[lbo-talk] Rise of Nasty Right

[joseph noonan]

On Wed, 15 Apr 2009, shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
>
> My friend, who passed away at a young age, always called Foucault, The
> Foucault. Not with any special emphasis on "the" or anything.

Is this in the same sense as the East Coast working class use of the 
definite article when referring to disease?  You know: "I've got the 
diabetes" or "poor old Mrs. Hannigan has got the cancer"?

What is up with that anyway?