The Broncks', the borough of my childhood, fades away

[Geoff Nathan]

Doug Harris wrote:
> <pre wrap>Among other places long provided the 'the' article, at least in
> British English, include _The Lebanon_, a phrasing that always
> annoyed me when I lived in England and heard newscasters say it,
> on my assumption that the _The Lebanon_ was actually meant to
> mean "the territory of Lebanon". Even if that were the case, I
> still wonder what the Brits did, and perhaps still do, mean in
> referring to _The Zambia_.
> (the other) doug
>
>
> I wonder whether the loss of formerly traditional "the" from some
> other place names, such as Ukraine and Yukon (the latter of which
> still gets the article with a certain frequency), might have had any
> subtle influence on this -- perhaps a little nagging idea that "the"
> for a place name is improper. I wouldn't stand behind this
> speculation without lots of further evidence, but such prescriptive
> extensions from abductions aren't unknown, ISTM.
I have a dim memory of a discussion about this on the ADS list earlier.
I don't have time this morning to go through the archives, but maybe
someone else can help.
I'm pretty sure that the arthrous description of place-names became
un-PC about ten to fifteen years ago with the prescriptivist explanation
that the use of the article conjured up the connotation of Colonialism.
I do remember Maggie Thatcher referring to 'The Argentine' during the
Falklands war.

Geoff

--
Geoffrey S. Nathan
Computing and Information Technology and Department of English
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI, 48202
geoffnathan at wayne.edu
C&IT Phone (313) 577-1259
English Phone (313) 577-8621

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