The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Montgomery Michael]

In the South Midland names of diseases and illnesses
are often preceded by the definite article.  "The
cancer" is certainly known, but I think "the sugar" =
"diabetes" would be far more common.  My favorites are
"the hippoes" and "the mulligrubs."  I've also heard
"the typhoid," etc.  "The measles" is ubiquitous, but
I suspect this may have a much broader regional
distribution.  We eagerly await DARE V for a
splendiferous display of definite article usage.

"The" with diseases is definitely a Scotch-Irish
inheritance.  Check out _the_ def. art. sense 4 in the
Scottish National Dictionary.  This can be found
on-line at the wonderful Dictionary of the Scots
Language website, which incorporates both the SND and
the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue.  This
philological resource that approaches the magnitude of
the OED is available free at www.dsl.ac.uk.  I don't
think that it has gotten enough publicity on this side
of the water, though, so I'm blowing the bugle to
consult it, if ADSers will pardon me.

Michael


--- Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:28 AM -0500 8/8/07, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> wrote:
> >Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
> >Caveats: NONE
> >
> >I've heard folks in the rural South referring to
> having "the cancer"
> >instead of what seems to me to be standard usage
> "cancer".
>
> In the urban North it may not be "the cancer" but
> it's often "the big C".
>
> LH
>
> >
> >>  -----Original Message-----
> >>  From: American Dialect Society
> >>  [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Doug Harris
> >>  Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 9:08 AM
> >>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>  Subject: Re: The earth v. Earth
> >>
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header
> >>  -----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Doug Harris
> <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
> >>  Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth
> >>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  -----------------
> >>
> >>  On a _much_ smaller scale (but similarly
> curious,
> >>  language-wise), is the British practice of
> referring to
> >>  certain countries with the 'the' article
> preceding their
> >>  name. To wit, The Gambia, The Lebanon.
> >>  I believe I know the historic logic for this,
> but there was a
> >>  similar logic for their use of the 'aeroplane /
> aeroport'
> >>  spellings, which The Sunday Telegraph (and
> others) persisted
> >>  in using until at least the 1980's. Wisely,
> though, albeit
> >>  with much kicking and screaming, I imagine, the
> latter paper
> >>  seems to have come 'round to using 'airport'
> _except_ when
> >>  referring to the French versions of places where
> aero...
> >>  whoops, airplanes land.
> >>  (the other) doug
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>  I'm pretty sure - though I wouldn't bet money on
> it - that,
> >>  back in the '40's and '50's - the earth was
> referred to as
> >>  "_the_ earth." More recently, it seems to me,
> "the earth" has
> >>  been replaced by "Earth."
> >>  Here's an instance that's neither "the earth"
> nor "Earth." It
> >>  could be a simple typo, however.
> >>
> >>  -Wilson
> >>
> >>
>
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> >>
> >Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
> >Caveats: NONE
> >
>
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