Book: Gogol's Taras Bulba

The BBC doesn't, nor does the FO. Same thing as Sudan. wgaf anyway?

Though oddly enough the Sudanese government use it whereas the Ukrainian government go bezerk when newspapers use 'they'd.

They don't - it's gramatically wrong, because "The Ukraine" was referring to a geographical area, not the country. You don't say "The Poland", or "The Germany", so why "The Ukraine"?


My my Des, I thought you were supposed to be against evil colonial naming conventions and so on?

As I explained - The Ukraine was a geographical area. Ukraine is the country. Using "The Ukraine" is offensive and implies that it's still occupied by colonial forces, or worse.

It was short for 'the Ukraine peninsula', nowadays it is 'Ukraine's peninsula'. A country not simply a region.

The Philippines actually takes an article because it is a group of islands which is also a country, in the same way as the Maldives, the Seychelles, the Bahamas, etc.


Any Ukrainian who speaks English well enough will be able to explain it to you. They tend to be a bit touchy about it. Of course that does mean meeting Ukrainians. There are lots of them in Poland, and flights to Donetsk from Warsaw start at $130 return, but of course you reject invitations to visit Poland.


No, they call it Ukrayina.


Add these to that list:

the Oxford English Dictionary
the Guardian
the Economist


I wonder if he still talks about the Congo too.

I wonder if you, or your cronies, have even read Taras Bulba. Write about the topic, Harry, or get the hell off of the thread.

Its Peking, Bombay and Keeeeeeenya.