re: #122 The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

I don’t say either of those things because neither “England” nor “America” require a definite article as the Ukraine and the Sudan—and while we’re at it, the Gambia and the Lebanon, etc.—do.

I do however say “The United Kingdom”, “The United States”. Do you leave the article off of those?

This theory of there being anything derogatory or of there being any political implications to it is strictly in the fevered imaginations of the Ukrainians, whose language, remember, has no definite articles, and have no understanding of how illiterate it sounds to leave them off.

Again, do they get on French, Spanish, Italian speakers, etc., for putting definite articles in front of all country names? I’ll bet any amount of money they don’t.

In Spanish, we don’t say “la Francia” or “el Aleman” for France or Germany. It’s just Francia or Aleman. So, I don’t know where you get this idea that the Romance languages put a definite article in front of every country name. They don’t. Some do require it: “los Estados Unidos,” but in general, no.

The Gambia? The Lebanon? They lost those articles years ago.