Country beginning with 'The'

Tupins · 17-02-2009 4:46pm #1

Ok bit of a weird question but it's totally wrecking my head since last night.

I remember hearing an interview on the radio months ago where the person being interviewed visited a country which most people call 'The xxx' but this person said it was more correct just to call it 'xxx' as there was no need to put 'The' before it - yet everyone does for some reason. Kind of like The Hague, but that's not it. (anyway that's not a country)

Anyway, it's a well known country but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. (No I don't remember the guy being interviewed either all I know is it was on Newstalk, Sean Moncriefs show.)

Can anyone think of a country beginning with 'The' - it's driving me mad!!

Carroller16 · 17-02-2009 4:47pm

The Gambia

cautioner · 17-02-2009 4:48pm

I've heard Americans refer to "The Iraq" I think.
Could it be The Vatican...?

me87_ie · 17-02-2009 4:49pm

The Netherlands ?

Carroller16 · 17-02-2009 4:49pm

I have also heard Cameroon being called The Cameroons

Brian · 17-02-2009 4:49pm

The Netherlands, The Congo, The PR of China..

DonkeyPunch · 17-02-2009 4:49pm

The Congo?

Vegeta · 17-02-2009 4:50pm

The Democratic Republic of Congo?

Carroller16 · 17-02-2009 4:50pm

The Republic of Ireland

IvySlayer · 17-02-2009 4:50pm

The Peoples Republic of China.

Victor McDade · 17-02-2009 4:51pm

philippines?

Tupins · 17-02-2009 4:51pm

No none of those.

I think it was somewhere in the middle east or something like that.

(ok obviously i misled ye here!!)

freire · 17-02-2009 4:51pm

Carroller16 wrote: »

The Gambia

Thought so too.

Genghiz Cohen · 17-02-2009 4:51pm

The Marglark

Tech3 · 17-02-2009 4:51pm

cautioner wrote: »

I've heard Americans refer to "The Iraq" I think.
Could it be The Vatican...?

Incorrect its Vatican City, the worlds smallest country

Vegeta · 17-02-2009 4:51pm

Baza210 wrote: »

The Netherlands, The Congo, The PR of China..

DonkeyPunch wrote: »

The Congo?

whoa that was close, you got there before me though

Carroller16 · 17-02-2009 4:51pm

The Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, yemen, Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates

The sudan???? (Africa I know)

FlutterinBantam · 17-02-2009 4:52pm

The Gambia
The Argentine
The Lebanon
The Central African republic
The Congo

beerbaron · 17-02-2009 4:52pm

The Lebanon

Noopti · 17-02-2009 4:52pm

Carroller16 wrote: »

The United Arab Emirates

Yeah, that is what I immediately thought of.

TheZohanS · 17-02-2009 4:52pm

The Bahamas

dfx- · 17-02-2009 4:53pm

Baza210 wrote: »

The PR of China..

Similarly The Democratic PR of Korea

Powerhouse · 17-02-2009 4:53pm

Not sure if it is the example mentioned on the radio, but Ukraine is very commonly and incorrectly called 'The Ukraine'.

Obviously there are buckets of examples, even the United States and the United Kingdom and the USSR when it existed, where the article is commonly used by people referring to these countries, but where I imagine people know they are not actually part of the name.

In the case of Ukraine I think many believe it to be part of the name. The same with Lebanon too as someone mentioned - that's very common actually.

Maybe it's an Irish thing handed down from the Irish language where the article is nearly always used?