History Main / TheTheTitleConfusion

* (The) [[Music/ThePixies Pixies]]

Further confusion surrounds the question of whether something which doesn't include a "the" in the title officially should be supplied with one when grammatically appropriate. The "United States of America" doesn't have a "the" in the title, but you'd never use it in a sentence without one; by contrast, several bands which don't include articles [[BerserkButton get very upset]] when one is used. There are times when a "the" would clash with another article, in which case it's generally accepted that you drop the one in the name; it's "a Strokes song", not "a Music/TheStrokes song". In terms of alphabetical ordering, "the" and "a/an" are often ignored, and as such ''Film/TheGodfather'' should be categorized under "Godfather", not "The". Furthermore, some languages (such as Japanese) don't use articles at all. As such, when translated, the translator will usually add a "the", as just calling, say, a {{Kaiju}} movie "Giant Monster Attacks" would be ungrammatical in English ([[AmbiguousSyntax unless it's meant to say "more than one giant monster attack" as opposed to "a/the giant monster attacks"]]).

* On ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', falling victim to this (adding an initial "the" to a title that doesn't have one or dropping it from one that does) generally doesn't make a response wrong unless it changes the title to refer to something else(e.g., ''Literature/InvisibleMan'' vs. ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'').

** UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}

* In general, the rule of thumb seems to be if a band's name is (the) (noun) you always say "the" (e.g. Music/TheBeatles, Music/{{The Cure|Band}}) whereas if the name is (the) (adjective) (noun) (e.g. Music/SpiceGirls), then "the" is either never used or is optional.
* Generally, any band whose name is, or seems to be, a plural noun, will get this. However, there are aversions: Darts, Wings, and Steps are three bands who seem largely immune to it. Music/NineInchNails also generally avoids getting an unnecessary "the," but that might also be thanks to [[IAmTheBand that name being largely associated with just Trent Reznor]].

* (The) Music/ArtOfNoise, although they use both.

* ''[[Franchise/{{Transformers}} The Transformers]]'' or just ''Transformers''? Post-[[Film/TransformersFilmSeries movies]] it seems to have stuck without the "the".

* (The) [[Music/TheProdigy Prodigy]]. The cover art to ''The Fat Of The Land'' used a logo that dropped the definitive article from their name, as did artwork for singles taken from that album, but otherwise they've always officially been The Prodigy. Some further confusion is possible because of [[NamesTheSame a rapper known as Prodigy]], who is best known for being half of the duo Mobb Deep.

* Creator/CartoonNetwork started out with "the" in front of its name. ''The'' Cartoon Network is still it's legal name.

* ''The Legendary Axe II'' features the definite article on the title screen, but "Legendary Axe II" is used everywhere else.

** Interestingly enough, nearly half of Ohio State's conference rivals also have a "The" in their official name, but don't emphasize it, including primary rival (The) University of Michigan.[[note]]The others are The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), The University of Iowa, The University of Minnesota, and [[OverlyLongName Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey]] (generally shortened simply to "Rutgers University"), soon to be joined by The University of California, Los Angeles (invariably referred to only by its initials UCLA).[[/note]]
* Skydome, in Toronto, before the name change to Rogers Centre (which still, for the most part, doesn't use "The").

* Many (though not all) newspapers have "The" as part of their official title, so that references to them should properly be (for example) The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Denver Post and so on.

* This can happen with foreign films when their titles are translated into English, especially when the language in question doesn't use "the". The Japanese film "砂の器" is called ''Film/CastleOfSand'' on Wiki/TheOtherWiki but ''The Castle of Sand'' on Website/{{IMDB}}.

** The MassiveMultiplayerCrossover BeatEmUp SpinOff released between ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV XV]]'' is officially titled ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersAllStar'', with ''All Star'' sometimes depicted as a single word in all caps ("ALLSTAR"). For convenience, many fans opt to call the game ''KOF All Star'', as did [[Wiki/TVTropes This Very Wiki]] before renaming the page to the full title. (And that's before you get to the occasional "''KOF All Star'''s'''''" typo, something that TV Tropes also briefly ran afoul of.)

* Wiki/TVTropes has run into this a few times; "The" is usually omitted from a name unless it is a character type (TheDragon, ThePollyanna) or part of a set phrase (TheBlindLeadingTheBlind). Back when character names were accepted as trope titles, "The" was used to distinguish, say, The Ralph Wiggum ([[TheDitz a humorously stupid person]]) from Ralph Wiggum (the ''Simpsons'' character). Pages' search-engine descriptions take such forms as "The '''TheStarscream''' trope as used in popular culture, with a list of examples from all media." Or better yet, for this page, "The '''[[OverusedRunningGag The The Title Confusion]]''' trope as used in popular culture, with a list of examples from all media."
* On Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, battles have sometimes raged over whether to use the "the" in an article title. ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' (the TV series) has it but ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' (the comic book) doesn't. The official Manual of Style says:

* (The) Alkaline Trio are a strange example. Retail websites list them as ''The'' Alkaline Trio, but none of their album covers include a "The."

** The MassiveMultiplayerCrossover BeatEmUp SpinOff released between ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV XV]]'' is officially titled ''The King of Fighters All Star'', with ''All Star'' sometimes depicted as a single word in all caps ("ALLSTAR"). For convenience, many fans opt to call the game ''KOF All Star'', as does [[Wiki/TVTropes This Very Wiki]] (though the article here is currently titled ''VideoGame/{{KOF All Star|s}}'''[[VideoGame/KOFAllStars s]]''''' due to a typo).

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': There are numerous examples from across Wiki/ThisVeryWiki of episodes that don't start with "The", and episodes that ''do'', being subjected to this trope. Frequent victims include:

* ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'': The third ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' book, ''Literature/TheBandsOfMourning'', was a victim of this for a long time on Wiki/ThisVeryWiki, with many tropers dropping the "The".

** ''[[Characters/Avengers60sMembers The Vision]]'', or ''Vision''.

* Both ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' and ''Film/{{TheBatman|2022}}'' exist as titles for adaptation of the comic books about superhero (The) Batman.

* Both ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' and ''Film/TheBatman'' exist as titles for adaptation of the comic books about superhero (The) Batman.

* Batman's archenemy is referred to as ''the'' ComicBook/{{Joker}} in almost every appearance in various media - his first solo movie however is simply called ''Film/Joker''.