Yankees

[Owen Bawn]

Interesting word. I had never considered its etymology till I started reading James Fenimore Cooper. He claimed that the word originated among the Algonkian speakers of New England, and actually derived from the word 'English.' He wrote that the C17 English pronounced English as "Anglish," and that the Native Americans corrupted that term into first into "Yangleese," and then into "Yangeese" or "Yengeese," which became Yankees.

The word also has profoundly different meanings depending on where and to whom it is applied. I was raised Catholic in Boston. In New England, a Yankee is someone who is a descendant of colonial Puritans, or at least is a Protestant in a mainline denomination. No one in New England would call me a Yankee. But not all Protestants are Yankees. A Yankee must be from New England. A Presbyterian from the Pennsylvania woodlands is no Yankee.

Yet when I travel to say, Clemson, SC to watch my beloved Boston College Eagles come up short once again against mighty Clemson, everyone calls me a Yankee and they are correct. To folks in the American south anyone from north of the Mason Dixon line is a Yankee, so that would include not only me but also our Presbyterian friend from the Keystone state.

Finally, if my friends from Clemson and from Pennsylvania traveled with me to, say, the UK, we'd all be called Yankees, and none of us would protest being called that. Abroad, all Americans are Yankees. Transport the 3 of us back to Beacon Hill or Southie, however, and there isn't a single Yankee among us.

A most expressive and culturally loaded word, Yankee.

Location, location, location.

 

[SterFry]

 

[Bakker1964]

Never looked at it that way . . . y'all are just the (occasionally) noisy neighbours to the south, from a Canuck's PoV.

 

[Owen Bawn]

Never looked at it that way . . . y'all are just the (occasionally) noisy neighbours to the south, from a Canuck's PoV.

Canadians aren't immune. I remember my friend Thibodeau from the Eastern Townships of Quebec protesting when Americans called him a "Canuck," as to him the word meant an Anglophone Canadian, and he was a Francophone Quebecer. He got used to it... Or how about 'herring choker,' or "herrin'" as it is often said. In the Maritimes, only a man from New Brunswick is properly denigrated with the term. If you called a Haligonian a "herring choker" in Halifax he'd either correct you or knock your front teeth out. Yet in Toronto or Boston, all men from the Maritimes are called "herrins," even if they're from Newfoundland. In WWII, however, American GIs often referred to all Canadian troops as "herrins," even lads from Flin Flon or Regina.

 

[Bakker1964]

Newfies - from Newfoundland and Labrador
Herring Choker - New Brunswickers
Bluenoser - Nova Scotian
Quebcois - from Quebec (Separatiste also works for the more treasonous of them)

Ontarians really don't have anything specific.

Prairie dweller/Westerner for the three prairie Provinces
Left Coaster for B.C. residents.

 

[Doc4]

Yankee Doodle Dandy - James Cagney - Mickey Rooney - Judy Garland - HQ - YouTube

"N'yah, see? I'm a yankee doodle dandy, see?"

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

Interesting word. I had never considered its etymology till I started reading James Fenimore Cooper. He claimed that the word originated among the Algonkian speakers of New England, and actually derived from the word 'English.' He wrote that the C17 English pronounced English as "Anglish," and that the Native Americans corrupted that term into first into "Yangleese," and then into "Yangeese" or "Yengeese," which became Yankees.

The word also has profoundly different meanings depending on where and to whom it is applied. I was raised Catholic in Boston. In New England, a Yankee is someone who is a descendant of colonial Puritans, or at least is a Protestant in a mainline denomination. No one in New England would call me a Yankee. But not all Protestants are Yankees. A Yankee must be from New England. A Presbyterian from the Pennsylvania woodlands is no Yankee.

Yet when I travel to say, Clemson, SC to watch my beloved Boston College Eagles come up short once again against mighty Clemson, everyone calls me a Yankee and they are correct. To folks in the American south anyone from north of the Mason Dixon line is a Yankee, so that would include not only me but also our Presbyterian friend from the Keystone state.

Finally, if my friends from Clemson and from Pennsylvania traveled with me to, say, the UK, we'd all be called Yankees, and none of us would protest being called that. Abroad, all Americans are Yankees. Transport the 3 of us back to Beacon Hill or Southie, however, and there isn't a single Yankee among us.

A most expressive and culturally loaded word, Yankee.

Location, location, location.

Very interesting information about a word I’ve always taken for granted. To me everyone north of the Mason Dixon line are Yankees. But you are right, when I went to England they called me a Yank and I did not protest. It certainly does depend on the outlook of the person calling you a Yank.

 

[beginish]

Yankee Doodle Dandy - James Cagney - Mickey Rooney - Judy Garland - HQ - YouTube

"N'yah, see? I'm a yankee doodle dandy, see?"

 

[Ad Astra]

A bit pejorative here in the south.

Can be synonymous with "clever," at the same time. Yankee screwdriver etc.

Joke goes: Neighbor lady from Mobile married a Yankee - (gasps of shock). He's from Birmingham.

Alabama, that is. See, that's north of Mobile...

AA

 

[Owen Bawn]

A bit pejorative here in the south.

Can be synonymous with "clever," at the same time. Yankee screwdriver etc.

Joke goes: Neighbor lady from Mobile married a Yankee - (gasps of shock). He's from Birmingham.

Alabama, that is. See, that's north of Mobile...

AA

"Birmingham, Birmingham!
Greatest city in Alabam'!
You can travel cross this
entire land-
Ain't no place like Birmingham!"

 

[Ad Astra]

"Birmingham, Birmingham!
Greatest city in Alabam'!
You can travel cross this
entire land-
Ain't no place like Birmingham!"

Actually. I prefer the Drive-By Truckers version...

AA

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

A bit pejorative here in the south.

Can be synonymous with "clever," at the same time. Yankee screwdriver etc.

Joke goes: Neighbor lady from Mobile married a Yankee - (gasps of shock). He's from Birmingham.

Alabama, that is. See, that's north of Mobile...

AA

You made me go look up perjorative. Even Mr. Apple’s spell checker didn’t know it.

Yankee isn’t Perjorative. But Damn Yankee is.

Do you know the difference?

A Yankee is someone from up north that goes back home when their visit is over. A Damn Yankee stays.

 

[Owen Bawn]

"I'll see you in hell, Johnny Yank."
"Yeah, see you in hell, Johnny Reb."

 

[Ad Astra]

"I'll see you in hell, Johnny Yank."
"Yeah, see you in hell, Johnny Reb."

They work it out in Charlie Daniel's "God Bless America Again."
...

And we may have done a little bit
Of fightin' amongst ourselves
But you outside people best leave us alone
'Cause we'll all stick together
And you can take that to the bank
That's the cowboys and the hippies
And the rebels and the yanks


AA

 

[Ad Astra]

You made me go look up perjorative. Even Mr. Apple’s spell checker didn’t know it.

Yankee isn’t Perjorative. But Damn Yankee is.

Do you know the difference?

A Yankee is someone from up north that goes back home when their visit is over. A Damn Yankee stays.

The best of worlds remains - really good clam chowder made with Florida clams.

New England Clam Chowder | Tony's Clam Chowder

Try Tony's Award winning Clam Chowder. Full of flavor! Also try our new Lobster Bisque. Tony's Clam Chowder won 3 years in a row at the Great Chowder Cook Off in Newport, RI and was retired to their hall of fame!

www.tonyschowder.com

AA

 

[simon1]

 

[DrStrange]

Interesting word. I had never considered its etymology till I started reading James Fenimore Cooper. He claimed that the word originated among the Algonkian speakers of New England, and actually derived from the word 'English.' He wrote that the C17 English pronounced English as "Anglish," and that the Native Americans corrupted that term into first into "Yangleese," and then into "Yangeese" or "Yengeese," which became Yankees.

The word also has profoundly different meanings depending on where and to whom it is applied. I was raised Catholic in Boston. In New England, a Yankee is someone who is a descendant of colonial Puritans, or at least is a Protestant in a mainline denomination. No one in New England would call me a Yankee. But not all Protestants are Yankees. A Yankee must be from New England. A Presbyterian from the Pennsylvania woodlands is no Yankee.

Yet when I travel to say, Clemson, SC to watch my beloved Boston College Eagles come up short once again against mighty Clemson, everyone calls me a Yankee and they are correct. To folks in the American south anyone from north of the Mason Dixon line is a Yankee, so that would include not only me but also our Presbyterian friend from the Keystone state.

Finally, if my friends from Clemson and from Pennsylvania traveled with me to, say, the UK, we'd all be called Yankees, and none of us would protest being called that. Abroad, all Americans are Yankees. Transport the 3 of us back to Beacon Hill or Southie, however, and there isn't a single Yankee among us.

A most expressive and culturally loaded word, Yankee.

Location, location, location.

The first etymology I read for that was "John Cheese"
as a Flemish term for the Dutch.
New York was previously New Amsterdam.

Yankee | Etymology of the name Yankee by etymonline

"Little John," diminutive of common personal name Jan; or it may be from Jan Kes familiar… See origin and meaning of yankee.

www.etymonline.com

 

[Owen Bawn]

The first etymology I read for that was "John Cheese"
as a Flemish term for the Dutch.
New York was previously New Amsterdam.

Yankee | Etymology of the name Yankee by etymonline

"Little John," diminutive of common personal name Jan; or it may be from Jan Kes familiar… See origin and meaning of yankee.

www.etymonline.com

Thanks for that, but I'm not convinced. Since my original post I've also been thinking about how the Huron, a massive group of Native Americans/First Nations whose home covered much of NY state and both sides of the Great Lakes were in regular contact with the French, whose word for the English is Anglais, another term easily corrupted into Yanglese. I read somewhere that some Huron languages had several hundred French cognates by 1800. You may be right, or Cooper may be right. We may never know.

 

[Hydguy]

Interesting word. I had never considered its etymology till I started reading James Fenimore Cooper. He claimed that the word originated among the Algonkian speakers of New England, and actually derived from the word 'English.' He wrote that the C17 English pronounced English as "Anglish," and that the Native Americans corrupted that term into first into "Yangleese," and then into "Yangeese" or "Yengeese," which became Yankees.

The word also has profoundly different meanings depending on where and to whom it is applied. I was raised Catholic in Boston. In New England, a Yankee is someone who is a descendant of colonial Puritans, or at least is a Protestant in a mainline denomination. No one in New England would call me a Yankee. But not all Protestants are Yankees. A Yankee must be from New England. A Presbyterian from the Pennsylvania woodlands is no Yankee.

Yet when I travel to say, Clemson, SC to watch my beloved Boston College Eagles come up short once again against mighty Clemson, everyone calls me a Yankee and they are correct. To folks in the American south anyone from north of the Mason Dixon line is a Yankee, so that would include not only me but also our Presbyterian friend from the Keystone state.

Finally, if my friends from Clemson and from Pennsylvania traveled with me to, say, the UK, we'd all be called Yankees, and none of us would protest being called that. Abroad, all Americans are Yankees. Transport the 3 of us back to Beacon Hill or Southie, however, and there isn't a single Yankee among us.

A most expressive and culturally loaded word, Yankee.

Location, location, location.

To anyone from the South, the Mason-Dixon isn't what divides the North from the South. If a State was on the Union side, they were/are Yankees. So anyone from MD or WV is a Yankee in our eyes.

 

[FarmerTan]

To anyone from the South, the Mason-Dixon isn't what divides the North from the South. If a State was on the Union side, they were/are Yankees. So anyone from MD or WV is a Yankee in our eyes.

Kentucky is a hard one to call a fellow "Yankee" state for us "Michiganders!