolect

References