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

[Wilson Gray]

On Apr 5, 2005, at 3:44 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Vatican City"; was Re: "The" Philippines
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>
> 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
>

Good point!

-Wilson