• qrstuv@lemmy.sdf.orgOPM
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      14 days ago

      Wow! Your command of the english language is very impressive! I’m lucky to have such a skilled author volunteer their time to educate me on this essential point! Thank you for engaging with my content!

      • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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        14 days ago

        Ukraine stopped being called ‘the Ukraine’ around its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union.

        Sorry old man, times change — should probably get used to it.

          • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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            14 days ago

            I shouldn’t have put it in quotes, I did it to denote my personal paraphrasing after doing some light reading.

            The usage was common in Soviet times, and the idea that Ukraine was a region and not a country was pushed by the Soviet Union — it is now considered gramatically incorrect.

            Direct quotes from Wikipedia:

            The use of “the Ukraine” has been officially deprecated by the Ukrainian government and many English-language media publications.

            In 1993, the Ukrainian government explicitly requested that, in linguistic agreement with countries and not regions,[65] the Russian preposition в, v, be used instead of на, na,[66] and in 2012, the Ukrainian embassy in London further stated that it is politically and grammatically incorrect to use a definite article with Ukraine.

            Edit: article link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine

            • qrstuv@lemmy.sdf.orgOPM
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              14 days ago

              Dang! I need to be more careful about speaking english how Ukrainian government tells me to!

              • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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                14 days ago

                Well, the few Ukranians I’ve met refer to it as Ukraine — it is also listed in the countries declaration of independence and constitution as Ukraine, not the Ukraine.

                Or are we suggesting that documents like these can’t be used as a sufficient reference? What would be good enough for you, should I survey every living Ukranian and ask them individually what they think?