An exploration of Toronto’s slang, Differently, Styll –in its truest form – is a love letter, a time capsule,and a call to action for the preservation of our dialect’srelevance for the future generations to come. It is astand against erasure through the offering ofrepresentation, fascination, and respect.
Meant to explore Toronto’s slang form an ethnoecological perspective,this audio-visual piece subtly touches upon concepts of culture, history,erasure, Black joy, representation, and the relevance of semantics andrecord keeping. It paints a portrait of what is otherwise an organicallyephemeral phenomena and tells the history and every evolving story of thecity’s language, Differently, Styll will highlight the unique tones, intonations,cadences, and discover the origins of the colloquialisms we’ve come toadopt and adore.
kawal
( kuh/wawl ) n. slang of Somali origin1 to trick someone.lowe it
( ’lou/it ) n. slang of caribbean origin1 to allow something 2 Let it be.say wallahi
( săy/wa/la/hee ) n. slang of arabic origin1 I swear to God 2 something you say to tell someone you’re telling the truth.styll
( /stil/ ) n. slang of Toronto origin1 defined as a filler point of emphasis, usually used at the end of a sentence.wah gwan
( w ä(h)/gwaN ) n. slang of carribbean origin1 a greeting, like what’s up. Also can be used in confrontation depending on tone and audacity.
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