Slang in the 6ix

By Dawar Naeem
Dawar is Community with Focus Media Arts Centre

Toronto, or the 6ix is one of the most diverse cities in the world. The whole world lives in the 6ix. In Toronto, one can find folks from every ethnicity, race, region etc. This makes the 6ix a multicultural and multilingual society. This mix of different cultures brings a distinct swagger to Toronto. Toronto Pop icons, Drake and Lily Singh have been using 'the 6ix' (slang for Toronto) in mainstream media sparking a conversation on Toronto slang. But in a city that brands itself as multicultural and diverse, where does that Toronto slang actually come from? This language we’ve normalized and enjoy comes from Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Somalia and other specific communities within the Greater Toronto Area.

Regent Park is one community in the east end of downtown Toronto. A huge number of immigrants live in this community, thus a lot of exchange in culture happens here. When you walk the streets of the Regent Park, you are guaranteed to hear a wide variety of Toronto slang. In this episode the Youth Collective sheds some light on some of the common slang word used by Regent Parkers.
 
The first slang word they discussed is “Nize”, a cooler and arguably trendier way to tell someone to shut up or stop the noise. The word “nize” is of Jamaican origin, which means noise. The next word the youth collective discussed was “Jam”. The word “Jam” has multiple meanings and can be used in a multiple situations. For example, you can go to a “Jam”, i.e a party, or you can get “Jammed” i.e getting robbed.