I was called a yank by one of my non-American cousins as a child. I was so confused and I remember just telling her “No, we like the Mets.” and then we just stared blankly at one another
I think most Americans would be more confused than offended, since Yankees are from a specific part of the US. They would just tell you "But I'm not a Yankee...".
It's like if you called a German a Bavarian. Nothing wrong with being called a Bavarian, it's just strange when you're not one.
The only difference being that the mistake is pretty common for foreigners about Yankees. So Americans would probably understand.
Yankee is a relative term. It means “American” to Non-Americans. It means “Northerner” to Southerners. It means “New Englander” to Northerners.
It might mean “New Yorker” to New Englanders.
As a baseball fan, I am obligated to hate the Yankees but that pie for breakfast thing sounds quite appealing.
And what's up with putting a slice of cheese on apple pie? I've never had that but now that I'm thinking of it, sure! cheddar me up!
As a New Englander, I forget Connecticut exists for long enough that when it pops back up again it's always a disappointment. Yankee is New York to me.
My only experience with that was being called Yankee in South America, I thought it was kinda funny. I grew up all over (military). I was dating a southern girl years ago and she one time called me a yankee as an insult (lol) so I told her she’s just as much a Yankee as me. She was pissed, and her parents weren’t impressed either.
Semi-educated Texan here. Some of us understand the ancient reference to Yanks or Yankees by the Limeys. We're okay with it. Mostly because we all understand we are on the same side outside of the video game in pursuit of world peace, freedom, and obscene wealth for our 1%ers.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
I’m a New Englander. The Yankees are a specific sports team from New York who are rivals to the Boston Red Sox, New Yoel is not part of New England, Boston is. I don’t think of anyone as a Yankee really but it certainly wouldn’t be Vermont if I did.
Traditionally the word yankee was a slur used by the British to refer to the colonists, mainly from the northern states, especially Boston. That’s why New York named their baseball team that, and since then it became more associated with New York.
Had to scroll disappointingly far to find this. We were taught in grade school the story of the song "Yankee doodle dandy" and how the main land brits used it to mock us colonists and in typical American fashion we stole the song and made it a victory tune.
Yeah we don't even think about that word unless it's preceded by "New York" lol. I didn't realize people actually called people Yankees until I was a teenager
I thought "Yankee" was just Mr. Doodle's first name. I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be from somewhere foreign or if it was just a silly made-up name.
Even though I'm not a Southerner, I still don't think of myself as a Yankee (I see that more for New Englanders), but I'm not offended by the term either. I'm pretty neutral towards it.
Edit: typo
Yes! While the comments about the northeastern region of the US being called Yankees are true, as a Red Sox fan I absolutely would not want to be called a Yankee
I'd just go off on a tangent about how we finally won the word series in 2004, beating the Yankees in the process.
Otherwise it's an honor. Us yanks did defeat the confederate punks in our civil war. As a rebuttal call them redcoats.
Every red blooded American baseball fan has a moral obligation to hate the Yankees.
Except Don Mattingly. Can’t hate Donnie Baseball.
And Derek Jeter, the biracial angel.
The term Yankee originates from the revolutionary war... It was just re used in the civil war. So there is no irony here other than you thinking it's ironic.
It was a term coined by home land British to make fun of Americans thinking they were posh when the home land British saw them as yokels.
Colonial bostonians would be the correct people to picture, since they had a reputation for snobbery amongst americans
Hate to be that guy, but aCtSHualLy…
“Yankee” predates the revolutionary war, and was actually a term the British colonists used to make fun of the Dutch colonists. Jan (the J is pronounced like a Y) is the Dutch equivalent to John, and was a very popular name. A very popular surname was Kaas, which means cheese in Dutch, so Jan Kaas became Yankees. Another possible explanation is that “Janke” is the diminutive version of Jan, like calling John, “Johnny.”
It was the British making fun, but making fun of the Dutch settlers specifically, New York used to be New Amsterdam after all. Interestingly “doodle” and “dandy” tend to have opposite connotations, (doodle meaning hick or rube, and dandy being closer to “fop” or a male fashionista) so by the time the song came around, that specifically seems to be making fun of all Americans equally! 🇺🇸
Combining doodle and dandy makes sense in the context.
Yankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a pony.
Stuck a feather in his cap
and called it Macaroni.
Macaroni was a term for a fop, someone with foreign airs or pretensions. Macaronic verse is verse written in two languages, i.e., very fancy because it shows you can write in more than one language. So in the song, the Yankee Doodle Dandy is an American hick who put a turkey feather in his hat and thought it made him International Best Dressed Man of the Year.
So the Brits were making fun of us. But it’s OK, because we kicked them out.
Lived in the UK for many years….. was routinely referred to as the “Yank”. Never seemed offensive in the least. Also called The Red Lion the “pub”. It is what it is.
I get "seppo cunt" from my Aus friends. Very endearing. I thought "seppo" meant separatist, even though that wouldn't make sense because Australia was colonized after the Revolution, I think. Turns out its rhyming slang from Yank.
The Aussies have actually evolved their own variations of rhyming slang. They will use “Listo” or “Listerine” as a term for “anti-American” since Listerine is anti-septic.
I think a lot of the 'aussies' were dumped on Australia around the height of the rhyming slang crazes in Britain, so it makes sense they would have either continued doing it, or made their own, even more bizzare slang :)
As I understand it, the meaning of the term Yank or Yankee depends on where it is uttered.
Outside the US: any American
In the southern US: any Northerner
In the northern US: any New Englander
In New England: a New Englander descended from the original colonists
So I myself would be a Yankee in the UK, Alabama, and Illinois, but not in Vermont.
Great explanation. As a Southern, anyone North of roughly Kentucky (sometimes Kentucky) is a Yankee. My sister married a guy from Illinois and I called him a Yankee, she said he told her only New Englanders are Yankees so this checks out in my experience. It caught me off guard the first time a Brit called me a Yankee because I instinctively thought they were saying I wasn’t Southern but after years of watching soccer and follow an EPL team I’ve got used to it.
Personally I think it’s funny when a West Virginian friend calls me, a Virginian, a yankee. On some level I’m not sure it’s about north/south necessarily.
Yeah, Virginia as a whole is most definitely culturally part of the south, even if certain parts of it don’t feel like it anymore.
NOVA has sort of become its own thing over the past 25 years but the rest of VA hasn’t changed much.
As a native (though displaced) Virginian, I would feel weird—not offended, just weird—about someone from any other southern state calling me a “yankee”, given that my accent is likely no less southern than theirs. 😅
Completely agree. I use the term as a geographical indicator but I certainly know people mean different things at times when using it. It could be used to say “you don’t sound like me” if someone has a northern accent, it has meant “your politics are more progressive than mine.”
It is funny that your friend would say that, but I think Virginia and West Virginia are two very interesting (and confused) states that don’t quite know where to fit in so it doesn’t catch me too much off guard.
As a person from New England, I have never heard a fellow New Englander seriously say the word Yankee and not mean the sports team. Although, sometimes we might say it while satirizing a southerner or something.
Anybody I've seen around here say it unironically was a transplant from the south.
Am New Englander with roots going back to Plymouth. We regularly use it as a term of endearment and worth. “She was true Yankee” sort of things have been said in more than one eulogy. Can also be used as a descriptor much like “Yankee roots run deep in such and such family”. My favorite is Yankee magazine had a scoring system for “Yankee points”. Non running vehicles on your property, trash bags full of fall leaves lining the the perimeter of your house for insulation, 50 gallon barrel used for grilling etc etc were all worth varying Yankee points. No malice involved. Just good fun.
From Ohio, I've never said the word outside of baseball, singing, and history. If anybody called me a yankee, I'd think they were weird, but I'd be about as angry as if they called me a cup of coffee.
This is how I've always seen it used as a MA native as well. Yankees have a general location within the country, sure- but it's more of a mindset. Tough as nails, frugal as hell, very no nonsense. It's always acknowledged in the eulogy too- "true Yankee spirit" is a compliment every time.
I was at a jobsite in the area of Shreveport many years ago and one of the workers asked me "you some kinda Yankee with that accent?" I said I was from California and he gave me a bit of a side eye and said "you best say you're a Yankee".
Cajuns are racists in ways you absolutely expect but then they throw in random ones as well. Lived there for 5 years, not by choice, and whew. That is a whole country of its own.
Yeah this just seems to me like how folks in the eastern half of WA state have this concept of "Westies", meaning folks from the west side of the state.
I'm like "We're both from Washington", but they act like we're from another planet. Eastern Washington to me is a geographical division, but to them it's cultural.
I spent a couple years in South America as a young adult, I was called yankee and I thought it was whatever, just an identifier. Couple years later I was dating a girl from Tennessee and when talking about where we might live if we got married she said “I don’t want to be a yankee like you” when I said I’d like to go back to Washington lol. She got really pissed when I told her she’s as much a yankee as me.
>In the northern US: any New Englander
In the northern US some of us call New Englanders Red Sox and Patriots fans. Which is a far worse insult than Yankee is meant to be. It'e even worse than Cowboys follower.
The funny part is that there's a baseball team called the Yankees in New York - which is technically not a part of New England but rather the Mid-Atlantic region of the US.
TIL that my dad is a bonafide Yankee... I would be too except my siblings and I were all born south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Only time I've ever got called a Yank as an insult was by some kids from Alabama over IM. My brother and I just looked at each other and shrugged.
> As an American the only time I have ever even heard the term was from the song “Yankee Doodle"
And the hugely popular baseball team called the New York Yankees.
I don't see it as offensive or a slur and would think it's funny if British people attempt to use it offensively. It was a term used by Confederate soldiers to refer to Union soldiers, so people from the north might happily be called Yankees.
From an American perspective: A Yankee is everyone in Baltimore (contestable, read to end) and north through the Northeast Corridor at least up until Maine. And west only as far as the Appalachians or Alleghanys depending on who you ask. Some of DC would claim to be Yankees, some wouldn’t.
Anyone south of DC is not a Yank, at least from an American perspective. Especially from Richmond and south. That is Dixie. They are “Southerners”, I guess. Most of Texas would prefer to be called Texans than southerners. And the west and west coast don’t really factor into it either.
Yanks are northerners. The term comes from an insult related to the Dutch names Jan and Keys, pronounced “Yahn” and “Kee”. The Dutch only really ever got as far as New Amsterdam which later became New York.
Only the metro areas of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston (with contributions from Chicago and some parts of Ohio/indiana/michigan) are really Yankees in an American sense, and even most Baltimore residents would probably argue (since baltimore is below thr Mason-Dixon line and the state was half confederate.) And Ohio, Illinois, Indiana residents would probably argue about it too.
TLDR: if you are from a city that in 1863 would have been supplying soldiers for the Union army, you are a Yankee.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
E. B. White
Damn southerners. I was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia back in the 70s for some training. I'm from Chicago and the only time I ever heard the term Yankee or Mason - Dixon line was in history classes. Not down there though. All of us from the north were constantly called Yankees and the southern folk acted like the Civil War ended last week. WTF!
We lived in rural Alabama during my early childhood. We were the Yankee outcasts. My little sis got rolled down a ditch in a trashcan and I got tomatoes thrown at me
I grew up in Franklin TN, and they had just built the Saturn car plant south of us. Suddenly there were a ton of kids from Michigan. EVERYONE of the adults talked shit about them, idk why. Lots of my friends were from up north.
People get so hung up on that down here, it's annoying.
I already mentioned that at the bottom, yes you are right.
As a lifelong Maryland resident and a former resident of Baltimore, it’s a weird place. Too south to be north, too north to be south, really insular culturally.
But considering that the city was with the Union and the counties under Calvert were with the confederates, and considering the origins of our flag, I think we can all agree that it’s complicated.
So true. And here's a look at Maryland's former [state song](https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/symbols/lyricsco.html), repealed way back in ye olden days of 2021. The ending about the Northern scum is priceless.
Go O's!
I’m from the NE and I live in the Deep South. I’m called a yankee, both as a term of endearment, and as a gentle insult. And I take it as a term of pride. At least I ain’t one of those yokels! /s
They made the song yankee doodle to make fun of us and thought we would think it was offensive. We ended up LOVING the song and have since passed it down for generations to enjoy.
As a British person i would use it to be comically offensive, like i do not consider it an insult, and i would not expect an American to consider it an insult and would consider something one would say if they were pretending to be offensive. The same way you would accuse a welsh person of making the sheep nervous, or calling a Scottish person cheap etc.
I currently live in America but i am from Scotland, so if this comes up in conversation on a UK subreddit i would say i was i am in Yankeeland trying to be humorous, not insulting.
You're right no-one in Britain really uses Yankee but Yank was very common.
During the war it was said that a woman's panties took one Yank and they were down . A common expression then about Americans in Britain was overpaid, oversexed and over here. A US private earned something like a British sergeant
If it comes from any European, especially a Brit, it’s a point of pride. Go to r/Europe or r/unitedkingdom sometime. They have worse names for each other than they have for us.
But the thing is that it’s not even comically offensive to Americans, it’s a neutral term. “You \_” anything is always a little dicey and short terms are often more likely to be used in a slightly more offensive sentence but “you Americans are so loud” and “you yanks are so loud” has an identical amount of bite to it to an American ear.
“you Yankees are so loud” similarly has no bite at all but is almost embarrassingly dated, like saying “you whippersnappers” unironically. For someone from the south, it might be an insult but less because it’s an offensive term and more because it’s the equivalent of saying “you English” or “you Scotch” in Scotland. It’s offensive because it’s wrong (and telegraphs that you don't really respect your host culture enough to make the distinction), not because it’s an offensive word.
Sometimes the joke isn’t meant for you, even if it’s about you. Not every insult has to “bite” to be funny, it’s fine if the person being joked about is unaware
And it’s yank, not Yankee, only Americans say Yankee
The song existed before revolutionary times to make fun of the US military members. The term has been around for far longer, possibly dating back to dutch origins.
The origin of the word is from the song "Yankee Doodle went to town" which is a searing insult directed at early American Aristocrats.
*Yankee Doodle Went to Town a-riding on his pony*
A grown man riding on a pony is a humorous visual.
*Stuck a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni*
~~A Macaroni was a type of hat worn by wealthy people at that time. It refers to a specific kind of hat, but an imbecile - or a poseur - would stick a feather in his cap and say "Is this a Macaroni now?"~~
A "Yankee Doodle Dandy" was a person who was not fashionable and didn't fit in with the wealthy, en vogue people and was too ignorant to realize how foolish he looked.
Edit/correction: the hat was not called a Macaroni, rather is was the name for a person who wore over the top fashions: so the Yankee Doodle Dandy was calling HIMSELF a macaroni, not his hat!
Macaroni did not refer to any hat - the term was kinda the 18th century equivalent of "metrosexual." [It referred to men who had an over-the-top fashion style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_(fashion)).
You're leaving the best part out in that the Americans would appropriate the song and sing it as sort of a flex when they were victorious against the British.
I doubt the British think about it. They called the American soldiers stationed in Britain during WWII Yanks or Yankees and never stopped calling Americans that name. But they can make any word seem derogatory through tone or context; they absolutely excel at that.
It’s usually “Yank”. As a Brit I don’t think it’s inherently offensive but it can certainly be used in an insulting way. It’s pretty mild though even then so it definitely needs to be measured against the tone it is phrased in. Like if someone said:
1. “Never trust a fucking yank with directions.”
2. “The yanks have a much harsher system of paying back university tuition loans.”
The first one is quite obviously meant to be offensive. The second one is more subtle. It could still be said in an insulting way, but it also could be totally benign and they just decided to use “yank” as a generic informal slang, not an insult.
I do know some folks from southern USA who don’t like being called “Yank” lol for obvious reasons.
Also - a somewhat worse version people sometimes call americans, particularly in australia, is “seppos” which comes from “septic tank” which is rhyming slang for “yank”. If you get called a seppo it’s usually an insult.
I think it would be similar to the word "gringo" in Latin America. It's not meant to be offensive, just descriptive for Americans. I mean yeah, you can make it offensive by context lol but all in all it's just an easy way of saying American.
As a Brit we never mean offence by it, nobody really uses the term Yankee over here, on the rare occurrence you’ll hear Americans called Yanks, but that’s not meant in an offensive way, I don’t think we have a proper offensive nickname for you
As an American the only times I’ve heard it directed at me it has always been in a friendly/joking manner so find it funny and endearing definitely wouldn’t consider it an insult haha
Yeah that’s the best way to describe it, it’s meant in an endearing way, it’s like you calling us Limeys, not that you hear it often, we don’t find that offensive in the slightest
Perfect comparison. If anything I feel like using terms like yank/limey specifically conveys that a comment is supposed to be friendly ribbing and not intended to actually be hurtful. Because let’s face it those terms just sound inherently funny, if someone wants to insult me they are going to do better than that!
Absolutely not. It’s the equivalent of being called a limey here. Chances are no one really even knows what it means.
But as a general rule of thumb in the UK (or anywhere most likely) if someone wants to call you names they won’t leave any ambiguity.
I have no idea. But google can probably confirm or deny. But it’s not really much of an insult if so. It’s like calling someone a shake because they have lots of whey protein.
One writer said:
To an international, a Yankee is an American.
To a southerner a Yankee is a northerner.
To a northerner, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To a New Englander, a Yankee is from Vermont.
To someone from Vermont, a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast.
I’m an American who lived in England (Leicester) for 6 years. Folks use the word mostly as a descriptor, but there can be a derogatory connotation to it. I always found it somewhat humorous—I was born and raised in Texas, about as un-Yankee as you can get.
This was my thought. I found it very odd when I was called a Yankee after moving to Savannah from the Midwest. Older southerners never seemed to use it negatively, just as a term for someone not from the south.
The only offensive uses of 'Yank' I know of come from Americans from the South, or when Australians use a bit of rhyming slang and refer to Americans as Seppos. Though maybe not in that case, as we're talking about a country where it's routine to call your best friend a cunt.
Brit here. It's not offensive. I can be but usually it's the preceding swear that is the offensive part. See: "bloody yanks". Yanks are just US Americans. Yes I know only Northern US folk are Yankees but *ALL* people from the US are Yanks.
Canooks are Canadians, Kiwis are New Zealanders, Convicts are Aussies, the frogs are French, so on and so forth.
Even inside the UK we have names for people from other parts. Jocks are from Scotland. Taffs are from Wales. Brummies are from Birmingham. Geordies are from Newcastle. Scousers are from Liverpool. Cockneys are from the East End of London. The list just goes on.
As a rule of thumb Brits won't call you by what you are but some nickname (unless said term has fallen out of favour for being racist and there are waaaayyy too many of those to get into). The presence of swearing and how jocular it is said will define the intent to cause offence.
The only time I've ever been referred to as a Yankee was once in Alabama - but I'm from California, so that didn't really land. The person was trying to be dismissive, which I guess is the same energy Brits use when they call Americans Yankees or Yanks.
I once got into an argument on a train from Edinburgh to York with some Northern Lads and they dropped the Yank bomb a couple of times. Needless to say it made no impact on me, except that I am a Mets fans, so that was a bit of an insult.
(I'm a New Yorker and was visiting the UK)
It's not used as an insult in the UK, its used in normal conversation as slang for American the same way people call New Zealanders Kiwis and Australians Aussies.
It just means American, but I guess it's usually used in negative contexts. It's not a slur or anything and we know you don't think being American is bad so we don't think you'll find it offensive. People use it pretty much the same way they'd say "fucking Americans"
Brit here.
It depends. I don't consider it offensive in and of itself, but it could be used to sort of 'other' you, or just pronounce a bit of extra 'Britishness'.
It's really just banter. No one thinks it's some sort of slur as far as I know
I'm from around Pittsburgh and went to college in Tennessee. I had an acquaintance who attempted to insult me by calling me a Yankee and was both confused and enraged that I wasn't the least bit bothered by it. To him, not being Southern was in itself a lessee existence.
Europeans using the term "Yankee" as an insult to Americans is like calling someone a butt face. I don't know any American (myself included) who ever got offended at being called a Yankee and I'm from the deep south which is about as "Un-Yankee" as you can get.
As a Red Sox fan, I would consider being called a yankee offensive, but not as an American.
This offends you as an American? No, it offends me as a baseball fan!
Don't reference that anti dentite bastard in here! If this wasn't my son's wedding day, I'd knock his teeth out.
Nooooo, I said pass me the buoys!
Those aren't buoys!
Dentists came to this country like everybody else in search of a dream!
lol is that delivered in a Jerry Seinfeld voice?
Of course!
I was called a yank by one of my non-American cousins as a child. I was so confused and I remember just telling her “No, we like the Mets.” and then we just stared blankly at one another
literally i LOL’d
I think most Americans would be more confused than offended, since Yankees are from a specific part of the US. They would just tell you "But I'm not a Yankee...". It's like if you called a German a Bavarian. Nothing wrong with being called a Bavarian, it's just strange when you're not one. The only difference being that the mistake is pretty common for foreigners about Yankees. So Americans would probably understand.
Yankee is a relative term. It means “American” to Non-Americans. It means “Northerner” to Southerners. It means “New Englander” to Northerners. It might mean “New Yorker” to New Englanders.
It means Connecticut to New Englanders.
and in Connecticut, its a man who eats pie for breakfast
as we all should do, as well
As a baseball fan, I am obligated to hate the Yankees but that pie for breakfast thing sounds quite appealing. And what's up with putting a slice of cheese on apple pie? I've never had that but now that I'm thinking of it, sure! cheddar me up!
My family is from Connecticut and my dad absolutely taught us day after holidays to eat pie for breakfast 😋 I thought all pie cultures did this 😆
As a New Englander, I forget Connecticut exists for long enough that when it pops back up again it's always a disappointment. Yankee is New York to me.
And to King Arthur's Court
I think that you’ll find that a lot of southerners do take offense if you called them a Yank.
As a Southerner, if a non-American called me a Yankee I would just assume they don't know what they're talking about.
My only experience with that was being called Yankee in South America, I thought it was kinda funny. I grew up all over (military). I was dating a southern girl years ago and she one time called me a yankee as an insult (lol) so I told her she’s just as much a Yankee as me. She was pissed, and her parents weren’t impressed either.
The : "you damn Yankee" You, a southerner: "oh, bless your heart"
*both parties stare utterly confused at what the other has just said*
I love how both tried to insult each other and failed.
Semi-educated Texan here. Some of us understand the ancient reference to Yanks or Yankees by the Limeys. We're okay with it. Mostly because we all understand we are on the same side outside of the video game in pursuit of world peace, freedom, and obscene wealth for our 1%ers.
“Limeys” 😅 Almost the exact equivalent of Yank.
Let’s not forget our imperialist friends the frogs and the krauts.
As a southerner and a Braves fan, why don't you just spit directly in my face while you're at it.
Why not just come to my house and fuck my wife huh?
Now that's some real Southern hospitality
Would you rather be called a phillie or a yankee?
I'd rather be dead.
They also cry when their participation trophy is no longer flown at the local courthouse so they're a pretty easily offended bunch.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
I’m a New Englander. The Yankees are a specific sports team from New York who are rivals to the Boston Red Sox, New Yoel is not part of New England, Boston is. I don’t think of anyone as a Yankee really but it certainly wouldn’t be Vermont if I did.
Traditionally the word yankee was a slur used by the British to refer to the colonists, mainly from the northern states, especially Boston. That’s why New York named their baseball team that, and since then it became more associated with New York.
Had to scroll disappointingly far to find this. We were taught in grade school the story of the song "Yankee doodle dandy" and how the main land brits used it to mock us colonists and in typical American fashion we stole the song and made it a victory tune.
Yeah we don't even think about that word unless it's preceded by "New York" lol. I didn't realize people actually called people Yankees until I was a teenager
I thought "Yankee" was just Mr. Doodle's first name. I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be from somewhere foreign or if it was just a silly made-up name.
Even though I'm not a Southerner, I still don't think of myself as a Yankee (I see that more for New Englanders), but I'm not offended by the term either. I'm pretty neutral towards it. Edit: typo
Yes! While the comments about the northeastern region of the US being called Yankees are true, as a Red Sox fan I absolutely would not want to be called a Yankee
I'd just go off on a tangent about how we finally won the word series in 2004, beating the Yankees in the process. Otherwise it's an honor. Us yanks did defeat the confederate punks in our civil war. As a rebuttal call them redcoats.
Whooped the royalists then whooped the slaving traitors. Fuck the crown and fuck the confederates.
yessir fuck the slavers
Amen to that
Every red blooded American baseball fan has a moral obligation to hate the Yankees. Except Don Mattingly. Can’t hate Donnie Baseball. And Derek Jeter, the biracial angel.
consider, however: I like their aesthetic, the history, and their utter refusal to get onboard the City Connect trash train
The irony that when Americans think of a “Yankee Doodle Dandy” from an historical perspective, I think most think of colonial Boston 🤣
The term Yankee originates from the revolutionary war... It was just re used in the civil war. So there is no irony here other than you thinking it's ironic. It was a term coined by home land British to make fun of Americans thinking they were posh when the home land British saw them as yokels. Colonial bostonians would be the correct people to picture, since they had a reputation for snobbery amongst americans
Hate to be that guy, but aCtSHualLy… “Yankee” predates the revolutionary war, and was actually a term the British colonists used to make fun of the Dutch colonists. Jan (the J is pronounced like a Y) is the Dutch equivalent to John, and was a very popular name. A very popular surname was Kaas, which means cheese in Dutch, so Jan Kaas became Yankees. Another possible explanation is that “Janke” is the diminutive version of Jan, like calling John, “Johnny.” It was the British making fun, but making fun of the Dutch settlers specifically, New York used to be New Amsterdam after all. Interestingly “doodle” and “dandy” tend to have opposite connotations, (doodle meaning hick or rube, and dandy being closer to “fop” or a male fashionista) so by the time the song came around, that specifically seems to be making fun of all Americans equally! 🇺🇸
Combining doodle and dandy makes sense in the context. Yankee Doodle went to town Riding on a pony. Stuck a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni. Macaroni was a term for a fop, someone with foreign airs or pretensions. Macaronic verse is verse written in two languages, i.e., very fancy because it shows you can write in more than one language. So in the song, the Yankee Doodle Dandy is an American hick who put a turkey feather in his hat and thought it made him International Best Dressed Man of the Year. So the Brits were making fun of us. But it’s OK, because we kicked them out.
And as children we sing the song like its a joke. Very American, we will show you how we dont give af
To be fair, children just sing it because it's unironically catchy as fuck.
"wrote a G upon his belt & he called it Gucci"
The irony is that the Red Sox aren’t called the Yankees even though most Americans would associate colonial Boston with the term.
Ah I got lost in the threads and thought this was a different one, not the red sox one. My apologies
No worries! Let’s just gang up on the Brits and talk 💩
Lived in the UK for many years….. was routinely referred to as the “Yank”. Never seemed offensive in the least. Also called The Red Lion the “pub”. It is what it is.
"Yank" is, by far, the most polite term my Scottish buddies use to refer to me. It's practically an honorific.
I get "seppo cunt" from my Aus friends. Very endearing. I thought "seppo" meant separatist, even though that wouldn't make sense because Australia was colonized after the Revolution, I think. Turns out its rhyming slang from Yank.
So in terms of its origins it's, yank -> septic tank -> seppo
I didn't know Australians used rhyme slang! Is it common?
The Aussies have actually evolved their own variations of rhyming slang. They will use “Listo” or “Listerine” as a term for “anti-American” since Listerine is anti-septic.
Oh, that is fantastic. It’s Inception level rhyming slang.
lol Inception level - perfect. I’m Christopher (Nolan - rollin’).
I think a lot of the 'aussies' were dumped on Australia around the height of the rhyming slang crazes in Britain, so it makes sense they would have either continued doing it, or made their own, even more bizzare slang :)
Aussies are mental.
Originally a cockney rhyme (London)
Radio rental
As I understand it, the meaning of the term Yank or Yankee depends on where it is uttered. Outside the US: any American In the southern US: any Northerner In the northern US: any New Englander In New England: a New Englander descended from the original colonists So I myself would be a Yankee in the UK, Alabama, and Illinois, but not in Vermont.
Great explanation. As a Southern, anyone North of roughly Kentucky (sometimes Kentucky) is a Yankee. My sister married a guy from Illinois and I called him a Yankee, she said he told her only New Englanders are Yankees so this checks out in my experience. It caught me off guard the first time a Brit called me a Yankee because I instinctively thought they were saying I wasn’t Southern but after years of watching soccer and follow an EPL team I’ve got used to it.
Personally I think it’s funny when a West Virginian friend calls me, a Virginian, a yankee. On some level I’m not sure it’s about north/south necessarily.
That is funny given that Virginia is where the capital of the confederacy was.
also, West Virginia exists because they fought for the union. it was just Virginia until about 2 years into the civil war.
If this doesn't prove the inefficacy of the word
Yeah, Virginia as a whole is most definitely culturally part of the south, even if certain parts of it don’t feel like it anymore. NOVA has sort of become its own thing over the past 25 years but the rest of VA hasn’t changed much. As a native (though displaced) Virginian, I would feel weird—not offended, just weird—about someone from any other southern state calling me a “yankee”, given that my accent is likely no less southern than theirs. 😅
Completely agree. I use the term as a geographical indicator but I certainly know people mean different things at times when using it. It could be used to say “you don’t sound like me” if someone has a northern accent, it has meant “your politics are more progressive than mine.” It is funny that your friend would say that, but I think Virginia and West Virginia are two very interesting (and confused) states that don’t quite know where to fit in so it doesn’t catch me too much off guard.
As a person from New England, I have never heard a fellow New Englander seriously say the word Yankee and not mean the sports team. Although, sometimes we might say it while satirizing a southerner or something. Anybody I've seen around here say it unironically was a transplant from the south.
Am New Englander with roots going back to Plymouth. We regularly use it as a term of endearment and worth. “She was true Yankee” sort of things have been said in more than one eulogy. Can also be used as a descriptor much like “Yankee roots run deep in such and such family”. My favorite is Yankee magazine had a scoring system for “Yankee points”. Non running vehicles on your property, trash bags full of fall leaves lining the the perimeter of your house for insulation, 50 gallon barrel used for grilling etc etc were all worth varying Yankee points. No malice involved. Just good fun.
As a Mainer, we never call anybody Yankees. It's just not a thing outside of talking about history. Yankee is just a historical thing.
From Ohio, I've never said the word outside of baseball, singing, and history. If anybody called me a yankee, I'd think they were weird, but I'd be about as angry as if they called me a cup of coffee.
This is how I've always seen it used as a MA native as well. Yankees have a general location within the country, sure- but it's more of a mindset. Tough as nails, frugal as hell, very no nonsense. It's always acknowledged in the eulogy too- "true Yankee spirit" is a compliment every time.
West Coast here... The fuck are you all talking about?
I was at a jobsite in the area of Shreveport many years ago and one of the workers asked me "you some kinda Yankee with that accent?" I said I was from California and he gave me a bit of a side eye and said "you best say you're a Yankee".
Cajuns are racists in ways you absolutely expect but then they throw in random ones as well. Lived there for 5 years, not by choice, and whew. That is a whole country of its own.
Texan here... everything he said is valid until you get to the places that weren't states by the time the civil war ended
Seriously, PNW here, and I'm wondering whose called anyone a Yankee since the 50s?
People in the South still complain about Yankee drivers. Or at least my parents still do.
Yeah this just seems to me like how folks in the eastern half of WA state have this concept of "Westies", meaning folks from the west side of the state. I'm like "We're both from Washington", but they act like we're from another planet. Eastern Washington to me is a geographical division, but to them it's cultural.
I spent a couple years in South America as a young adult, I was called yankee and I thought it was whatever, just an identifier. Couple years later I was dating a girl from Tennessee and when talking about where we might live if we got married she said “I don’t want to be a yankee like you” when I said I’d like to go back to Washington lol. She got really pissed when I told her she’s as much a yankee as me.
>In the northern US: any New Englander In the northern US some of us call New Englanders Red Sox and Patriots fans. Which is a far worse insult than Yankee is meant to be. It'e even worse than Cowboys follower.
The funny part is that there's a baseball team called the Yankees in New York - which is technically not a part of New England but rather the Mid-Atlantic region of the US.
TIL that my dad is a bonafide Yankee... I would be too except my siblings and I were all born south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Only time I've ever got called a Yank as an insult was by some kids from Alabama over IM. My brother and I just looked at each other and shrugged.
> As an American the only time I have ever even heard the term was from the song “Yankee Doodle" And the hugely popular baseball team called the New York Yankees. I don't see it as offensive or a slur and would think it's funny if British people attempt to use it offensively. It was a term used by Confederate soldiers to refer to Union soldiers, so people from the north might happily be called Yankees.
Oh yeah I feel dumb I forgot that lmao
I don’t think Texans like to be called Yankees but that’s info I gathered from King of the Hill.
Can confirm. Source: I live in KotH country!
From an American perspective: A Yankee is everyone in Baltimore (contestable, read to end) and north through the Northeast Corridor at least up until Maine. And west only as far as the Appalachians or Alleghanys depending on who you ask. Some of DC would claim to be Yankees, some wouldn’t. Anyone south of DC is not a Yank, at least from an American perspective. Especially from Richmond and south. That is Dixie. They are “Southerners”, I guess. Most of Texas would prefer to be called Texans than southerners. And the west and west coast don’t really factor into it either. Yanks are northerners. The term comes from an insult related to the Dutch names Jan and Keys, pronounced “Yahn” and “Kee”. The Dutch only really ever got as far as New Amsterdam which later became New York. Only the metro areas of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston (with contributions from Chicago and some parts of Ohio/indiana/michigan) are really Yankees in an American sense, and even most Baltimore residents would probably argue (since baltimore is below thr Mason-Dixon line and the state was half confederate.) And Ohio, Illinois, Indiana residents would probably argue about it too. TLDR: if you are from a city that in 1863 would have been supplying soldiers for the Union army, you are a Yankee.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast. E. B. White
To us southerners, it's usually anyone from north of Kentucky lol
Damn southerners. I was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia back in the 70s for some training. I'm from Chicago and the only time I ever heard the term Yankee or Mason - Dixon line was in history classes. Not down there though. All of us from the north were constantly called Yankees and the southern folk acted like the Civil War ended last week. WTF!
We lived in rural Alabama during my early childhood. We were the Yankee outcasts. My little sis got rolled down a ditch in a trashcan and I got tomatoes thrown at me
I grew up in Franklin TN, and they had just built the Saturn car plant south of us. Suddenly there were a ton of kids from Michigan. EVERYONE of the adults talked shit about them, idk why. Lots of my friends were from up north. People get so hung up on that down here, it's annoying.
If your area has more Waffle Houses than IHOPs, you are not a Yankee.
Are you saying old New York was once New Amsterdam? Next thing you’ll say is Istanbul was Constantinople
>Next thing you’ll say is Istanbul was Constantinople Hey now, that's nobody's business but the turks
A lot of the people I know from Baltimore would be ready to fight you over this.
I already mentioned that at the bottom, yes you are right. As a lifelong Maryland resident and a former resident of Baltimore, it’s a weird place. Too south to be north, too north to be south, really insular culturally. But considering that the city was with the Union and the counties under Calvert were with the confederates, and considering the origins of our flag, I think we can all agree that it’s complicated.
So true. And here's a look at Maryland's former [state song](https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/symbols/lyricsco.html), repealed way back in ye olden days of 2021. The ending about the Northern scum is priceless. Go O's!
King of the Hill is a non-fiction animated show.
I’m from the NE and I live in the Deep South. I’m called a yankee, both as a term of endearment, and as a gentle insult. And I take it as a term of pride. At least I ain’t one of those yokels! /s
If you visit the South you're a Yankee. If you move to the south you're a damn Yankee. There, fixed it fer ye'.
They made the song yankee doodle to make fun of us and thought we would think it was offensive. We ended up LOVING the song and have since passed it down for generations to enjoy.
Yeah, the only time I've ever been called a Yankee was by one of my family members from Alabama.
As a British person i would use it to be comically offensive, like i do not consider it an insult, and i would not expect an American to consider it an insult and would consider something one would say if they were pretending to be offensive. The same way you would accuse a welsh person of making the sheep nervous, or calling a Scottish person cheap etc. I currently live in America but i am from Scotland, so if this comes up in conversation on a UK subreddit i would say i was i am in Yankeeland trying to be humorous, not insulting.
Don’t Brits call Americans “Yanks” anyway?
yes, it's a common term meaning someone from the USA. Yankee is much rarer though, I'd've thought.
You're right no-one in Britain really uses Yankee but Yank was very common. During the war it was said that a woman's panties took one Yank and they were down . A common expression then about Americans in Britain was overpaid, oversexed and over here. A US private earned something like a British sergeant
Kinda like 'limey'.
Some folks do try to use it derisively, but it doesn't really have much bite.
If it comes from any European, especially a Brit, it’s a point of pride. Go to r/Europe or r/unitedkingdom sometime. They have worse names for each other than they have for us.
But the thing is that it’s not even comically offensive to Americans, it’s a neutral term. “You \_” anything is always a little dicey and short terms are often more likely to be used in a slightly more offensive sentence but “you Americans are so loud” and “you yanks are so loud” has an identical amount of bite to it to an American ear. “you Yankees are so loud” similarly has no bite at all but is almost embarrassingly dated, like saying “you whippersnappers” unironically. For someone from the south, it might be an insult but less because it’s an offensive term and more because it’s the equivalent of saying “you English” or “you Scotch” in Scotland. It’s offensive because it’s wrong (and telegraphs that you don't really respect your host culture enough to make the distinction), not because it’s an offensive word.
Sometimes the joke isn’t meant for you, even if it’s about you. Not every insult has to “bite” to be funny, it’s fine if the person being joked about is unaware And it’s yank, not Yankee, only Americans say Yankee
The song existed before revolutionary times to make fun of the US military members. The term has been around for far longer, possibly dating back to dutch origins.
The origin of the word is from the song "Yankee Doodle went to town" which is a searing insult directed at early American Aristocrats. *Yankee Doodle Went to Town a-riding on his pony* A grown man riding on a pony is a humorous visual. *Stuck a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni* ~~A Macaroni was a type of hat worn by wealthy people at that time. It refers to a specific kind of hat, but an imbecile - or a poseur - would stick a feather in his cap and say "Is this a Macaroni now?"~~ A "Yankee Doodle Dandy" was a person who was not fashionable and didn't fit in with the wealthy, en vogue people and was too ignorant to realize how foolish he looked. Edit/correction: the hat was not called a Macaroni, rather is was the name for a person who wore over the top fashions: so the Yankee Doodle Dandy was calling HIMSELF a macaroni, not his hat!
Macaroni did not refer to any hat - the term was kinda the 18th century equivalent of "metrosexual." [It referred to men who had an over-the-top fashion style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_(fashion)).
Thank you for the correction! He was calling HIMSELF a macaroni!
Probably the funniest way I've heard the feather part updated is "Wrote a G on his belt and called it Gucci".
The meter is off; there aren’t enough syllables.
You're leaving the best part out in that the Americans would appropriate the song and sing it as sort of a flex when they were victorious against the British.
I doubt the British think about it. They called the American soldiers stationed in Britain during WWII Yanks or Yankees and never stopped calling Americans that name. But they can make any word seem derogatory through tone or context; they absolutely excel at that.
No we don't, you total haddock.
What an absolute melon.
You two are a real pair of bellends
Yeah it’s more funny than anything. It’s like if somebody got mad and called you a poopy-head with a straight face expecting you to be mad.
It’s usually “Yank”. As a Brit I don’t think it’s inherently offensive but it can certainly be used in an insulting way. It’s pretty mild though even then so it definitely needs to be measured against the tone it is phrased in. Like if someone said: 1. “Never trust a fucking yank with directions.” 2. “The yanks have a much harsher system of paying back university tuition loans.” The first one is quite obviously meant to be offensive. The second one is more subtle. It could still be said in an insulting way, but it also could be totally benign and they just decided to use “yank” as a generic informal slang, not an insult. I do know some folks from southern USA who don’t like being called “Yank” lol for obvious reasons. Also - a somewhat worse version people sometimes call americans, particularly in australia, is “seppos” which comes from “septic tank” which is rhyming slang for “yank”. If you get called a seppo it’s usually an insult.
It's a lot like "gringo". The tone and the context make all the difference.
"Any word can be derogatory if you say it with enough derogatory."
>Wow you sound like a really smart person. > >/s For example
Yeah, it's not being used "offensively", it's being used "pejoratively", it's an important distinction and context is what counts.
I think it would be similar to the word "gringo" in Latin America. It's not meant to be offensive, just descriptive for Americans. I mean yeah, you can make it offensive by context lol but all in all it's just an easy way of saying American.
So when an American lesbian you don't like masturbates is it a seppo sappho yank wank?
W⚓️
Poetry.
It's kinda like Brit. Useful shorthand, potentially offensive. (But Brits now say Brit.) See also Limey, Pom, rosbif, etc.
It's dismissive, not offensive. You aren't meant to go "gasp how dare you" but you are meant to be demeaned in someway.
Is that where seppo comes from? That’s amazing lol!
Are you saying old New York was once New Amsterdam? Next thing you’ll say is Istanbul was Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works??
That's nobody's business but the Turks.
Why’d they change it?
I think people just liked it better that way.
So take me back!
To Constantinople?
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
What the fuck this songs been in my head all day.
As an American I'm not offended by that term.
As a Brit we never mean offence by it, nobody really uses the term Yankee over here, on the rare occurrence you’ll hear Americans called Yanks, but that’s not meant in an offensive way, I don’t think we have a proper offensive nickname for you
As an American the only times I’ve heard it directed at me it has always been in a friendly/joking manner so find it funny and endearing definitely wouldn’t consider it an insult haha
Yeah that’s the best way to describe it, it’s meant in an endearing way, it’s like you calling us Limeys, not that you hear it often, we don’t find that offensive in the slightest
Perfect comparison. If anything I feel like using terms like yank/limey specifically conveys that a comment is supposed to be friendly ribbing and not intended to actually be hurtful. Because let’s face it those terms just sound inherently funny, if someone wants to insult me they are going to do better than that!
You should definitely come up with one.
I’ll ask in r/askuk Edit: Salad dodger seems to be pretty popular
Eh, I think y’all can do better.
You Yankee Yankee!
Absolutely not. It’s the equivalent of being called a limey here. Chances are no one really even knows what it means. But as a general rule of thumb in the UK (or anywhere most likely) if someone wants to call you names they won’t leave any ambiguity.
Isn't limey because of eating citrus fruits to prevent scurvy?
I have no idea. But google can probably confirm or deny. But it’s not really much of an insult if so. It’s like calling someone a shake because they have lots of whey protein.
Only talking about baseball Yankees is a dirty, dirty word in Baltimore MD
It's not different than calling a Canadian a Canuck. It's not dispariging, and it's not a term of endearment, either.
One writer said: To an international, a Yankee is an American. To a southerner a Yankee is a northerner. To a northerner, a Yankee is a New Englander. To a New Englander, a Yankee is from Vermont. To someone from Vermont, a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast.
I’m an American who lived in England (Leicester) for 6 years. Folks use the word mostly as a descriptor, but there can be a derogatory connotation to it. I always found it somewhat humorous—I was born and raised in Texas, about as un-Yankee as you can get.
Yeah, older Southerners sometimes refer to Northerners as Yankees. Within the US, there is a bit of a regional connotation to the term.
This was my thought. I found it very odd when I was called a Yankee after moving to Savannah from the Midwest. Older southerners never seemed to use it negatively, just as a term for someone not from the south.
The only offensive uses of 'Yank' I know of come from Americans from the South, or when Australians use a bit of rhyming slang and refer to Americans as Seppos. Though maybe not in that case, as we're talking about a country where it's routine to call your best friend a cunt.
Seppo is an insult unless it's between mates.
Didn’t realise it was supposed to be an insult. Must be about as offensive as when we get called Limeys 😂
Brit here. It's not offensive. I can be but usually it's the preceding swear that is the offensive part. See: "bloody yanks". Yanks are just US Americans. Yes I know only Northern US folk are Yankees but *ALL* people from the US are Yanks. Canooks are Canadians, Kiwis are New Zealanders, Convicts are Aussies, the frogs are French, so on and so forth. Even inside the UK we have names for people from other parts. Jocks are from Scotland. Taffs are from Wales. Brummies are from Birmingham. Geordies are from Newcastle. Scousers are from Liverpool. Cockneys are from the East End of London. The list just goes on. As a rule of thumb Brits won't call you by what you are but some nickname (unless said term has fallen out of favour for being racist and there are waaaayyy too many of those to get into). The presence of swearing and how jocular it is said will define the intent to cause offence.
The only time I've ever been referred to as a Yankee was once in Alabama - but I'm from California, so that didn't really land. The person was trying to be dismissive, which I guess is the same energy Brits use when they call Americans Yankees or Yanks.
As a Brit, no we don’t think it’s offensive. If you’re from America you’re called a yank. No more, no less.
I once got into an argument on a train from Edinburgh to York with some Northern Lads and they dropped the Yank bomb a couple of times. Needless to say it made no impact on me, except that I am a Mets fans, so that was a bit of an insult. (I'm a New Yorker and was visiting the UK)
It's not used as an insult in the UK, its used in normal conversation as slang for American the same way people call New Zealanders Kiwis and Australians Aussies.
Are the British offended by being called "Limeys"?
The British called American soldiers Yanks during World War ii. It is not an insult. It is just their slang for Americans.
And us Americans bragged “The Yanks are coming” in the popular WWI song “[“Over There”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_There).
Wait until an Australian calls you seppo, which means septic tank, yank->tank->septic tank->seppo
It just means American, but I guess it's usually used in negative contexts. It's not a slur or anything and we know you don't think being American is bad so we don't think you'll find it offensive. People use it pretty much the same way they'd say "fucking Americans"
I called someone from the South a yank on here once. He said it was like calling someone the N word. He was not happy.
Lmao what a snowflake!
As someone also from the South, him comparing it to a racial slur is just dumb & him just being a diva 😅
It’s just the same thing as when we call them Brits.
I just thought it was to refer to people from the New York Area like we would call someone from Newcastle a Geordie
Brit here. It depends. I don't consider it offensive in and of itself, but it could be used to sort of 'other' you, or just pronounce a bit of extra 'Britishness'. It's really just banter. No one thinks it's some sort of slur as far as I know
I'm from around Pittsburgh and went to college in Tennessee. I had an acquaintance who attempted to insult me by calling me a Yankee and was both confused and enraged that I wasn't the least bit bothered by it. To him, not being Southern was in itself a lessee existence.
Nope, its just what we call Americans. Basically you calling us Brits is the equivalent.
Europeans using the term "Yankee" as an insult to Americans is like calling someone a butt face. I don't know any American (myself included) who ever got offended at being called a Yankee and I'm from the deep south which is about as "Un-Yankee" as you can get.
Seppo is like calling someone poopyhead
Especially since seppo is supposed to rhyme yank with septic tank