[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy]
That’s easy to say in 2007, but in the 50s and 60s the name “Smokey the Bear” was ubiquitous and the Forest Service did nothing to stem the tide.
Although I can’t put my finger on any cites, I am sure that I remember radio/tv ads, billboards and parade appearances from that era that featured “Smokey the Bear.” It’s only in very recent years that the PR types have gotten snooty about the “the”.
[/QUOTE]
It definitely did use to be “Smokey the Bear” in common parlance, including in my 1960 World Book Encyclopedia in the article on fire prevention. But it wasn’t recently by any means that the Forest Service tried to deny the “the”. I’m sure I remember hearing before 1970 that it was supposed to be “Smokey Bear”.
I never understood that; the “the” just makes so much more sense. If I name my dog Spot or my cat Rocco, then Spot The Dog or Rocco The Cat sound far more natural, and Fido Dog and Rocco Cat.
“Smokey Bear”, IMO, seems how it would be spoken by someone whose native language is not English, and does not have articles.
Me leaving the parking lot at Rich Stadium: Boy, if Iron Eyes Cody were here, he’d be inconsolable.
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy]
Although I can’t put my finger on any cites, I am sure that I remember radio/tv ads, billboards and parade appearances from that era that featured “Smokey the Bear.” It’s only in very recent years that the PR types have gotten snooty about the “the”.
[/QUOTE]
Besides, there are a lot of Smokeys out there. How do we know which one you’re talking about? Edward was The Confessor, Simon was The Zealot, and Smokey is The Bear. The fact that his last name is also bear is just a coincidence. If he changed it to Eisenstein, he’d still be “Smokey the Bear.”
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus]
I never understood that; the “the” just makes so much more sense. If I name my dog Spot or my cat Rocco, then Spot The Dog or Rocco The Cat sound far more natural, and Fido Dog and Rocco Cat.
“Smokey Bear”, IMO, seems how it would be spoken by someone whose native language is not English, and does not have articles.
[/QUOTE]
IIRC, the original Smokey was a real bear – a cub rescued from a forest fire. His name was thus “Smok[e]y Bear.” I guess there’s something about a Mountie hat that calls for a “the.”
“The Simpsons” definitely did. The time they trashed the town, and they were moving all of Springfield somewhere else, it ended with that Indian shedding a tear.
I never put this in one the “Things other dopers never would have guessed about me” threads, because I never thought of it then:
I have been both Smokey Bear (several times) and Woodsy Owl once. Kevbabe works for the Forest Service, and I get recruited. Actually it’s fun, and I don’t have to (and am not even supposed to) talk to anybody.
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
What do Winnie The Pooh, Alexander The Great, and Jabba The Hutt have in common
[/QUOTE]
It’s Winnie Ther Pooh, btw. Winnie The Pooh is a girls name.
From the source -
[QUOTE=AA Milne]
When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say, “But I thought he was a boy?”
“So did I,” said Christopher Robin.
“Then you can’t call him Winnie?”
“I don’t.”
“But you said—”
“He’s Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don’t you know what ‘ther’ means?”
“Ah, yes, now I do,” I said quickly; and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus]
<snip>
I never understood that; the “the” just makes so much more sense. If I name my dog Spot or my cat Rocco, then Spot The Dog or Rocco The Cat sound far more natural, and Fido Dog and Rocco Cat.
“Smokey Bear”, IMO, seems how it would be spoken by someone whose native language is not English, and does not have articles.
[/QUOTE]
I remember radio commercials a couple years ago with a little girl who said, “you wouldn’t call him ‘Santa the Clause’, or ‘Easter the Bunny’”
I started reading backwards, got as far as “FIR,” and … ooh look! Shiny!