People don't usually say "the Ukraine" any more, just Ukraine (but I suspect that's why you put it in quotes). The definite article doesn't exist in Ukrainian (iirc) but I'm not really sure how that relates to the OP's point so I'll :confused: .

This thread seems to have originally wanted to play to the stereotypes of the French being arrogant and to the especially-Chilean-held stereotype of the Argentines being arrogant.

The theory advanced in the OP got interesting when it came out that even the United States used the definite article in common usage of the country's name. :eek:

The Hague. (not a country, but a city. Oops.)

Naw, I KNOW we use the definite article here. And look what the world thinks of us (but you will have noticed my qualification where initials are used) - I'd expect you'd find that in much of latin america, not just "especially-Chilean", there's a "stereotype of the Argentines being arrogant."

We use the definite article in the United States independent of using the initials; and the use of the definite article in the mention of the country precedes any widely-held perception that the United States was an arrogant nation and precedes any wide use of the initials.

I don't buy the "Latin American" -- but especially Chilean -- stereotype of Argentines. I've dealt with more arrogant Chileans, Colombians and Venezuelans than arrogant Argentines; and that's true even controlling for socio-economic background.

I've known a couple old Americans who referred to it as "The Argentine" instead of the political name.

The stereotype notwithstanding, the use of the definite article is a linguistic trait and applies to all countries in French, not just France. So it is L'Italie, L'Allemagne, etc. No special distinction for France.

What I find more interesting, that follow-on posts have touched on, is the use of the English definite article for short form country and city names such as 'The Gambia', 'The Lebanon', 'The Ukraine' and 'The Hague'. It seems that plural country names (island groups or political amalgamations (USA, UAE) mostly, with the Netherlands as the exception which proves the rule) and long names that include the form of government such as republic, kingdom, union, federation normally include the definite article.

How did it come about that these countries and city got the 'honorific' definite article?

Some are falling out of common use such as Ukraine and Lebanon, but the Hague and the Gambia remain.

A California "aside"....
 

OT, but I could usually tell a SoCal'er by their use of "the" in front of freeways, i.e. "The 101" for US101, where we NorCal'ers would simply say "101."

Also irks me a little that folks refer to El Camino Real as the redundant "The El Camino."

The Hague is a city, not a country. It is a transliteration of the Dutch "Den Haag". Think of it as "The Capital".

This is a very touchy subject with Gambians. I've seen a Gambian delegation at a conference walk out when their name tags said "Gambia" rather than "The Gambia".

If you want touchy, try referring to an Ivoirien's country as 'The Ivory Coast'...

What an excellent use of the funds provided by an impoverished country for its representatives to travel to a conference. How much of their third world aid budget is squandered on such posturing ?

Ivory Coast or Cote d'Ivoire I haven't had a negative reaction yet from saying either. I'm curious about which faux pas I may be engaging. :eek:

Were the funds necessarily provided by an impoverished country?

Sometimes the posturing is related to a cause of material importance and some small protocol item is just the foil in order not to be further subjected.

It's just as bad as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. (¿los Angeles de Los Angeles?) :confused: