I have to agree w/ Atlanta Bob & Mondongo
Refering to the country as "the Dominican" is not proper usage and no matter what some on this board may say, does bug, if not offend, many Dominicans. My wife and her family, to provide one example covering some 140-150 individuals, see red when they hear this. Frankly, when I lived in the RD, the few times I heard this usage (besides this board) was from tourists and newbies. The people who had actually lived for awhile in Quisqueya never spoke of the country this way. They may refer to the country as "Santo Domingo" or "La Rep?blica" or "RD" or "DR," but never "the Dominican."
Someone noted that many Dominicans tend to refer to their country as Santo Domingo and the US as "New York." This also drove me crazy, especially in my writing class, when they would be asked to compare/contrast two cities and they would compare New York (the city) with Santo Domingo (meaning the DR as a whole). I always told them that contrary to what some capitle?os might believe, SD is NOT the entire Rep?blica Dominicana -- Santiago, San Pedro, San Francisco, Duverge, La Romana, Bani, Hato Mayor, Monte Cristi, Barahona all contribute to the wonderful mosiac which is Quisqueya. Similarly, they should wake up and realize that NYC is not the be-all and end-all that most Dominicans seem to think it is, that the US has so much more to offer that is nothing like NYC (and many non-NYC Americans are glad of it!).
Regards,
Keith