BY DENIS SLATTERY
The Vatican. The Hague. The Bronx ?
A ragtag group of Bronx patriots is calling for greater respect for the Bronx — and its definite article “The.”
Members of the Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx, who called for the annexation of Marble Hill earlier this month, are back with a new, grammar-minded message.
“The Bronx is awesome, Manhattan is evil, and the other boroughs are adorable,” said Isaac Moore, the mastermind behind the movement. “It drives us bananas when people don’t capitalize the “The” in The Bronx.”
The Bronx, which has been celebrating its centennial as a New York county, is named after the Bronx River, a 24-mile long waterway that largely coils through the borough.
Jonas Bronck, originally from Sweden, purchased a tract of land between the Harlem River and the river that would later bear his name, in 1639. He died a mere four years later, but the river kept flowing toward the Long Island sound and the name stuck, Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan said.
When the Bronx joined greater New York City, in 1898, it was decided the borough would be named after the river and the Borough of The Bronx was born.
“The ‘T’ should be capitalized,” Ultan said. “The use fell by the wayside even though, properly, it should be capitalized.”
But official city documents and most major media outlets, the Daily News included, do not capitalize the “T” if the reference to the borough is mid-sentence.
“Not capitalizing the “the” in “The Bronx” would be like not capitalizing the “s” in “Staten Island,” Moore added. “Wherever that place is.”
Scholars seemed puzzled by the upper case grumblings.
“It’s an interesting argument,” said Professor Suzette Seepersad, the acting chair of the English Department at Monroe College. “If the group is attempting to reclaim the power associated with the name and with the history of the name, I understand that. Naming is a very powerful thing.”
Further complicating things, when New York state made the borough a county in 1914 the “the” was dropped completely and the area was called simply Bronx County.
But supporters of the capital “T” are standing strong.
“It’s a question of what is proper and what is not proper,” Ultan said. “As part of the name it should be there. It’s just a question of what’s right.”
