Re: Countries with needless definite article.

["Patricia M. Godfrey" priscamg@xxxxxxxx]

mje@xxxxxxxx wrote:
No, I wasn't thinking of that. I'm not sure what the Levant is,
> What is un-P.C. about "the Levant"?
The Levant was an old (19th-cent) term for the eastern end of the
Mediterranean and the adjacent hinterland. As it was given by the
colonial powers (mostly France and Britain) for areas over which
they were trying to exercise varying degrees of control, it
naturally came to be considered degrading. oolonialist,
hegemonic, etc. by the inhabitants. The adj. Levantine was even
worse, having overtones of Anti-Semitism (in the full sense of
dissing both Jews and Arabs).
--
Patricia M. Godfrey
priscamg@xxxxxxxx