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

[James Smith]

Historically, Great Salt Lake was referred to as such,
but nowadays it has become "the Great Salt Lake", at
least in the local newspapers and TV news.  I don't
know why or how this came about, but it seems to be a
late 20th century revision.



--- Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET> wrote:

> 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.
>
> But think how the loss of the article would have
> changed Ogden Nash's
> disapprobation into acceptance by forcing the
> deletion of "no" to fit
> the meter:
>
> Bronx?
> Thonx!
>
> James Harbeck.
>
>
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James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


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