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The Top 10: Things that are not ‘the’
How definite are you about the definite article in the names of TV shows, pop groups, newspapers, music, ships, trains, streets and acts of parliament?
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Your support makes all the difference.This list was suggested by Dean Bullen, after a pedant pointed out that the metal-detecting TV series is Detectorists, not The Detectorists. Just as it is Bodyguard (thanks to Andrew Raeburn). I have done countries that used to be “the” (Netherlands, Ukraine and so on) but here are 10 other things.
1. Spice Girls. Top of a long list of pop groups to spurn the definite article. Nominated by David Lister. Phil Riley adds: “Glenn and Don were very insistent that the band were known as Eagles, not The Eagles – a forlorn hope if you ask me.” Also: Small Faces (Judith Clare), Pixies, Manic Street Preachers (Mark Hobbs), Pet Shop Boys (Beverley Barrett) and Cocteau Twins (Tim Farron). At the other end of the spectrum is The The, a band that made fun of the self-importance of some of “The” Big Names.
2. BuzzFeed. David Cameron once referred to “the BuzzFeed” in a revealing dad moment. Similarly, various newspapers do not have “the” on their masthead, including Church Times, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Evening Standard, i, Metro, Sunday Express and Sunday Mirror.
3. Messiah. Handel’s. Nominated by Chris Smith.
4. Her Majesty’s Ships. Even The Independent (which does take the definite article) has referred, for example, to “The HMS Prince of Wales, sunk by the Japanese, killing 840 UK soldiers”. We would not dream of saying (the sinking was in 1941), “the His Majesty’s Ship Prince of Wales”, would we? Thanks to Peter Elliott, who adds: “It might be permissible to say, ‘the captain of the Troutbridge,’ but I believe that a member of the royal navy is more likely to say: ‘I served in Troutbridge.’”
5. Flying Scotsman – “unless referring to the service rather than the locomotive”. Absolutely world-class pedantry there from Ben Yates.
6. Red House, “home of William and Jane Morris and the centre of the Pre-Raphaelite circle”, now a National Trust property. Thanks to Robert Harris.
7. Today. BBC Radio 4 programme that some people listen to. Thanks to Stair at the Sky.
8. Carnival. The Notting Hill one. Topical nomination from Mark.
9. Acts of parliament. According to Rich Greenhill, The Waterford and Wexford Railway Act 1871 is the most recent of about eight acts that have “the” at the start of their name. The most famous is The Petition of Right, which provided in 1627 that “the king’s subjects should not be taxed but by consent in parliament”.
10. Sajid Javid. Thanks to Ross Smith.
No room, therefore, for Royal Mail, Rupert Bear or Wirral. And I thought I would prove that I am the people’s pedant by excluding such staples of the genre as hoi polloi, Magna Carta and MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club).
Several nominations for the London street that is currently called Strand, but it was originally “The Strand”.
Next week: Units of measurement, such as in this headline: “Asteroid the size of a double-decker bus flies past Earth.”
Coming soon: Jobs held by ex-prime ministers, after David Cameron denied he wanted to come back as foreign secretary.
Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk
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