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From: ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Use of THE - US vs Eng
Message-ID: <5066@ukc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Apr-85 08:21:48 EST
Article-I.D.: ukc.5066
Posted: Fri Apr 26 08:21:48 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 23-Apr-85 00:21:27 EST
References: <7200005@hp-pcd.UUCP> <2491@fritz.UUCP>
Reply-To: ncg@ukc.UUCP (Nigel Gale)
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Kent at Canterbury, UK
Lines: 26


So the British all use 'the' in strange places (ie Britain),
which is - good heavens - different from the American use of
the same word.

Remember, when you talk about 'the British', you are covering
a fairly wide spectrum of speech habits.

One example that springs to mind is the accent of Lancashire.
There are many expressions and mannerisms peculiar to
Lancastrians, one of which is to almost totally omit the word
'the' from their speech. Quite often it is replaced by
something quite similar to a glottal stop.

But I'm no authority, I live several hundred miles away, and
only rarely hear the accent being spoken.

Only forty miles, in London, is the homeland of the Cockney
accent/slang. That is marginally more similar to the local
Kentish accent.

Is it surprising that thousands of miles separating two
countries should yield the odd difference in the use
of the article 'the'?