I listened with interest to the discussion of the proper use of the and thE (long e version) and felt like a dufus since I was not familiar with this rule and for an engineer I consider myself fairly literate. I reviewed the discussion I had heard with my wife, an English graduate, and she indicated she also was not familiar with this as a rule. Further she immediately started to come up with notable exceptions.
1. Columbia gem of the ocean. (I certainly had not heard of Columbia gem of thE ocean)
2. The occupy Wall Street movement. (I don't recall every hearing of ThE occupy Wall Street movement)
Back to the original context I guess I have heard of thE end, but certainly not universally.
Welcome to the forum, John. Exactly what "rule" are you referring to? You didn't say, and I've never heard of a rule dictating the use of a long or short "E" in the word "the." I always figured it was just an affectation.
Based on what I've been taught and one episode I listened to, 'the' is pronounced:
the: if the following word begins with a consonant
thE: " " " " " " " vowel
thE: If we want to emphasize the following word, even though it begins with a consonant (thE car)
I would affirm the "rule" in my use of long E in the pronunciations of "… the ocean" and "the occupy …".
Having said that, rules of euphony tend to shift over time. This practice (not rule) appears to be fading. It might become as obsolete as substituting "mine" for "my" before vowel sounds, much like "a" and "an.". E.g. "Mine eyes have seen the glory …"
[edit: added the following]
youTube of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" as the gem of thE ocean. The choir is consistent in applying this alternation: the red, white …; thE Army.
feature=youtube_gdata_player
Yeah, more like a practice than a rule, and definitely evolving.
But getting back to my original assertion that use of the long E in "the" is more an affectation, I've often observed people using it much like some people use "ahhh" or "uhmm" … in fact, it's often followed by one of those place holders. And conveniently, they both begin with a vowel. I think maybe the psychology is that when you use the long E, something important is about to follow. Same way people use "As a matter of fact …" or "Actually …" or "According to X …"
And the same reasoning would seem to apply to the use of a long A when pronouncing that article.