--- Comments
"THE" Ukraine?
The word "the" implies that it's a region, not a country. As in a region in Russia or a region in the Soviet Union.
TBF that's a mistake I see all over even in news media. I'm not sure how it got started, but only very few countries use "The" in front (The Netherlands, The Philippines,...).
I agree it should be corrected though as even inadvertently it's kind of a propaganda victory for the Russians.
I can't quite follow. There are countries called "the..." as already commented, and there are many regions without a "the", so for me the claimed implication isn't there at all. Where does this idea of a connection of "the" and "region" come from?
@sven:
From Russia, mostly, where "The Ukraine" is used by everyone who shares the view that Ukraine is a part of Russia. Including Putin himself and everyone who supports him.
So another way of putting it would be that saying "The Ukraine" is like wearing a "Z".
@sven, @Casper:
The mentioned countries end in a plural "s". And the ones I can think of are called something with "united" or "union". I.e. the name implies that it's a group of (something), and we often use "the" in front of groups.
We don't say "The Casper", but we do say "The Hansens".
