Some people think the TTC robo-announcer’s way of saying Spa-deenah is correct, and the rest of us who say Spa-dinah are wrong.

We were flooded with emails and calls about our Saturday story on the inability of the TTC’s automated public address announcer to pronounce Spadina the usual way.

It has ignited a fiery debate over the correct pronunciation of Spadina, with people on both sides of the street insisting they occupy the high ground.

When Dr. William Baldwin built a home in 1818 at the top of the same hill on which Casa Loma was later located, he named it Spadina House, but it was pronounced Spa-deenah.

The name and pronunciation stems from the Ojibway word “espadinong,” which means hill, and was adopted by Baldwin for his home and Spadina Rd., the street in front of it, which he laid out nearly 20 years later.

Nobody is certain of how it became Spa-dinah, but the most likely explanation is a linguistic divide between well-heeled residents north of Bloor St. and the immigrant population south of Bloor.

It wasn’t an issue until the TTC recently adopted a new, text-to-voice software program that transforms typed messages into words spoken by a computer-generated voice.

No matter how Spadina is entered into the program, the voicew says Spa-deenah, which irritates a lot of riders.

The TTC says a software upgrade should fix the problem, but many readers emailed and called to say Spa-deenah is the original pronunciation, and that the computer has it right, even if most people don’t realize it.

Some said The Fixer and the TTC are complicit in blowing an opportunity to educate the public on the correct way to say Spadina.

“You cannot believe how appalled I am,” wrote Henry L. Sadai. “You had a chance to correct a wrong that has been going on for decades. You have sent the problem right back to square one.”

James Doolittle was “somewhat dismayed” by our story and said we should check the origins of the historic Spadina House museum, which is still called Spa-deenah House.

Sadai and others said if we called Spadina House, on Spadina Rd., near Casa Loma, they’d say Spa-deenah when answering.

The automated greeting indeed said Spa-deenah, but described its address as Spa-dinah Rd.

Karen Edwards, administrator of Spadina House, confirmed that the original structure, which burned down and was replaced, was named after a native word for hill that also became the name for the street.

“It is true that language changes according to use,” said Amy Lavender Harris, an author and geography teacher at York University. “But the Star does a disservice to Toronto’s history when it labels Spa-deenah an incorrect pronunciation.”

Several readers offered similar explanations of how it evolved into Spa-dinah, which have a ring of legitimacy about them.

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“Spadina was pronounced Spa-dye-na below Bloor (St.) and Spa-dee-na above Bloor,” said Marichka Melnyk. “It was apparently because the immigrants below Bloor mispronounced the original name, and it may even have become a bit of a class thing.”

Toronto historian Mike Filey said he’s heard similar stories about the Bloor pronunciation divide, and while he doesn’t know exactly how it came to be called Spa-dinah, it makes sense.

Filey, whose grandmother came from England and settled in Cabbagetown, said she called it “Spa-dye-ner,” and did not care if the snobs said it another way.

The last word goes to reader David Cohen, who said, “Spadina is a native word meaning, ‘street with lots of Chinese restaurants.’”

WHAT ELSE ARE WE SAYING WRONG?

We asked Toronto historian Mike Filey about other common mispronunciations throughout Toronto. Here are a few other contenders:

Balliol St.: Running parallel to Davisville Ave. between Yonge St. and Bayview Ave., many pronounce it ba-loyle. But it’s actually bailey-ole, Filey says. “It’s a college in Oxford.”

Roncesvalles Ave: Some say rawn-sez-valls, others just give up and call it Roncy. “It’s a Spanish word that got shifted over here,” Filey says. Try this on for size: rrrrrrrawn-ses-vay-yez.

Princes’ Gate: Down at the CNE, they’re often called the princess gates. But it’s actually princes’ and the gate is singular. Got it?

Baby Point: Look at a map and you might pronounce the name of this enclave of homes in the west end just as it looks. But those in the know it’s actually pronounced Bawby. It was named for one of original settlers, James Baby, a member of a Quebec fur trading family and former politician.

What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To email us, go to www.thestar.com/thefixer and click on the “submit a problem” link. Or call us at 416-869-4823.