Why “The 6” Isn’t Just Another Nickname For Toronto
If you’re from Toronto, you’ve likely heard the city referred to as “the 6”. In fact, if you’re from Toronto, you’ve likely groaned or rolled your eyes when you’ve heard the city referred to as “the 6”. But have you ever wondered: Why is Toronto called “the 6”?
Thanks to Drake, the rapper from Forest Hill, Toronto is known internationally as “the 6”. In fact, this moniker has taken over as an unfortunate mascot of Toronto’s identity. With each passing day and year, the other forms of slang for Toronto continue to slide out of the vernacular of the people of Toronto.
The identity of Toronto remains very unsettled, and I think that’s good. Part of the creative tension of Toronto is that it’s such a mixture of various cultural influences.
– George Ellion Clark, English Professor at the University of Toronto
Some, Now Older, Names For Toronto Are:
1) Tdot: This was (obviously) an abbreviation for T.O., which allegedly goes back to the early 90s with Canadian rap star Mastro Fresh Wes.
2) TO: This is obviously the precursor to Tdot, which was abbreviated because it’s obviously way too long.
3) The Big Smoke: Going back to the early 1900s, Australian writer Alan Rayburn called Toronto “The Big Smoke”. From there, the name was popularized by Canadian journalist Alan Fotheringham. He called it this because Toronto had a giant reputation and nothing to show for it.
4) Hogtown: Well this is easy. Toronto is called Hogtown because of the dominant hog-processing industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
5) Baby New York: Toronto is like the New York of Canada. It’s the busiest city, and is also home to the hippest clubs, brunch spots, and trendy boutiques. That is all.
Want To Know Why Toronto Is Called “The 6”?
The reason Toronto is called “The 6” / “6” / “6ix” is because of the six municipalities making up Metro Toronto before they were all joined in 1998.
Further, the name (annoying as it may be) is also derived from the main area code in Toronto, 416. Originally, Drake said he and his collaborators thought about calling it “the 4”. But it just didn’t have the same ring to it.
What Drake Has To Say About “The 6”
So, the area code for Toronto is 416… why did Drake decide to go with The 6″?
Want To Know Why Toronto Is Called “The 6”? The reason Toronto is called “The 6” / “6” / “6ix” is because of the six municipalities making up Metro Toronto before they were all joined in 1998. Further, the name (annoying as it may be) is also derived from the main area code in Toronto, 416.
In the book, The Six, a blues-rock band gets their name because of the number of members that they have: lead singer Billy Dunne and his guitarist brother Graham, drummer Warren, bassist Pete and his brother, Eddie, who becomes the lead guitarist after the band's first one, Chuck, dies at war, and Karen, a keyboardist.
The number 6 appears in two phone area codes in the city: 416 and 647. Toronto also used to be made up of six municipalities before being joined into one in 1998. Know Your Meme. Drake put the 6 in the spotlight in 2014–15 when he announced his next album would be called Views from the 6.
The last member to join the band was Karen, making them a crew of six, hence the eventual name The Six. At first, the crew is called The Dunne Brothers, however, when Karen joins the band in the book, officially making them a group of six, she's insistent that they change their name.
Others believe it's a reference to the 6 different municipalities that were amalgamated into Toronto in 1998. The real answer is… Drake. The 6ix (original spelling) was popularized by Toronto-born rapper Drake in his 2016 album “Views.”
North York became a city in 1980; Etobico*ke, Scarborough and York followed suit in 1984. Effective January 1, 1998, the Metropolitan government was abolished and Toronto, East York, Etobico*ke, North York, Scarborough, and York were amalgamated to form the new City of Toronto.
Slang. the area directly behind a person; back: Check your six—there's a hottie approaching. the area directly behind a person in motion; tail: The pilot had an enemy plane on his six.
Hogtown is a popular nickname for Toronto. The origin of the nickname lies in the hog-processing industry located there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A native or resident of Ontario's capital city is called a Torontonian.
In Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel, Daisy Jones and the Six, the reasoning behind the musical group's name, The Six, is fairly self-explanatory: there are six members in the band. This logic, however, does not apply to the television adaption of the same name, which drops on Amazon Prime on March 3.
From Middle English six, from Old English six, from Proto-West Germanic *sehs, from Proto-Germanic *sehs, from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs. Compare West Frisian seis, Dutch zes, Low German söss, sess, German sechs, Norwegian and Danish seks, also Latin sex, Ancient Greek ἕξ (héx), Sanskrit षष् (ṣaṣ).
The Daisy Jones & The Six book shares that despite Billy and Daisy's obvious connection, nothing ever really happened between them. They did kiss, but they never took things further because Billy was in love with Camila and didn't want to mess up his marriage to her like he had in the past.
Canada is not called "The 6." Apparently there is some slang from Drake calling the Canadian city Toronto "the 6," presumably short for 4-1-6, the original phone area code for Toronto proper.
Lots of people know Toronto as the 6ix or T Dot thanks to the superstar rapper Drake, but locals have been calling it that long before he made it mainstream.
Some readers chimed in with the classics: Hogtown, The Big Smoke, Queen City, TDot, and in more recent years, the 6ix. Then there's the metropolis's original Indigenous name, Tkaronto, which many said they would prefer as our official title if they could rename it.
Introduction: My name is Van Hayes, I am a thankful, friendly, smiling, calm, powerful, fine, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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