"Vatican City"; was Re: "The" Philippines

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:56 PM -0400 4/4/05, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>  Originally, the Ukraine was called just that, for whatever
>>reason, be it ellipsis or something else. After independence the
>>country requested (demanded?) that English remove the article. I have
>>never figured out why.
>
>Neither have I. Nor can I understand why they didn't ask for
>"Ukrainia." I find that somehow much easier to deal with
>psychologically than "Ukraine."
>
>-Wilson

Perhaps too much like "Eucrania", which sounds like an institution
situated in Princeton rather than on the Black Sea.

Larry