Ukraine vs The Ukraine

[Laurence Horn]

Maybe names that incorporate adjectives are exempt (The United States/United Kingdom/Soviet Union/Former Yugoslavia :).  That still leaves "The Netherlands" (unless you parse it as "The Nether Lands"), and of course "The Philippines" and "The Ukraine" as the real test cases of practice vs. prescription, a bit like "Sixth Avenue" vs. "The Avenue of the Americas".  And then there's the real victim of colonial hegemonist subjugation, THE Bronx.

LH

On Mar 5, 2014, at 5:02 PM, Geoffrey Steven Nathan wrote:

> Not to mention THE United Kingdom and THE Soviet Union. Clearly all aching to escape from the chains of colonialism. Oh ,wait....
>
> Geoff
>
> Geoffrey S. Nathan
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> ----- Original Message -----
>
>> From: "W Brewer" <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 4:49:33 PM
>> Subject: Re: Ukraine vs The Ukraine
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Re: Ukraine vs The Ukraine
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>> This morning, CNN interview with a Ukrainian official (foreign
>> minister?):
>> Interviewing reporter says <Crimea>. The Ukrainian official says <the
>> Crimea>.
>> WB learned a set of place names in elementary school geography class
>> in the '50s; this set of place names included a prefixed <the>. WB
>> recalls
>> reporting Angst to Linguist List upon hearing a BBC news reader
>> dropping
>> <the> from <the Ukraine>, maybe twenty years ago. WB was instructed
>> that
>> <the> was a relic of colonialism, and had to be eliminated, end of
>> discussion. WB is still loath to give up the <the>, because that is
>> what he
>> grew up with, and you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead mouth.
>
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