"the" before country name

[Katharine The Grate]

People used to say "the Congo".
>
> But "the United States of America" is just the formal political name of =
> the American state, and the formal political name typically is preceded =
> by "the."  E.g., the Commonwealth of Australia, the Kingdom of Belgium, =
> the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Union of =
> Soviet Socialist Republics.  There may or may not be a corresponding =
> country name that can be used without "the"; there was none, for =
> example, with the Soviet Union (only Russia, which for political reasons =
> could not be used as such until the Soviet Union's dissolution).
> =20
> We say America, not the America.  (I put aside for now the ambiguity of =
> "America," which can refer either to the USA or to North and South =
> America.)  The Netherlands and (formerly) the Ukraine are the only =
> examples of country names with "the" that come to mind.  The =
> Netherlanders also choose to call their seat of government The Hague, =
> which always struck me as even more anomalous.
> =20
> =20
> John Baker
> =20
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Mark Mandel
> Sent: Sun 5/11/2008 3:25 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "the" before country name
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 12:11 AM, Your Name <ROSESKES at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> If "the" before a country's name is belittling, why is there not one =
> single
>> American objecting to "the United States"?
>>
>> Rosemarie
>
>
> Because we chose that name ourselves? And consequently it describes us =
> as we
> want to see ourselves, rather than as 'the border territory'?
>
> --
> Mark Mandel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org =
> <http://www.americandialect.org/>=20
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
~~~~~~~~~~~
But now Bush is in his final year. This is both the good news, and also the
very, very bad news. Because we are now in the death throes of the worst
administration in modern history, entering the period of serious
consequences, of economic collapse, environmental impact, record oil prices,
international recoil, rashes, boils, inexplicable vomiting. Fun for the
whole family.

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