Tony Burson (Letters, 21 January) asks why some countries are (or were) preceded by the definite article. In the case of Ukraine, it was in the past known as “the Ukraine”. However, the name is an Old Slavic word for “borderlands”, implying that the (now independent) country is merely an outlying part of Russia. Ukrainian nationalists were, understandably, not happy to be minimised in this way, so the definite article is only now used by the unwise.

Dr Richard Carter

London

• As I dropped my bread into the toaster this morning I contemplated the relative risk of toast, meandering Trident missiles, the Trump presidency and the busy road junction outside my house. I ate the toast and sent a further contribution to CND. Can’t do anything about the rest (Roast potatoes and toast that’s a bit too brown may cause cancer, say authorities, 23 January).

Angela Barton

Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire

• Concerning the correspondence on uses of the word “so” (Letters, passim) it reminded me of a Dutch friend, a lecturer and researcher in English grammar at the University of Nijmegen, who told me that he was aware of 36 distinct usages of the word. But, remarkably, this is fewer than the 40 different usages detailed in the full Oxford Dictionary (1933) – Volume S-Soldo – which devotes 15 columns to “so”. A tiny but powerful word indeed.

Alan Woolley

Weybridge, Surrey

• But, as everyone knows, you cannot start a sentence with “and” (Letters, 23 January). And anyway, we all know that “those feet” belong to Jesus and that Blake’s answer to that set up of a question was a firm “no”. So there!

Dr Mike Davis

Blackpool, Lancashire

• As a seven-year-old in Malta (Dad serving in the RAF) in the early 1950s I have distinct memories of having to break the Weetabix apart to ensure there was no maggot life in them (Letters, passim). This was normal procedure for all serving Brits in Malta at that time. Then we doused them with the usual milk and sugar.

Alan Paterson

Cambridge

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