Why do we use "the" in "the British" but not before "Canadians"?

Question

Why do we use the definite article before most nationalities such as "the British" but we say "Canadians" without the?

Specifically, why is it that, for example,...

Canadians like maple syrup.

...is a normal/unremarkable statement/sentence, but...

*British think they put on a "jolly good show" for the 2012 Olympics.

...is "incorrect" without a leading definite article?

I use "the" before both. "The British speak the same language as the Canadians." — Luke_0, Oct 03 '12 at 13:11
You're mixing two kinds of names. "Canadians" is analogous to "Britons", not to "the British". "Britons" refers to some people; "the British" refers to a people. — MetaEd, Oct 03 '12 at 15:04
Related: “Using the definite article before a country/state name”. — MetaEd, Oct 03 '12 at 15:10
@Alisa: I don't understand the closevotes - as I write, three people are saying it's "Not a Real Question". I'll edit your text, but if you don't like the changes, please feel free to edit it again yourself. — FumbleFingers, Oct 03 '12 at 16:16
@MετάEd, I'd be more inclined to believe that argument if you could come up with a version of "Canadian" that does take an article. In other words, Briton:Canadian::British:??? (Note that to me, "the Canadians" sounds totally wrong unless we're talking about a particular group of tourists or something. Ditto for "the Americans".) — Marthaª, Oct 04 '12 at 03:11
@Marthaª The point is that there are two terms for British people, and that the question is comparing "Canadians" with the wrong one. If there are two terms for Canadians I am not aware of it, and I am surely not inclined to try to invent another one. — MetaEd, Oct 04 '12 at 03:57
Distantly related: Why is “I like to study the English” wrong? — Scott - Слава Україні, Feb 26 '17 at 06:16
The reason we need to use "the" with "British" is because "British" is not a noun. Demonyms with -an, like "Canadian", can be nouns or adjectives, but are used exclusively as plural nouns without article when speaking abstractly about the demographic as a whole. Demonyms with -ish, like "British", are exclusively adjectives, and so use a different construction. Two in fact: With the noun "people" and no article, or with no noun and the article "the". — No Name, Dec 06 '22 at 07:50

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

"While the Canadians" may not always require the definite article, there are over 10,000 written instances showing they're quite capable of taking it on board.

We British, on the other hand, can only do without it in constructions like that (where "We..." effectively stands in for "We, the...").

It's probably connected to the fact that we have an alternative demonym that doesn't normally take a definite article...

"Americans, Canadians, and Britons" are all anglophones.

(as are "The Americans, the Canadians, and the British")

Per MετάEd's comment to the question itself, the British normally refers collectively to a people, so you'll see things like The British are an industrious race. But in contexts where multiple individuals are being referenced, we'd normally say something like Four Britons were among the dead.

It's interesting to consider the position of the French here. Several French were among them is really unusual (that was the only clear-cut example I could easily find in Google Books), whereas two Frenchmen were among [them] is unexceptional. I don't know what the disaster reporters would write if the French casualties were a man and a woman, but not actually a French couple.

+1 Is Brit considered an abbreviation of British or Briton or both? I ask because it doesn't seem to require said article. — coleopterist, Oct 03 '12 at 14:47
@coleopterist: I don't think I can answer that one, even speaking just for myself! If I'm forced to, I'd say I see Brit as about equally split between being an abbreviation (of British, Briton, Britisher, again, all about equal), and a "standalone" word that doesn't have to be seen as an abbreviation of any one of them in particular. — FumbleFingers, Oct 03 '12 at 15:11

Why do we use "the" in "the British" but not before "Canadians"?

1 Answers1