The Definite Article

[Kenneth and Tracie Josephson]

"Edward H. Lybarger" wrote:

> I have a major pet peeve.  It involves the continued use of the highly
> pompous and insulting "THE West Penn," "THE This," "THE That" that railfans
> like to use to assert their familiarity with subjects.  Yes, some of the
> companies promoted themselves like this, West Penn included, in the early
> years.  It was a promotional tactic employed to intimidate the public into
> believing a company was more important and/or more powerful than was
> actually the case. But West Penn had the good taste to cease it at an early
> date and call themselves the West Penn System or the West Penn Railways
> Company, as appropriate, which frankly sound more prosperous that the phony
> appellation.  Besides, the other is bad English.

This may explain North American's insistence on the definite article with its
Milwaukee operations. It was always THE Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light
Company, THE Milwaukee Electric Railway & Transport Company, THE Transport
Company, THE Electric Company, etc. The psychological impact could also have
negative results. The involvement of non-employees in the 1934 strike is an
example. These strike sympathizers attitude against the company's "New York
owners" (coupled with the city's rather provincial outlook) lead to some of the
most violent actions in that labor dispute.

I remember when some transit systems tried promoting themselves during the 1970s
by referring to their surface operations as "The Bus." It didn't seem to stem
ridership losses.

San Diego's lightrail system is "THE" San Diego Trolley, Portland's is "THE" Max
and even Dallas' heritage line is "THE" McKinley Avenue Railway. Most people I
know from Boston (fans and otherwise) call their entire system "THE" T.

I don't know where I picked up the habit of calling Pittsburgh Railways  "the
Railways", but most fans I know simply call West Penn, well......West Penn
(without "THE.")  Ken J.