thee for the

[Gordon, Matthew J.]

I would have them say "Ohio State University" (or "Go Blue!"). It's the obsessive inclusion of the article, not the vowel quality used in pronouncing it, that I was noting. In this usage the article is commonly stressed and also pronounced with /i/.
-Matt Gordon


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society on behalf of David Bergdahl
Sent: Tue 11/13/2007 6:16 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject:      Re: thee for the

Isn't "thee Ohio State Univ" b/c Ahiya begins w/a vowel?  Would you have 'em
say "Th'Ohio State Univ"?
-db

On Nov 13, 2007 5:50 PM, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Organization: Haskins Laboratories
> Subject:      Re: thee for the
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Laurence Horn wrote:
> > At 11:06 AM -0600 11/13/07, 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.
> >>
> >> -Matt Gordon
> >
> >  From what I'm told, there's been a lot of pressure applied in
> > Columbus to achieve this affect.  It's certainly quite obvious when
> > you hear the NFL starters from OSU provide their affiliation during
> > the introductions at the beginning of game broadcasts.
>
> And at least one of the players from Illinois regularly introduces
> himself as being from "the university of Chief Illiniwek"...so, yeah,
> they use that the make a statement.
>
> --
> ========================================================================
> Alice Faber                                       faber at haskins.yale.edu
> Haskins Laboratories                            tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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