"The Dominican" hurts my brain.

Festero

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Dec 15, 2002
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For years my ears and brain have ached when I heard someone refer to the Dominican Republic as "The Dominican."

It has always sounded entirely awkward to me, just as if referring to The Check (Czech) Republic as "The Check." As in: "I just returned from a nice visit to the Check."

While I am comfortably literate in the English language, I must not have been paying much attention in school when certain elements of sentence structure and correct grammatical usage were taught, as I can't properly define *why* "The Dominican" is improper usage in the context of referring to the DR as the country.

I hear this not just from regular folks returning from their first visit to a Dominican AI, but also from highly educated people who should know better. Hell, even my mother who has several degrees and is a university associate professor and has been going to the DR for over twenty years uses that term, "The Dominican!"

After all, if it's just a case of laziness, using "The D. R." (Like "The U. S." in lieu of "The United States.") is an easier three syllables and far more correct from my view than the apparently laborious eight syllables of "The Dominican Republic."

What I would like is someone to offer me a grammatical definition as to the parts of speech in their correct usage in an example of why "The Dominican" is incorrect when referring to the place, The Dominican Republic.

I always quickly and politely slip in a correction when I hear the misuse, but I need more ammunition in terms of correct English usage to drive my point home.

Any grammatical wizards out there?
 
I personally don't know. I never heard anyone use just "The Dominican". If it was on a post, maybe it was a mis-type.
It could confuse people as well because there is another country
called "Dominica".

who knows, I'm just guessing.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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Joe, it happens a lot. I have heard tourists say it, and it comes up on the boards here all the time.

Festero, the grammatical error is simple: you can't have an adjective hanging from the definite article without the noun it is describing.

The Dominican what? As you say, it's as absurd as saying "The Czech", or for that matter, "The United". Kingdom, States or Colors of Benetton?

It p*sses me off big time.

Chiri
 

Bugsey34

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Feb 15, 2002
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I believe it's grammatically incorrect because "Dominican" is an adjective, modifying the noun, "Republic". In effect, it explains what sort of "Republic" it is. It's like nicknaming a "red door", the "red" instead of the "door".

I think people do that kind of nicknaming by the adjective with some things, but it just doesn't work in this case. Some things just sound instinctively wrong. I hate it!
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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In the absence of the noun "Republic", the adjective "Dominican" ceases to be and adjective and in this case, unlike Bugseys red door example, becomes a noun referring to a person. Red cannot be anything other than an adjective unless it is someones name.


The Dominican dish
The Dominican history book
The Dominican movie
The Dominican Republic

Dominican is an adjective.


take away the noun and "The Dominican" becomes the noun. It is a person of Domincan heritage.

Larry
 
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suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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It annoys me too, but I can understand why people would do this. The name of the country is too long. I personally wish we would change the name of the country to Quisqueya. I think it would be an easier name to remember as it is a catchier name and more marketable too for tourism purposes (i.e Quisqueya la bella). It would also avoid any confusion with the island of Dominica. I feel this could be done without a lot of opposition as Quisqueya IS the original name of the DR. My two cents...
 

Jersey Devil

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Jul 5, 2002
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Sports

I hate it, too.

Especially when sports broadcasters do it.

For example, Peter Gammons from ESPN was
on a radio program being interviewed about
the Curt Schilling signing. He referred to that
the fact that Pedro Martinez was in in the
"Dominican". I immediately sent an Instant
Access to the studio reagarding the fact that
he should have said "Dominican Republic", or
at worst, the DR. Alas we can only try to educate.
It is just like the Czech Republic. On January 1, 1993
Czechoslovakia became too seperate countries.
the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
Yet many broadcasters still refer to either one as if
they were still together. That really irks me.

Cruise Control Freak?

JD
 
Interesting. hmmmm

I don't see nothing wrong with

DR. We say UK, US. When I was in Japan and a bunch of guys and I wanted to go to the Philippines it was called PI. We called the island of Okinawa, Japan "The Rock"

But "Dominican" does seem incomplete.

Do you guys consider it disrespectful or just ignorant.
 

Tony Cabrera

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Sep 24, 2002
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It is the lasiness of the people, take for example when you come
to the united states, people here do not care what your name is.
You will get sooner or later a nickname, i.e. Antonio=Tony..

My little two "cheles"
 

Daniel W.

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Jan 20, 2003
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"Santo Domingo" hurts my brain, Festero!

I live in Italy, and the Dominican Republic or "La Repubblica Dominicana" as it is officially called in Italian, is known as Santo Domingo to almost everyone here. Italian travel agents term it as such, as do the brochures found in their offices. The Dominican Republic is much more than Santo Domingo, and probably the majority of tourist destinations are nowhere near the city, excepting Boca Chica and Juan Dolio. Whenever I hear someone referring to the DR as Santo Domingo, I let them know about the country, and why Santo Domingo is really an inappropriate label. Most Italians who have never visited the D.R. know very little about the country, and AI Italian Tourists are not too much better off in this regard. With increased tourism to the D.R., I hope to hear the country referred to as the Dominican Republic. I have also seen some posters on various DR1 fora referring to the DR as the "Dominican"... Ignorance!
 
Apr 26, 2002
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Dominicans themselves often refer to the country as "Santo Domingo", and this has a historic basis. The Spanish part of Hispanola was called Santo Domingo for centuries. The name "Dominican Republic" was derived from the "Domingo" in Santo Domingo. For this reason, Santo Domingo City is generally refered to in the provinces as "La Capital".

Many people do not realize that "Dominican Republic" translated literally into English does NOT mean "Republic of St. Dominic". Rather, it would mean "Sundayan Republic". Columbus named the City after the "Holy Sunday" ("Santo Domingo") on which it was founded, and NOT after Saint Dominic (San Domingo) or the Dominican order of priests.

If the name must be shortened, I vote for "Dominicana".
 

Pib

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Jan 1, 2002
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[B]Porfio_Rubirosa[/B] said:
Dominicans themselves often refer to the country as "Santo Domingo", ...
Guilty as charged your honour. I must confess that I don't like the name "Rep?blica Dominicana", but it grates on my nerves when people say "The Dominican". That sounds so wrong!

Many people do not realize that "Dominican Republic" translated literally into English does NOT mean "Republic of St. Dominic". Rather, it would mean "Sundayan Republic". Columbus named the City after the "Holy Sunday" ("Santo Domingo") on which it was founded, and NOT after Saint Dominic (San Domingo) or the Dominican order of priests.
And the same sources also especulate that there was also the fact that Columbus' father was called Dominico.

If the name must be shortened, I vote for "Dominicana".
But, how about Dominica? Those copycats took our name. I vote to invade them and make them change the name. Hmm... if I ever need a "wag the dog" event when I am president I know what I'll do. ;)
 
Apr 26, 2002
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Pib said:
But, how about Dominica? Those copycats took our name. I vote to invade them and make them change the name. Hmm... if I ever need a "wag the dog" event when I am president I know what I'll do. ;)

You would never need a "wag the dog" event were you President. However, I'll pass your idea on to Hippo. After a decade of corrupt, incompetent, autocratic governance, Argentina had the Falklands. Hippo can have Dominica.

As for naming the country, were there really truth in advertising, the country would be called "Dominos".
 
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Daniel W.

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Jan 20, 2003
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I too refer to the Dominican Republic as the DR...

But only on DR1, and talking with others "in the know" as it were. If I were asked in the US or in Europe where I went for my vacation, I would undoubtedly say the Dominican Republic. If the official name was changed to Santo Domingo by public vote, I could live with that name, as it has a very friendly connotation, and comes off smoothly...
 

Pib

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Jan 1, 2002
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Great idea Daniel.

I too would vote to change it to Santo Domingo... but we have a problem: how will we call the capital? Santo Domingo city? (a la Mexico), or should we change the name of the city too? I suggest we change the name of the city and in following our catholic tradition we give it a saint's name. I vote for Santa Clara ;)
 

XanaduRanch

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Sep 15, 2002
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Cool!

Porfio_Rubirosa said:
As for naming the country, were there really truth in advertising, the country would be called "Dominos".

dominos.jpg


Maybe we could get these guys to sponsor the name change. At the very least perhaps we could all score some free pizzas in exchange for the free publicity they'd be getting from the new country name. Heck we wouldn't even have to change the national colors. Maybe use this for our flag with the image of a bottle of brugal to go with the dominos.

Tom (aka XR)