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0 pointsThePowerOfFuet3y ago0 comments

>These exceptions include collections of states (eg. the UAE, the US) and country names derived from regions

Let's take these one by one:

>the Netherlands This is plural: the Low Countries. You are referring to a group, same as the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

>the Congo Which one? ... Exactly.

>the Ukraine Already discussed, referring to it as a region denies its sovereignty.

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pseudo03y ago

The etymology of the Netherlands is the Dutch "nederland", or "lower lands". I'd consider "the lowlands" to fall into the region category, much in the same way that the Ukraine translates to "the frontier" or "the border".

> Which one? ... Exactly

What can I say, English is weird. The Gambia does the same, in both cases referring to the region around a particular river.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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pseudo03y ago

> Which one? ... Exactly

What can I say, English is weird. The Gambia does the same, in both cases referring to the region around a particular river.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse