Ukraine/Netherlands

[Jonathan Lighter]

Sad to hear that Ukraine too has fallen victim to the extremes of Sapir-Whorf.

  I won't mention _The_ United States. That would be cheating.

  JL

Benjamin Lukoff <blukoff at ALVORD.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Lukoff
Subject: Ukraine/Netherlands
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> Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 12:19:48 -0300
> From: "David A. Daniel"
> 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.

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