"the" before country name

Philip E. Cleary philipcleary at RCN.COM
Tue May 13 04:06:22 UTC 2008


>
> I presume that "the Argentine" is short for "the Argentine Republic," the formal name of Argentina,


In recent years, here in the heart of Red Sox country, I've been hearing
"the Dominican." I think that it started with the Dominican players, but
it's been picked up by native English speakers.

On a related note, I sometimes hear "the Galilee," rather than plain,
old "Galilee." What's going on with that?

Phil Cleary

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