Worse than calling the country "The Dominican"

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Chirimoya

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It's well documented on this site that some obsessively/compulsively inclined DR1ers, myself included, loathe it when the country is referred to as "The Dominican". The only thing that is really worse is the occasional confusion with a completely different country's name, Dominica.

Elizabeth Thorp: The Dominican Republic Wants You To Vacation Like A Kardashian

The Huffington Post gets it right in most of this article, but mystifyingly includes this sentence:
This corner of Dominica is known world-wide as a top-rated luxury, romantic and family-friendly destination, as well as home to some of the world's most beautiful beaches and elegant resorts, making it a popular vacation destination for Hollywood's elite.
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I commented at the foot of the article and so has another reader, so with any luck they will make the correction.
 
frank recktenwald

frank recktenwald

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Chirimoya said:
It's well documented on this site that some obsessively/compulsively inclined DR1ers, myself included, loathe it when the country is referred to as "The Dominican". The only thing that is really worse is the occasional confusion with a completely different country's name, Dominica.

Elizabeth Thorp: The Dominican Republic Wants You To Vacation Like A Kardashian

The Huffington Post gets it right in most of this article, but mystifyingly includes this sentence:


I commented at the foot of the article and so has another reader, so with any luck they will make the correction.
Click to expand...

I think her last name is not "Thorp" but should be "Torpe". ;)
 
keepcoming

keepcoming

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This subject confuses me only because I constantly hear even the locals use that term "The Dominican". I don't know how many times I have heard someone say "oh he/she is coming back to "The Dominican" this week or "I am going to The Dominican next week". Just this morning at the bank I overheard a teller explaining to a foreigner who was at the bank say "this is how it is done in The Dominican". Even if I ask family or friends where so and so is I always get the response "they are in The Dominican". Even when I went to speak with one of my son's professors about the fact my son was going to be out of school for 10 days due to travel the professor replied "when he gets back here to The Dominican" to call him for the missed work. Not saying whether this is right or wrong just that I have wondered about this and people's feelings about the term "The Dominican".
 
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mido

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keepcoming said:
This subject confuses me only because I constantly hear even the locals use that term "The Dominican". I don't know how many times I have heard someone say "oh he/she is coming back to "The Dominican" this week or "I am going to The Dominican next week". Just this morning at the bank I overheard a teller explaining to a foreigner who was at the bank say "this is how it is done in The Dominican". Even if I ask family or friends where so and so is I always get the response "they are in The Dominican". Even when I went to speak with one of my son's professors about the fact my son was going to be out of school for 10 days due to travel the professor replied "when he gets back here to The Dominican" to call him for the missed work. Not saying whether this is right or wrong just that I have wondered about this and people's feelings about the term "The Dominican".
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So true! Each time a travel abroad most of the people I talk to refer to "The Dominican" or "Dominicana". It's only here on this board that I experienced people complaining about it.
 
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Chirimoya

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"The Dominican," arguably equivalent to "Dominicana," is likely to become standard through usage, more's the pity because it sounds so stupid. But even that pales in comparison with confusing the names of two different countries - that's the point of my post.
 
AlterEgo

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For decades Mr. AE has referred to his country as "Santo Domingo". The other day he said "The Dominican", I think for the first time. I think I blinked a few times, haha.

The only brother who speaks English always says "The Dominican" when he's speaking English to me.

So, if Dominicans say it, who are we to criticize?

I mean, it's kinda like people saying they're from Jersey instead of New Jersey. No?
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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Chirimoya said:
"The Dominican," arguably equivalent to "Dominicana," is likely to become standard through usage, more's the pity because it sounds so stupid. But even that pales in comparison with confusing the names of two different countries - that's the point of my post.
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You've got that right Chiri.

Not long ago I had to call Comcast Customer Service for internet trouble, and I ended up talking to a guy in Dominica call center. We got into a conversation about la Republica Dominicana and Dominica, and how people confuse them. I asked what people from Dominica were called, and he said it's pronounced "Dough - me - knee - cans" instead of "Dominicans".

Off topic, I know, but that's my useless factoid for the day.... :)
 
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mido

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AlterEgo said:
For decades Mr. AE has referred to his country as "Santo Domingo". The other day he said "The Dominican", I think for the first time. I think I blinked a few times, haha...
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Oh, I forgot, yes, many people just say "Santo Domingo".
 
J

JMB773

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I always thought this was a JOKE when people made fun of others calling it the Dominican. People Dominican Republic, one of these words is the NOUN and the other is ADJECTIVE I won't tell you which one because we all attended some type of school.

A REPUBLIC is a type of government just like in CZECH REPUBLIC. The official name for Haiti is the REPUBLIC of Haiti, but some countries use the word REPUBLIC in its name. Ireland is another the REPUBLIC OF IRELAND.

So when people say the DOMINICAN it is NOT WRONG!!!! MOST countries official name has REPUBLIC in it the Dominican Republic does not have claim to the word REPUBLIC.
 
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Chirimoya

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AlterEgo said:
You've got that right Chiri.

Not long ago I had to call Comcast Customer Service for internet trouble, and I ended up talking to a guy in Dominica call center. We got into a conversation about la Republica Dominicana and Dominica, and how people confuse them. I asked what people from Dominica were called, and he said it's pronounced "Dough - me - knee - cans" instead of "Dominicans".

Off topic, I know, but that's my useless factoid for the day.... :)
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With the stress on the KNEE, as it were. :)
 
W

william webster

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Wasn't this one of the pet peeves our our dear departed friend, Lambada ?

If I recall, she recoiled when seeing it used.
 
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mido

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OK, to avoid confusion then maybe we should call people from Santo Domingo "Dominican Republicans".
 
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Chirimoya

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william webster said:
Wasn't this one of the pet peeves our our dear departed friend, Lambada ?

If I recall, she recoiled when seeing it used.
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It was, and she did. I carry on the good fight to honour her memory :)
There are two very firmly entrenched camps when it comes to "The Dominican" and neither will ever convince the other.
 
J

j&t's future

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I once heard a story of someone looking at an on-line map of Africa and seeing the "Dominican Republic of Congo"!
 
aarhus

aarhus

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Good to get rid of the Republic part. Makes it to long. The Dominican sounds much better.
 
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dv8

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i just cannot care. i said before that in polish we have two names for DR: republika dominicany (dominican republic) and dominikana (the dominican, i guess, but dominikana here is a noun).
so i naturally assumed that similar versions must exist in other languages....
 
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