the northern English practice of using a glottal stop instead of "the".

I'm not sure if it is a glottal stop technically or not, but if nt it's very similar.

And something that is also similar to that, in a way, is what Neil Armstrong said when he stepped on the Moon - it's always quoted as "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", and there are all jokes about him for missing out the "a" before man. I don't think he did miss it out, I think he articulated it with a kind of glottal stop - "That's one small step fr ' man, one giant leap for mankind,"