USAGE: Internetese deviancy - the definite article

In some variants of online slang, incl that of a forum I'm frequenting, it's
become customary to supply a definite article (typically spelt |teh|) in some
context where it would not normally be expected in English; before a personal
name, and before a predicate adjective.

So, frex, "Johnny is stupid" becomes "Teh Johnny is teh stupid". Fairly
redundant, really.

I was wondering if this is an entirely new development, or if similar things are
to be found in some pre-'Net varieties of English. The habit to use the definite
article with personal names is, of course, found in many variants of German,
incl my own.

                                                                Andreas

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