You said a mouthful there, brother. Away down South where I grew up rivers is the most surplus thing we got. We got the Amite River and the Comite River, we got the Red River and the Black River, we got the Cane River and False River and Old River even though none of them goes nowhere, we got the Tangipahoa River and the Atchafalaya River and the Calcasieu River and we can spell and pronounce 'em all, we got the Tchefuncte River but none of us can spell or pronounce that, we got the Tickfaw River where I used to go camping with the Boy Scouts, we got the Ouachita River that I lived next to for a couple years, we got the Sabine River and the Pearl River to separate Louisiana from Texas and Mississippi, we've got the Abita River and you know that's gotta have something to do with Abita Beer…

However, when you said "The River" everyone knew what you're talking about and no one ever, ever called it the Mississippi River.
Scanning back through the thread I see that the only one who called it the Mississippi River was Art, but then again he's from Chicago.
- Phil