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Brian Miller Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004 Location: United States Posts: 30832
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Posted: 12 June 2019 at 7:31am | IP Logged | 1
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The John Byrne
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132132
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Posted: 12 June 2019 at 7:41am | IP Logged | 2
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As many of you know, one of the treasures of my collection is a letter signed by Abraham Lincoln. I like to point out that he was a humble man, and signed it A Lincoln, not The Lincoln.
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Doug Centers Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014 Location: United States Posts: 5436
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Posted: 12 June 2019 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | 3
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HA!
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Rebecca Jansen Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018 Location: Canada Posts: 4409
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Posted: 12 June 2019 at 3:49pm | IP Logged | 4
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The Porky Pig, The Mickey Mouse, the Woody Woodpecker... nah, you're right, doesn't work (except for rock groups).
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Eric Sofer Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 January 2014 Location: United States Posts: 4789
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 9:20am | IP Logged | 5
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Still, no one would ever be expected to address someone beginning with "The" (unless their name were Theodore, perhaps.)
But if I look at the Justice League or the Avengers or the Fantastic Four through their first fifty issues, that article applies a lot. It doesn't apply when the character's sobriquet seems to be a name already (e.g., The Mr. Fantastic or The Thor don't work at all.) But aside from that, all I can think of from that group who have not been referred to with "the" would be Wonder Woman*, Aquaman, Captain America, Giant-Man/Goilath, and Hawkeye. Iron Man and Superman have accurately been referred to that way, although not as often. And I guess Hawkman is kinda iffy... I've been rereading a lot of JSA stories lately, so it's kind of here-and-there.
On the other hand, I can't think of a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes who have been referred to with "the." Ditto for the Guardians of the Galaxy (although they didn't really have super hero identities... just their names.)
I wonder how "the" gets applied. As noted, it doesn't work if it's someone's name, or a title (Captain America, Captain Marvel.) It's an interesting puzzle.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132132
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 9:38am | IP Logged | 6
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I have dim memories of a Silver Age Flash story in which aliens kept calling him The Flash (“Come over here, The Flash.”) because they thought it was the proper form of address.
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Joe Boster Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 3160
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | 7
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2008 I am Iron Man. next 10 years we get The Iron man. I think The Iron Man started in Iron Man Extremis by The Warren Ellis.
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Bill Collins Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005 Location: England Posts: 11245
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | 8
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The Thing, or Thing?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132132
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | 9
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The Thing when spoken of, Thing when addressed.
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Ronald Joseph Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2011 Location: United States Posts: 1784
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | 10
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nah, you're right, doesn't work (except for rock groups).
Funny you should mention rock groups. People always refer to the band The Scorpions, but on all their albums, they're simply called Scorpions.
Yet there are, of course, The Ramones, The Pogues, The Smiths, etc. who have "The" in their names.
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Tim Cousar Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006 Location: United States Posts: 1660
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | 11
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Eurythmics, not the Eurythmics.
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Peter Martin Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 15727
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Posted: 13 June 2019 at 6:39pm | IP Logged | 12
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And then you have the eighties band called The The.
Batman seems to have quite a few characters that can be referred to in the third person with the definite article, but drop it (naturally) when addressed directly.
There's Batman himself, of course, but also the Penguin, the Riddler, the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter.
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