why is the Lebanon called THE Lebanon ??

NedKelly

why does everyone call Lebanon , THE Lebanon
and not just Lebanon

GhostInTheRuins

More importantly, why do people call it The Naul instead of just Naul.

Latchy

Was either The Lebanon or that place over there in da middle east .

Perhaps it's because of the geography and history of the region were half the time nobodys quite sure what piece of land belongs to whom .

Zzippy

Prob started when Irish soldiers went on peacekeeping missions to The Congo. Then The Leb. They're probably in The Chad now. And their most dangerous mission by far was to The Naul...

ZygOte

same can be applied to many things, they dont have a monopoly on it,

The North
The States or The USA
The Isle of "anywhere you damn please"
The 'Mun

ejmaztec

Korea, or The Koree as they have been heard to say in Kerry (The Kerry?).

Cookie_Monster

Same reason people call it Ireland instead of Eire / Repulic of Ireland...

They just f*ckin do:pac:

Latchy

The pool (liverpool)

Black Swan

So that it's not confused with Lebanon (THE band)?

Stephen

The Sudan is another one. WTF?

stovelid

I blame the Human League.

Blokes with eye-liner just shouldn't go down the social conscience route.

SheroN

The Congo.

Cookie_Monster

Should it not be called Isreal anyway
They want everything out there, not just Palestine

SitUbuSit

It seems to just be an Irish thing with Lebannon as I have friends from there who simply call it Lebannon.

The same thing used to happen with the Ukraine - its official title is just Ukraine but that happens to a lesser extent now.

I have no idea why but it always annoys me...

Cookie_Monster

The People's Republic of China
The Vatican

Saint_Mel

Zzippy wrote: »

Prob started when Irish soldiers went on peacekeeping missions to The Congo. Then The Leb. They're probably in The Chad now. And their most dangerous mission by far was to The Naul...

And please god they'll all be home safe in time for The Christmas

anti-venom

Because the country is called after a mountain range. That's why is has the definite article The.

arybvtcw0eolkf

When I was in The Leb, I used to love looking at the snow covered summit of The Golan Heights..

And often I'd gaze across the mountains to The Galilee.

But most of all I loved The Bekaa Valley and its weed wines.

Latchy

They do tourist trips to the Leb now .

PurpleBerry

Tbh, I'm a little bit more concerned as to why people have started to call me "The Neesa".

Latchy

Neesa wrote: »

Tbh, I'm a little bit more concerned as to why people have started to call me "The Neesa".

Or why black astronauts refuse to say ' Yes NASA , no NASA ...:D

stovelid

Neesa wrote: »

Tbh, I'm a little bit more concerned as to why people have started to call me "The Neesa".

Have you got a mountain range?

Bottle_of_Smoke

Perhaps its al-something in arabic

Davidius

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Same reason people call it Ireland instead of Eire / Repulic of Ireland...

They just f*ckin do:pac:

I believe that technically the name of the state is just 'Ireland'. In English anyway.

hada

my father is lebanese, and everyone we know calls it Lebanon.

The Lebanon is mainly just an Irish thing me thinks.

PurpleBerry

And why is it "The Canaries"? Shouldn't it simply be "Canaries"?

Perhaps I should change my name to "The Republic of Neesa" or "The United States of Neesa". Nah, I don't really want to do that though, I'd rather be a monarchy.

I'm sorry, stovelid but I can't respond to questions regarding the natural wonders of Neesa. You'll have to buy a map. :P

longshanks

i hear neesa's valley is a lovely place

Saint_Mel

Neesa wrote: »

And why is it "The Canaries"? Shouldn't it simply be "Canaries"?

The proper name for the collection of islands is The Canary Islands, so its shortened to The Canaries

Manic Moran

Geographic region, not political entity. The Canary Islands. It just happens that Canary Islands is also a territory (Autonomous community).

NTM

Biggins

Give us another 10 years or so, we will have The United States Of Europe too!

JIZZLORD

The ukraine

Kold

People from Chad... What nationality are they?

Terry

Kold wrote: »

People from Chad... What nationality are they?

Chaddies.

kraggy

ZygOte wrote: »

same can be applied to many things, they dont have a monopoly on it,

The North
The States or The USA
The Isle of "anywhere you damn please"
The 'Mun

That's not comparing like with like at all.

All those above (apart from the 'Mun) are nouns. Lebanon is a pronoun and that's why it is wrong to put a "The" before it but not the ones above.

Dont be at yourself

Why is Naul called The Naul? AND, more importantly, why does Naul feature on seemingly every signpost in the country? Seriously, who is going to Naul?

lostexpectation

is a not a french thing, la lebanon or whatever.

mumhaabu

The Kingdom!

anti-venom

kraggy wrote: »

That's not comparing like with like at all.

All those above (apart from the 'Mun) are nouns. Lebanon is a pronoun and that's why it is wrong to put a "The" before it but not the ones above.

So why then is it correct to put 'The' before Philippines? It's because it's a group of Islands; similarly The Canaries. The Sudan is called after a group of people, The Lebanon after a mountain range, The USA union of states etc, etc. So it is correct to use The in these place names I reckon.

ShooterSF

anti-venom wrote: »

Because the country is called after a mountain range. That's why is has the definite article The.

I bet your the one at comedy gigs explaining why "such and such" is actually done, ruining the joke

lottodrink

Kold wrote: »

People from Chad... What nationality are they?

Their Chadian. Speak French and Arabic

Best friend is over the with the army now.

Dave!

Maybe it's cos it's the Republic of Lebanon, and the Republic of Sudan, so people shorten it to

the...Lebanon
the...Sudan

Dunno about Naul

Dave!

Maybe it's cos it's the Republic of Lebanon, and the Republic of Sudan, so people shorten it to

the...Lebanon
the...Sudan

Dunno about Naul

MOH

Dave! wrote: »

Maybe it's cos it's the Republic of Lebanon, and the Republic of Sudan, so people shorten it to

the...Lebanon
the...Sudan

Dunno about Naul

Hence the .. Ireland?

Dave!

The...Shut Up

KnifeWRENCH

There's The Gambia in Africa. And El Salvador in Central America, which means "The Saviour" (always thought that was a strange name for a country)

I never say "The Lebanon" though, I'd just say Lebanon (not that I have many Lebanon-related conversations)

PurpleBerry

And El Salvador in Central America, which means "The Saviour" (always thought that was a strange name for a country)

The area was originally called "Cuzhcatl" by the native inhabitants which means "the land of precious things."

After the Spanish conquest, the land was baptized by Spanish conquistadors as "Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesucristo El Salvador Del Mundo" ("Province of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Savior Of The World"), now abbreviated as "República de El Salvador".