Horrible attitude from the letter writer

[Lauren]

There are areas like that?!? I have called all Americans I've ever met (socially and after becoming at the least closely acquainted) Yankees, in a joking manner. To me (and I think a to a lot of Europeans), Yankees = Americans.

In Australia all Americans are referred to as Yankees. (or Yanks)

[Frostblooded]

Yeah, I'm the one. I know some southerners that will sock you in the mouth for referring to them what they would call a "dirty yank" or "dirty yankee." I still rather flinch at the word too getting called it online by foreigners. Because here you say it in a negative way, like... "You're being a wussy" interchanged as "You're being a yankee." I hope that made sense.

[iridaceae]

Koneko, wasn't it you who said that where you are calling someone a Yankee was like using the N word?

There are areas like that?!? I have called all Americans I've ever met (socially and after becoming at the least closely acquainted) Yankees, in a joking manner. To me (and I think a to a lot of Europeans), Yankees = Americans.

I certainly never intended to insult anyone (and as far as I know, it was never taken as such; some called me German in return, which is a lighthearted barb to a Dutch person (well, to this one, anyway ))

Yankee covers a very small part of the US; no one from west of the Mississippi is a Yankee, nor is any Midwesterner and of course no Southerner is. It's really only the NE Atlantic coastal states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and possibly Pennsylvania though I would exclude Maine. Vermont and New Hampshire fall into my "maybe" category.


I wouldn't be offended to be called a Yankee,  but it's not accurate; I'm a Midwesterner. Calling someone from the south a Yankee might well offend them.

[DianeRN]

For an interesting and sometimes alarming view of some (fortunately the minority) of attitudes in the south, read "Confederates in the Attic" by Tony Horwitz. I moved to TN 27 years ago from northwest IN. To some people I am still an outsider because my people did not fight for the south.

[Reika]

I got called a dingdangity yankee in one of those mock-joking tones that really isn't a joke and not very funny, but you're supposed to laugh along with them because it was "funny". And it was particularly stupid because this was from a waitress and in the US tips make a big chunk of a waitress's earnings. I did complain to the manager who brushed it off, and didn't leave much of a tip.

Never went back to that place again the year I lived in that area, which was a pity because the food was good. I just didn't like the service I got.

[Odium43]

Yeah, I've noticed the whole north/south thing too. When I lived in CO I didn't hear anything about it, then when I moved to TX, I heard a few things but not much. But man, when I moved to MN it was an entirely different story. Besides the people who were my friends, whenever I mentioned living in Texas I got pretty much the same response, "Ew, I could never live in Texas with all those rednecks/hicks/racists/insert southern stereotype here".

[LadyPekoe]

I got called a dingdangity yankee in one of those mock-joking tones that really isn't a joke and not very funny, but you're supposed to laugh along with them because it was "funny". And it was particularly stupid because this was from a waitress and in the US tips make a big chunk of a waitress's earnings. I did complain to the manager who brushed it off, and didn't leave much of a tip.

Never went back to that place again the year I lived in that area, which was a pity because the food was good. I just didn't like the service I got.

I was blown away when I was called (in full seriousness) a yankee b****.  My response was not ehell-approved and probably proved her point but it made me feel better at the time and I was only 20.  The girl who said it was from Oklahoma.  I'm from Iowa and my friend was from Wisconsin so I didn't quite get her point. 

That kind of thing is remarkably rare though.

[guihong]

I'm from Ohio, moved to Arkansas.   You don't get this attitude in the large cities so much, mostly because everyone's from somewhere else.  And Florida's got a lot of Northerners .  But when we lived out in a rural area, where our neighbors' families had lived on the land since the days of Robert E. Lee and sometimes way back from him, we felt very much like outsiders.  It didn't mean the people weren't polite, but it was there.

gui

[Animala]

I've got to say that as much as we moved around when I was a kid we spent very minimal time in the north and I was born in Texas.  Now having lived in the midwest for sometime the locals would be highly offended at the term Yankee, redneck on the other hand about half of them would welcome and the other half would be horrified.

[Drunken Housewife]

It's really only the NE Atlantic coastal states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and possibly Pennsylvania though I would exclude Maine. Vermont and New Hampshire fall into my "maybe" category.

 

As a girl from Maine, I can assure you my Southern first husband and his family all universally regarded me as a Yankee.  Why on earth would someone exclude Maine?

[rashea]

It's really only the NE Atlantic coastal states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and possibly Pennsylvania though I would exclude Maine. Vermont and New Hampshire fall into my "maybe" category.

 

As a girl from Maine, I can assure you my Southern first husband and his family all universally regarded me as a Yankee.  Why on earth would someone exclude Maine?

I have to agree with you. And NH and VT are definitely yankee territory. If anything, I think there are more of the old fashioned version yankees in Vermont than I ever saw in Massachusetts.

[hobish]

To someone outside the US a Yankee is an American. To Americans a Yankee is someone from the North Eastern states. To people in the North Eastern states a Yankee is someone from New England. To New Englanders a Yankee is someone from Connecticut.

 

[Mrs. Pilgrim]

It's really only the NE Atlantic coastal states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and possibly Pennsylvania though I would exclude Maine. Vermont and New Hampshire fall into my "maybe" category.

 

As a girl from Maine, I can assure you my Southern first husband and his family all universally regarded me as a Yankee.  Why on earth would someone exclude Maine?

That's because you're really a Canadian.  You're not fooling anyone, ya furriner.

(NOTE:  I wish I could find that video where people doing an impromptu geography quiz assigned Maine to Canada!)

[Mopsy428]

It's really only the NE Atlantic coastal states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and possibly Pennsylvania though I would exclude Maine. Vermont and New Hampshire fall into my "maybe" category.

 

As a girl from Maine, I can assure you my Southern first husband and his family all universally regarded me as a Yankee.  Why on earth would someone exclude Maine?

I have to agree with you. And NH and VT are definitely yankee territory. If anything, I think there are more of the old fashioned version yankees in Vermont than I ever saw in Massachusetts.

I agree, too. The first usage of the word "Yankee" was used in reference to New England. So, the 4 New England states that were original colonies (MA, CT, RI, and NH) are definitely included in "Yankee" territory, as are Maine and Vermont, since they later became New England states shortly after the US became a nation.

[Shea]

I'm from Washington State, and I just don't understand this kind of behavior. The American Civil War ended in 1865. The war has been over for nearly 150 years. Let it go, people! You won't accomplish anything by 'rising up again' or snubbing anybody. Well, aside from looking silly for holding to some long-obsolete grudge. We're all Americans!!!!

My mother, product of two plus centureies away from Scotland, still used to warn us about not trusting a certain family. There was that little incident back in '92, you see.

That's 1692. Not forgotten.

Are you and I related? My grandmother used to say things like that. Except she was particularly incensed about the incident wherein Clan X gained control of Clan Y's lands and gave all members of Clan Y the boot, causing them to be landless outlaws for the next several hundred years.

And this all happened 1390. Yeah.