Jimmy Fallon got quizzed on Toronto slang
And some found it downright offensive
An American actor quizzed Jimmy Fallon on Toronto slang terms on Monday night, and not everyone is laughing.
That actor was Camila Morrone, an American Argentine who went on The Tonight Show to promote her role in the upcoming horror series Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. On set, she explained, she was taught a handful of slang terms from her Canadian co-star Adam DiMarco. Holding a cue card, Morrone proceeded to quiz her host on a selection of fine Toronto terms.
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Morrone started the host off easy, teaching him the unarguable truth that “Toronto” is pronounced without the second “t.” So far, so good, but it was only downhill from there. Next to tumble from the host’s lips were “two two’s my word, croski,” and “that’s too mazza, ahlie.” (Please pardon our spelling, these words aren’t all in the dictionary.)
To keep it easy for her fellow American, Morrone made the quiz multiple-choice, with just two answers per question. We can therefore report that the above lines translate to “I’m being honest, bro,” and “that’s insane, am I right?” respectively. The third and final phrase was “that’s Gerbert fam,” meaning “you’re acting like a baby, my guy.” In the end, Fallon scored just one out of three.
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Some people with deeper roots in our city than Fallon and Morrone have questioned the ethics of the bit. Indeed, critics have pointed out that Morrone’s Toronto slang tutor, DiMarco, grew up in Oakville—rather far from the Scarborough high schools where these words might be heard.
Worse, online commenters have noted the roots of these terms in Black communities in Toronto. To have them mocked by two people who aren’t from those communities on national TV, one alleged, amounts to racism. Toronto slang is actually its own dialect, known by linguists as Multicultural Toronto English, with Caribbean, East African and Middle Eastern influences.
We’re all for the world learning more about our city’s culture, but there’s a difference between harmless riffing and actual mockery. When the people on the other end of the joke cry foul, as some have in this case, a good comedian should know they’ve crossed the line.
Anthony Milton is a freelance journalist based in Toronto specializing in long-form magazine writing. He previously worked as an assistant editor at Toronto Life, where he launched the Front Row newsletter. He regularly contributes all sorts of stories to the magazine, including deep dives on sports, business and housing as well as short-form commentary on our ever-changing city, from its obsession with cherry blossoms to its maddening NIMBYism. His work has also appeared in Maclean’s, Ricochet, TVO, the Trillium and more.
