We are all Slave now.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

But Ukraine has always been the Ukraine ("the Ukraine is weak Newman!")

Having had the misfortune of having had dealing with the government of Ukraine, I've had the opportunity to learn that this frowned upon by the locals.

Is there some rule or is this another random English quirk?

Seems like there's a tie to British colonialism somehow - the Levant, the Sudan, some others I can't think of right now - but it may just be a relic of historically referencing a region that wasn't a state, or was more than one state.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Adder

Seems like there's a tie to British colonialism somehow - the Levant, the Sudan, some others I can't think of right now - but it may just be a relic of historically referencing a region that wasn't a state, or was more than one state.

It's not a function of British colonialism but it is a question of English usage. In French, for example, countries commonly have the definite article before them: l'Ukraine, la Russie, la Chine. So there's no pejorative implications to referring to l'Ukraine as there is when you refer to the Ukraine in English, which implicitly demotes it from nation-state to component of something larger.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

It's not a function of British colonialism but it is a question of English usage. In French, for example, countries commonly have the definite article before them: l'Ukraine, la Russie, la Chine. So there's no pejorative implications to referring to l'Ukraine as there is when you refer to the Ukraine in English, which implicitly demotes it from nation-state to component of something larger.

TM

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

TM

Who knew that TM stands for Triggered by GraMmar?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

It's not a function of British colonialism but it is a question of English usage. In French, for example, countries commonly have the definite article before them: l'Ukraine, la Russie, la Chine. So there's no pejorative implications to referring to l'Ukraine as there is when you refer to the Ukraine in English, which implicitly demotes it from nation-state to component of something larger.

Great lecture. Normally I’d expect such an educated thing to come from someone in The New England.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Great lecture. Normally I’d expect such an educated thing to come from someone in The New England.

My favorite superfluous "the" is "the gays." Nothing like an old, straight conservative man explaining hoe "the gays" think or act.

I could be totally daydreaming (as often is the case when old folks talk politics near me), but when I hear that, I'm paying full attention. Because what's going to follow is going to be spectacularly wrong, and cringe-worthy hysterical.

I look forward to relatives stopping by for Easter. I'll get at least one Gervaisian moment, where I'll get to say, through tears, "Bullshit. You're talking out your ass there. Out your ass. Stop it. I can't take it."

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

I look forward to relatives stopping by for Easter. I'll get at least one Gervaisian moment, where I'll get to say, through tears, "Bullshit. You're talking out your ass there. Out your ass. Stop it. I can't take it."

"It's a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself."

Richard Dawkins

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

"It's a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself."

Richard Dawkins

Maybe he tried other stuff first. Like turning himself into a bull and raping teenagers. Or dropping in on people with an eyepatch and some ravens. But it didn't work, so he had to try something else.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

"It's a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself."

Richard Dawkins

I will not be sacrificing the traditional iguana to the Moai this year.

No more agnostic hedging. I’m full atheist.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

"It's a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself."

Richard Dawkins

Then he came back to life as the Zombie Jesus, but in a twist anticipated by few, it is the faithful who, in a weekly celebration of his gruesome torture and murder, cannibalize the Zombie Jesus and not vice versa.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Then he came back to life as the Zombie Jesus, but in a twist anticipated by few, it is the faithful who, in a weekly celebration of his gruesome torture and murder, cannibalize the Zombie Jesus and not vice versa.

Speaking of, this is helpful for the observant - https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-is...-jews?ref=home

[Not Bob]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Then he came back to life as the Zombie Jesus, but in a twist anticipated by few, it is the faithful who, in a weekly celebration of his gruesome torture and murder, cannibalize the Zombie Jesus and not vice versa.

Jesus Christ (uh, npi - honest) - you should totally teach the 13 year old CCD class at Our Lady of Perpetual Motion. That kind of thin could get the little bastards into the pews.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

"It's a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself."

Richard Dawkins

Last year I had dinner with some Jews. They were bragging about how, back a long time ago, Jews wanted to take some property from the Egyptians. but the Egyptians were like, "no way." So the Jews launched biological and chemical warfare on the Egyptians, but still the Egyptians held on to their stuff. THEN the Jews killed every Egyptian family's oldest son; not 1 or two kids with a bus bomb. EVERY FAMILY'S SON!. So the Egyptians had to give up their property.

Worst part? Know who told the Jews to do it? One of the Bushes.