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Old T.O.
Urban, jocular
DCHP-3 (May 2024)
Spelling variants:old T.O., Old Toronto
n.
a nickname for Toronto, Ontario.
Type: 1. Origin — The term Old T.O. was popularized by the satirical Globe and Mail writer Richard J. Needham in the 1960s (see the 1964 quotations). Needham often used Old T.O. facetiously, oscillating between using it to ironically emphasize Toronto's perceived high-class reputation (see the second 1964 quotation comparing Toronto to Buffalo) and to criticize the culture of the city (see the 1965 quotation discussing the wickedness of Toronto). In the 1990s, the term (and the similar Old Toronto)was frequently used by Toronto Star writer George Gamester (see the 1993, 1994, and 1995 quotations), who led a column for which people could send in memories of past Toronto for him to comment on and publish.
See: Hogtown
Quotations
1964
Old T.O., where Bay Street is Canada's original hardened artery, where the intersection of King and Yonge is the double-crossroads of the country.
1964
There’s always something going on in old T.O., the spirit of change and adventure is in the air, and aren’t you sorry for those poor slobs who live in backwaters like Buffalo, where the grass (it’s true, it’s true) grows on the sidewalks of the main streets? So enjoy your life in old T.O.
1964
Goodness gracious, what a sexy place old T.O. is becoming! We have these introduction centres springing up all over, which will find you inside of a week what most people never find in a lifetime--the partner (as they delicately put it) who is exactly right for you.
1965
Let's take it as one more piece of evidence that old T.O.--fish and chips, suet pudding, gloomy Sunday--is fast becoming one of this world's gay and glittering cities. . . .
1965
I came to Toronto with a diabolic ambition. I wanted to be the wickedest man in old T.O. Yes, I knew there was stiff competition; the number and size of the churches told me that; but I had confidence in my shortcomings.
1966
. . . K-W [Kitchener-Waterloo] has the same zestiness as old T.O.
1967
Word soon got around the city, "Galahad Goldfarb is utterly divine, and without question the greatest lover in old T.O." And that is where my troubles really began.
1993
HAVE you dropped a penny lately - and not bothered to pick it up?If the answer is yes, we can make two assumptions about you:(A) You have a bad back; or(B) You've never lived through tough times.Because as we learn from nostalgic Star readers, no one ever walked away from a penny in Old T.O.
1994
Radios were much loved in Old T.O.: [MET Edition] [headline]DON'T YOU dare touch that dial, friends. Because we're about to tune in Old Toronto on the wireless, as nostalgic Star readers remember radio...
1995
HELP! FIRE! Call 911. But what if there was no 911? What if the firemen didn't have trucks? How could we ever manage? Quite well, thank you - as we learn from nostalgic Star readers' memories of firefighting in Old T.O.* So tell us, Bert Leat of Collingwood, what was the scene down at the Ford St. fire hall in the 1920s when you were a kid in West Toronto?
References
- Needham, Richard J. • Link
- Needham (2005)