Ukraine/Netherlands

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:23 PM -0700 5/8/08, Benjamin Lukoff wrote:
>  > Date:    Thu, 8 May 2008 12:19:48 -0300
>>  From:    "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
>>  Subject: Re: Ukraine; was Re: I say Myanmar, you say Burma
>>
>>  I wrote to the person below, and got the answer below (Kyiv Post is an
>>  English-Language weekly newspaper in, well... Kiev/Kyiv).
>>
>>  "Dear Mr. Daniel,
>>  My name is Zenon Zawada.
>>  I am chief editor of the Kyiv Post.
>>  I am an American of Ukrainian descent.
>>  The term "The Ukraine" is offensive because the
>>  article implies that it's merely a territory, rather
>>  than an independent nation.
>>  For example, The Rhine, The Sudetenland, The Kuban
>>   are all territories (in Germany and Russia), not nations.
>>  So Ukrainians in the West always viewed "The Ukraine"
>>  as offensive because it denied Ukraine recognition
>>  as a nation.
>>  When Ukraine became independent, the government
>>  appropriately assumed that position as well.
>>  Placing an article in front of the region's name denies
>>  its recognition as a nation.
>>
>
>Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but....The Netherlands? I
>don't hear the Dutch complaining.
>
Maybe Ukrainians just need to commission Bob Dylan to write a song
"Sad-Eyed Lady of the Borderlands".

LH

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org