4chan archive /int/ (index)
similar threads
2013-03-02 06:07 8852552 Anonymous (ukraine-flag_3159_1[1].png 1114x761 74kB)
Why did people drop the "the" when referring to the Ukraine? Simply calling it "Ukraine" sounds awkward as hell; just call it Ukrainia or something if you must

5 min later 8852634 Anonymous
>soviet union >russians always call it the ukraine >ukraine feels belittled >ukraine gets independence >government wants the "the" dropped

6 min later 8852644 Anonymous
'the' Ukraine has always been fucking stupid.

7 min later 8852659 Anonymous
I think it sounds awkward as hell when you call it "THE Ukraine".

12 min later 8852724 Anonymous
>>8852659 >>8852644 Is it just me then? The Ukraine just seems more natural

14 min later 8852740 Anonymous
>>8852724 >american english Found your problem, Joe.

14 min later 8852741 Anonymous
>>8852552 'the Ukraine' sounds like a villain from Marvel.

14 min later 8852744 Anonymous
>>8852552 Why do people say USA? United States of America sounds stupid. It's THE United States of America, so it should be the USA.

14 min later 8852747 Anonymous
>>8852724 It feels more natural to me too, but people have given be shit for saying "the" for years. >>8852740 Nice try, Kangaroo.

14 min later 8852751 Anonymous
>>8852724 No, I agree.

15 min later 8852761 Anonymous
>>8852744 I always call it America or the US. I've never heard someone say "I live in USA".

16 min later 8852772 Anonymous
>>8852724 Agreed.

17 min later 8852784 Anonymous
>>8852724 >the Canada >the India >the Poland etc why do you put article extra?

18 min later 8852792 Anonymous
>>8852761 That's a good point. I may be drunk.

18 min later 8852794 Anonymous
>>8852744 >thousands of americans chanting in a stadium "the USA, the USA" Not very plausible. >>8852747 wat >>8852741 yes >>8852751 Ukraine starts with UK. UK is normally prefixed with 'the' and the affliction probably spreads to Ukraine as a result of this.

21 min later 8852841 Anonymous (natural_resources[1].jpg 1405x1741 134kB)
because it's not a legitimate nation state. same reason we call it "the west bank"

22 min later 8852854 Anonymous
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine- 18233844 I'm just going to leave this here. Conclusively, just 'Ukraine'. >>8852841 >implying ukraine is not a nation state

28 min later 8852928 Anonymous
>>8852841 >the west bank I've never heard it called that.

31 min later 8852966 Anonymous (1356119029002.png 1476x836 156kB)
>>8852854 >implying ukraine is not a nation state It's not. Ukraina = Okraina (outskirts, borderlands literally)

39 min later 8853072 Anonymous
>>8852966 By that logic, America is just a person.

39 min later 8853081 Anonymous
>>8852794 I agree with the Aussie on this. Plain Ukraine sounds more natural to me. No need for "the". Maybe if it was like the United Kingdom of Raine or something like that, sure. Otherwise, it's the same as calling Canada, The Canada or something.

43 min later 8853132 Anonymous
>>8853081 cheers. 'the' is for full names such as >the United States >the United Kingdom >the Commonwealth of Australia >the Dominion of Canada

44 min later 8853148 Anonymous
>>8853072 shh Australia, do not reveal my secret

45 min later 8853154 Anonymous
Probably around August 24, 1991, when they gained independence from the USSR and were no longer a satellite region, but their own country.

45 min later 8853163 Anonymous
>>8852634 Slavic languages don't have anything even beginning to remotely resemble articles so I dunno where you got that from. >>8852966 Russia=Parasha (restroom, toilet literally)

46 min later 8853164 Anonymous
>>8853132 >Dominion of Canada That cuts deep, Aussie.

48 min later 8853186 Anonymous
>>8853148 >>8853164 sorry guys

49 min later 8853202 Anonymous
>>8853164 It makes Canada sound so ominous and evil.

53 min later 8853237 Anonymous
>>8853163 I understand Ukrainians get butthurt when Poles say "na Ukrainie" when for every other country it's "w" (w Rosji, w Angli, w USA, etc.) The difference is literally "I have been ON the Ukraine vs. I have been IN Russia/England/US and everything else.) The only two exceptions to the "w" rule are Ukraine and Belarus.

53 min later 8853239 Anonymous
>>8853202 It implies someone is our master. I'd rather Aussie calls us the Confederation of Canada, if anything.

57 min later 8853281 Anonymous
>>8853239 I'd rather Canadian raise the Australian flag instead of the New Zealand flag if our prime minister visits. BTW, is 'confederation' the official term for canada? I would have assumed commonwealth.

1 hours later 8853331 Anonymous
>>8853163 They're talking about in English. Which is true, a lot of you get mad when someone says THE Ukraine instead of just Ukraine.

1 hours later 8853354 Anonymous
>>8853239 I am proud of it. God save the queen. Rule Brittania.

1 hours later 8853396 Anonymous
>>8853237 i've not heard на used for belarus. i only speak a bit that I learned from parents anyway. Definitely is like you said for ukraine though, people are quick to correct you.

1 hours later 8853407 Anonymous
>>8853164 I do believe The Dominion of Canada is the official name of the country but we call it Canada for short like China is shorthand for The People's Republic of China.

1 hours later 8853431 Anonymous
>>8853407 Based Taiwain is Republic of China.

1 hours later 8853456 Anonymous
>>8853281 We're just "Canada" but we're a Confederation of colonies. >>8853354 >Rule Britannia >Not Rule Cascadia

1 hours later 8853715 Anonymous
>>8853456 >cascadia >real

5 hours later 8856373 Anonymous
Polish user here. I always say "Ukraina". Never "the Ukraina". "The" is a such faggot word.

5 hours later 8856417 Anonymous
Damn whoever ingrained in my mind that it should be "The Ukraine." But...doesn't that just sound cooler? It's a country so badass, it deserves a "the." Like a wrestler, or something.

5 hours later 8856450 Anonymous
The Ukraine sounds more correct to me.

5 hours later 8856466 Anonymous
I had this theory both Ukraine and... Gambia, was it? Anyway place names like that had the definite article because of historical but chiefly geographical reasons, that they referred to a, uhh, not sure how to put it, that while being the country name, they were also some sort of geographical feature if you get what I mean. Like if you had a country that was called, I dunno, "Westmarch" you'd say "the Westmarch" but wouldn't use an article with "Dreamlandia". But then I read fucking Gambia just decided to use "The" for the lulz.

5 hours later 8856475 Anonymous
Because they were never a real country. Just people divided between Poland/Russia/Turkey. They got their own country first time in history after USSR broke up. So yes, their country shouldn't even exist.

5 hours later 8856479 Anonymous
It's dropped because 'The Ukraine' isn't the name of the country just as 'The Netherlands' isn't the name of mine.

5 hours later 8856511 Anonymous
>>8856479 You've got to be giddings me. So what is your country called, according to you? Netherland?

5 hours later 8856538 Anonymous
>>8856511 In Dutch it's 'Nederland' but it's technically just 'Netherlands' in English. It would be correct to say "I live in Netherlands" but even I think that sounds weird and no one does that.

5 hours later 8856544 Anonymous
>>8856466 This You use "the" when you refer to some piece of land or a geographical area, e.g. I live in the Arctic, the Ands etc. Ukraine meant something like "the borderlands" in old Slavic language. Would you say "I live in borderlands" or "I live in the borderlands"? Using "the" with Ukraine just makes more sense in certain cases.

5 hours later 8856556 Anonymous
>>8853237 You're wrong m8. The whole rule is somewhat correct but not 100% correct. We also say: - na Litwie, na Łotwie (former part of PLC and Poland) - na Węgrzech (Hungary wasn't part of Poland; but part of Poland was part of Austria/Austria-Hungary) - na Morawach (instead "w Morawach" [part of Czech Republic], while we say "w Bawarii", "w Meklemburgii", "w Yorkshire", "w Kornwalii", "w Tyrolu", "w Piemoncie", "w Teksasie", "w Illinois", "w Nowej Południowej Walii" etc. which all are parts of different countries. And I fully understand Ukrainians. In present Poland we say "na Podlasiu", "na Kujawach", "na Pomorzu", "na Sląsku", "na Mazowszu", so an Ukrainian may think that all Poles still recognise Ukraine as a part of Poland :/

5 hours later 8856557 Anonymous
>>8856538 Right, because of grammar. So is "Nederland" plural?

5 hours later 8856562 Anonymous
OP, that's why I call it Ukrania.

5 hours later 8856563 Anonymous
>>8856557 No it isn't.

5 hours later 8856611 Anonymous
>>8856563 I didn't think so. Whoever decided it's be plural in English really screwed things over. Funny how this whole "the" thing works though, isn't it? Some people embrace it (Le France, for example), while others deny it.

5 hours later 8856615 Anonymous
"A Ucrânia" is the default in Portuguese. We just drop articles in countries without a gender associated with, like "Portugal".

10 hours later 8860803 Anonymous
BHUMP!

10 hours later 8860907 Russian (Ukrainian_salary_map.png 1181x825 59kB)
>>8853163 Well... Ukraine literally means "borderland" (krai = edge/border). I agree that "the Ukraine" sounds better.

10 hours later 8860919 Russian
>>8860907 Eugh, didn't mean to reply to that poster.

10 hours later 8860963 Anonymous
>>8852841 >The US HAHAHAHA >The UK Aw...

10 hours later 8860968 Anonymous
>>8856563 Is "lowland" really better than "the lowlands?"

1.466 0.096