thee for the

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Nov 13, 2007, at 9:06 AM, Matthew Gordon wrote:

> Not surprisingly, there are lots of Google hits for "Thee Ohio State
> University." Is the obsessive use of the definite article here a
> newish
> phenomenon? It first came to my attention in the early 90s.

i discussed this usage a while back on Language Log:

AZ, 9/5/06: The the in The Ohio State University:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003548.html

but i didn't trace it back.  the usage was well established when i was
hired at OSU in 1969.

arnold

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