Do Southerners realize they are the only ones who use the term "Yankee?"

[yoyoniner]

No where else is the term "Yankee" used to describe/stereotype people but in the Southeastern U.S. I am originally from Wisconsin and some guy from Alabama, when I was visiting a buddy in Florida, said I was just a "Yankee" after he heard me talk. This was used in a very derogatory manner and to say the least, I was not only shocked as if I stumbled upon some secret American culture I was unaware of, but the only time I have heard the word "Yankee" my entire life was during baseball highlights, like most people in America. My initial reaction was to say "I hate the Yankees" (meaning, the baseball team), so why would I be a "Yankee?" It was only after I dug deeper that I found out that this is a common and mostly deragatory slur used against anyone from the "North" whatever that means. I have even heard it used online against people from the West Coast (?) so I guess to some it means anyone "not Southern."

To say the least, people from every region (Mountain, Central, West Coast, Northwest, Northeast, Midwest, etc.) do not use this term and would be shocked at how often it is used in the South, and how it is basically a negative slur against millions of people.

It sounds completely backward and does nothing to help any negative stereotypes other regions have of the South. How much longer will this outdated slur stick around?

[Mantas]

Where does this term came from? Are the "rednecks" still in use? ;)

[teshadoh]

Well thanks for sharing that with us :)

[nyxmike]

Yeah, I have gotten the same thing too. It's really a matter of how and the way someone says it rather than the actually word. There is a lot more resentment - some people are still stuck in the civil war I guess, and it's pretty pathetic. Maybe it has to do with all the people from different regions, particularly the North and West, moving South? While some people take the growth and the fact that people want to visit and live in the South as a positive thing, some take it negatively (and maybe that has to do with the fact that those people don't like change, though, in the larger cities in the South, most people do enjoy the changes). It does seem backwards, but not everyone from the South says it.

[jmancuso]

yankee is not a slur.

[LSyd]

so, how many times have you called or thought of a southerner as a redneck?

ever been overseas? it doesn't sound like it; i've been called a "yankee" in the uk. it's also been used in the south to describe my accent.

thanks for yet another thread of enlightened genius.

-

[Raleighmark]

Although the term Yankee can be said in a derogatory manner, I have to agree that it is not a slur. Just because you take offense doesn’t mean it is meant to be offensive.

And like LSyd said, you and I are both Yankees to the rest of the world.

Yes the term redneck is still very much alive. But again it really is not automatically a derogatory term, at least in the south.

[Service Lift Attendant]

People in Boston use the term "yankee" as a slur against people 200mi to the southwest of them to describe local baseball players.

[The anti-cheesehead]

And like LSyd said, you and I are both Yankees to the rest of the world.


The term "Yankee" as it is used in the rest of the world doesn't have the same meaning as it does in the southern US.

To the rest of the world, "Yankee" means an American. In the south, "Yankee" means a northerner.

I learned this when I was very young because I had neighbors from Alabama. I realize all southerners aren't like my neighbors were. My neighbors were something else and I know that they are not the only ones from the south who are like that. I'd eat dinner or lunch over there and it wasn't uncommon to hear the "n" word during conversations, even from the otherwise very friendly mother. One of the kids had a model Civil War battle field in his room where all of the Union troops were dead and all of the Confederate troops were still standing.

There are southerners who believe that being a "Yankee" isn't a good thing and believe that the south will rise again ala the Civil War.

[Talbot]

I guess the outdated yankee slur will go away when the outdated rednick/hick slur goes away. Hell I would rather be called a yankee than a hick.

[Dale]

yankee is not a slur.

Who asked you ? Yankee. :)

[Style™]

people all around the world use the term 'yankee' or 'yank.'

[AubieTurtle]

I don't think it is going to go away. Heck, I still use the word "Carpetbagger" and I'm originally from Detroit.

[Tony P]

In Australia we seem to call all USA citizens "Yanks" regardless of whether they're from the North or the South. We might even call you "Seppo's" which is short for Septic Tank. For some reason in our early development (cockney heritage, perhaps), Aussies became enamoured to using rhyming slang for knicknames and alternative words for things, so:

Yankees was shortened to Yanks,
which 'rhymes' with Septic Tanks,
Which is shortened to Seppo's.

You can call us 'Kangaroo Fuc|<ers' in return :)

[Blazer85]

As someone of native american descent, I can tell you the word "yankee" came from the Cherokee who referred to the white man as "yanqui."

[LSyd]

I don't think it is going to go away. Heck, I still use the word "Carpetbagger" and I'm originally from Detroit.

:hilarious

You can call us 'Kangaroo Fuc|<ers' in return

i thought you preferred shagging koalas?

yankee doodle went to town
riding on a pony
started a stupid ass thread
and called it macaroni.

-

[TarheelsCubs]

A Yankee, as we call it in the United States refers to someone from the northeast. Starting in New Jersey. Someone from Wisconson or Chicago are not Yankees.

[texasboy]

I can honestly say in all my years living in the south, I cannot even remember when or if I have ever heard someone use the term yankee. Maybe one of my European friends did once.

[The anti-cheesehead]

people all around the world use the term 'yankee' or 'yank.'

Like I said before, the meaning of the term isn't the same though. To the rest of the world, it means an American. To a southerner, it means you wear shoes, have all of your teeth, and speak proper English. :jk:

A Yankee, as we call it in the United States refers to someone from the northeast. Starting in New Jersey. Someone from Wisconson or Chicago are not Yankees.

A "Yankee" refers to anyone from a Union state during the Civil War, which would include Illinois and Wisconsin.

[LSyd]

A "Yankee" refers to anyone from a Union state during the Civil War, which would include Illinois and Wisconsin.

yup. more specifically though it's the northeast region, but also works w/civil war.

-

[Byron]

A Yankee, as we call it in the United States refers to someone from the northeast. Starting in New Jersey. Someone from Wisconson or Chicago are not Yankees.

I thought anyone above the former Mason-Dixon line was a "Yankee"? That would include Chicago.

Frankly, I use the term 'American' for Americans since Yankee is only really describing someone from the Northeast, and it does sound a little bit derogatory.

[The anti-cheesehead]

I thought anyone above the former Mason-Dixon line was a "Yankee"? That would include Chicago.

Frankly, I use the term 'American' for Americans since Yankee is only really describing someone from the Northeast, and it does sound a little bit derogatory.

From wikipedia.org:

"In the United States
Within the United States, the term Yankee can have a number of different contextually and geographically dependent meanings.

Today Yankee is most often used to refer to a New Englander (in which case it may denote New England puritan and thrifty values). It can be used in this way by Americans in any part of the country. In the American South it is still used as a derisive term for persons from any state north of the Mason-Dixon Line. (See also carpetbagger.) Thus, in either case the principal use of the term in the U.S. is as a means of distinguishing a group from those from living further south (i.e., in the southeastern states).

Since the beginning of the 20th Century, the term has also been used by Americans to refer to the New York Yankees baseball team.

In other parts of the world
Outside the United States, Yankee, often shortened to Yank, is used as a colloquial term for American. The words are sometimes spelled with a lowercase initial, yankee and yank. In some parts of the world, particularly in Latin America and East Asia, yankee or yanqui is meant as an insult and is politically associated with anti-Americanism and used in expressions such as "Yankee go home." In Japan the term yankī is used to refer to a youth subculture of bleached blondes who are generally regarded as delinquents and thugs by older generations; general slang for American is amekō. Finally, citizens of other countries, including the British during the World Wars, referred to all Americans as Yanks."

A "derisive" term in the American south.

[theEmbarcadero]

You obviously have not traveled very much, nor do you appear to be very "educated" in American culture. Has it escaped your attention that the North and the South waged the bloodiest war in American history just 3-4 generations ago? You seem to be very provincial in your thinking while your post implies that it is the southerner who slurs northerners that is the ignorant one. Why do you think the NY Yankees are CALLED the Yankees? Because to a southerner, NY is the epicenter of the evil doers of the North.

Here is another question? Do you know WHY a "Sherman tank" is named after W. T. Sherman? Do you know what he did to Georgia? I am sure that if General R. E. Lee had wrought this kind of destruction on the Dells of Wisconsin that all southerners would be called something worse than "yankee".

In addition, did you know that all Americans are referred to as "yankees" when they are overseas? "Yankee go home" is chanted on pratically every continent on earth.

In general, southerners have alot more in common with westerners than they do northerners. Obviously, the south never fought a war against the west, and they do share common ground. Both are more rural, with an emphasis on states rights, property rights, and individuals rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Finally, what is lost of the typical northerner is NOT so much the lack of knowledge on history, but rather the inability to see that is South (and West) that has overtaken the rust belt of the north as the place to be in the USA.

One of the lasting legacies of the Civil War was that the victors thought they were "right", just because they won.

The war over states rights is still being fought today.

It is not my intent in this post to degrade you, but only to point out to you how your post highlights how provincial you are. You should travel more....

the Embarcadero

[The anti-cheesehead]

You obviously have not traveled very much, nor do you appear to be very "educated" in American culture. Has it escaped your attention that the North and the South waged the bloodiest war in American history just 3-4 generations ago? You seem to be very provincial in your thinking while your post implies that it is the southerner who slurs northerners that is the ignorant one. Why do you think the NY Yankees are CALLED the Yankees? Because to a southerner, NY is the epicenter of the evil doers of the North.

Here is another question? Do you know WHY a "Sherman tank" is named after W. T. Sherman? Do you know what he did to Georgia? I am sure that if General R. E. Lee had wrought this kind of destruction on the Dells of Wisconsin that all southerners would be called something worse than "yankee".


You said it. 3-4 generations ago. Sure, it was a bloody war, but it ended 140 years ago and had nothing to do with you or me. Get over it.

"Because to a southerner, NY is the epicenter of the evil doers of the North."

Is the epicenter, huh? "Is" as in present tense? It's beyond me why some southerners still feel this way.

[LSyd]

You seem to be very provincial in your thinking while your post implies that it is the southerner who slurs northerners that is the ignorant one.

very well said theEmbarcadero. the medium tank right before the Sherman was the M3, with Lee and Grant variants. the light tank of the time was the Stuart, so both sides' leaders were paid tribute to. although not really a bad tank, it really wouldn't be a compliment to have that tank (in the WWII) named after you or referred to, except for how quantity has a quality all its own. they were described as "Tommy Cookers" for a reason, and it wasn't good.

and Sherman didn't just pillage Georgia; South Carolina go punished for having been "the place where it started."

Get over it.


that's a bit of an ignorant stance to take. go read about Radical Reconstruction; it only made matters worse and set the stage for what ended with the Civil Rights movement.

having lived in Columbia, SC, the effects of the war are still present. after going to London and seeing what parts had been leveled, i had a better reference in seeing what area of Columbia got burned.

one day, i heard two assholes in suits on the sidewalk (probably attorneys from a yankee state at the national advocacy center) and one said, "i'd love to be Sherman coming through here with a book of matches."

i was so tempted to say, "really funny asshole."

-

[dave8721]

In Miami "Yanqui" is a term used by many Cubans to describe anglo-americans (Northern or Southern).

[Nick in Atlanta]

I think people all over Latin America and other parts of the world that don't like the USA or its policies say "Yanqui go home!!"

[AubieTurtle]

Looks like we have ourselves a...

http://eqlive.station.sony.com/images/concept_art/troll.jpg

[The anti-cheesehead]

that's a bit of an ignorant stance to take. go read about Radical Reconstruction; it only made matters worse and set the stage for what ended with the Civil Rights movement.
-

Really? I'm the one being ignorant? You're holding a grudge against modern day people from the North for what happened to the South 140 years ago? Civil Rights issues are solely the North's fault? Gimme a break. You and the Embarcadero are bitter southerners just like my old backwards-ass neighbors from Alabama. I'll bet you're the type who refers to the Civil War as the "War of Northern Aggression".

[nyxmike]

OK - it doesn't matter what the term "yankee" means, because it means a lot of things - as with other words, it is how it's used and how it's said(tone, etc) that makes it "deragatory."

[Yankee BOY]

Me and my friends get called yankees all the time by the locals. Yanks are taking over the town im living in and kicking the hicks out. I mean they get so angry when anyone mentions the civil war. I try to ignore it I really do but I always have to say something to put them in their place. I live on the panhandle of Florida too. It really is pathetic, I cant go with one day without all this 'southern pride' yadda yadda 'south will rise again'. Maybe im one of the few forumers who is actually experiencing all this rebel redneck racisism to the fullest degree. O ya and about how southerners believe NY is the epicenter of all evil in the north I couldnt agree with you on that anymore. Only one place where Ive reallly seen people embrace and love NY and that is Miami...then again all the people there are prolly from NY.. But me and my friends still rock,and represent NY to the fullest, but we dont overdo it like the locals do with their shirts stickers and flags.

[The anti-cheesehead]

I mean they get so angry when anyone mentions the civil war. I try to ignore it I really do but I always have to say something to put them in their place. I live on the panhandle of Florida too. It really is pathetic, I cant go with one day without all this 'southern pride' yadda yadda 'south will rise again'.

That's just like my old neighbors. I was a kid, about 7 years old, and the father from Alabama would call me "yankee boy". Seriously. Thinking back on it now, I cannot believe that a grown man could act so childishly. The whole family was afflicted with the "we're-victims-of-northern-agression-the Civil War-ended-yesterday" mentality and it seems like some folks in here have the same problem. That attitude is unbelievably stupid.

[Justadude]

First of all, this thread should have been locked from the moment it began. It could have had no purpose other than starting a regional flamewar.

I was not going to respond until I saw the "Get over it" comment. That, my friend, is the voice of ignorance speaking loud and clear. If you honestly cannot understand why a region that was burned, pillaged, raped of its resources, gutted of its political and economic power, exploited for the enrichment of its invaders, overtly slandered in public school textbooks for at least a century, and intentionally held back from achieving any kind of power for half a century would not be just a little bit resentful, I can only hope that you might someday educate yourself enough that you can come to a point of understanding.

One does not have to believe in some future "rise" of the old South to understand the sheer devastation that was callously wreaked upon this place. How someone could honestly think that the memory of such intentional and inhumane treatment would go away in a few generations is beyond me.

By means of comparison, this is like asking African-Americans to "get over" slavery. Get real.

[The anti-cheesehead]

First of all, this thread should have been locked from the moment it began. It could have had no purpose other than starting a regional flamewar.

I was not going to respond until I saw the "Get over it" comment. That, my friend, is the voice of ignorance speaking loud and clear. If you honestly cannot understand why a region that was burned, pillaged, raped of its resources, gutted of its political and economic power, exploited for the enrichment of its invaders, overtly slandered in public school textbooks for at least a century, and intentionally held back from achieving any kind of power for half a century would not be just a little bit resentful, I can only hope that you might someday educate yourself enough that you can come to a point of understanding.

One does not have to believe in some future "rise" of the old South to understand the sheer devastation that was callously wreaked upon this place. How someone could honestly think that the memory of such intentional and inhumane treatment would go away in a few generations is beyond me.

By means of comparison, this is like asking African-Americans to "get over" slavery. Get real.

There it is right there!

"we're-victims-of-northern-agression-the Civil War-ended-yesterday" at it's finest.

Listen here bub, no one in the north now had anything to do with what happened so there really is no reason to be resentful. It's about as ridiculous as a grown man in the 1980s calling a 7 year old kid "yankee boy" because of 19th century politics. :ohno:

You're such a victim. I feel for you man, really.

[ironchapman]

As someone of native american descent, I can tell you the word "yankee" came from the Cherokee who referred to the white man as "yanqui."
Indeed, and the British first popularized the term for us around the time of the Revolution.

[yoyoniner]

It is not my intent in this post to degrade you, but only to point out to you how your post highlights how provincial you are. You should travel more....

I may have travelled and lived more places than you have, for all you know. Do you know me? No. The more you travel the more you realize how the word "Yankee" stems from provincial thinking. Go to ANY region of the country besides the deep South, and tell someone where you are from, and their response will not differ: "Oh cool, you are from the West Coast." or "Oh, how's Milwaukee?" or "Came all the way from Texas, huh?" or "Glad to see you visiting from New York City. How's the weather been?" But visit certain people in the South and their response can many times be: "Oh, you're a Yankee." See how backward this makes the region look? Take the last season of Real World, for instance. That girl from Alabama, what was one of the first things out of her mouth in the first episode? "I don't know how I feel living with all these Yankees." Now see how provincial this makes her sound, as if people from another area of the country is some different species. Do you know how many millions that watched her say that were shocked and probably rolled their eyes. It sounds as stupid, if not more backward, than saying: "I don't know how I feel living with all these black people."

Listen, it's the nickname for "other people" that really bothered me, like they are so different and strange that you have to come up with a term for them, which is generally how I have heard "Yankee" used. It's seriously in the same guise, though not NEARLY as severe, don't get me wrong, as the "n" word to describe "other people." Anytime someone uses a term to try and divide and differentiate someone else just because of some aspect of diversity, they end up looking like a backwards idiot. The term "Yankee" is just one of those ways. I mean I was seriously having a great conversation with a "nice guy from Alabama," nothing more, and found out he thought DIFFERENTLY of me when he found out I was a "Yankee." I was almost like, fine, I had no problem with you, but apparently you have some problem with me, and not only that, but the problem must be so bad and so stereotypical supposedly, that you have some common derisive term to use against me.

BTW that initial experience with that gentleman from Alabama was many years ago, not anytime recently, so it's not like I left Wisconsin for the first time and just flew back from Florida yesterday and decided to tell everyone how surprised I was that people are still using left-over Civil War-era terms in a sluring fashion. My point of saying how surprised I was, years ago mind you, was to emphasize the point that NO one in the U.S., besides portions of the deep South, would associate the word "Yankee" with anything other than the baseball team, so don't be surprised if visitors from California, Minnesota, Colorado, wherever, give you a surprised look if it is ever used to describe people from the North. And the surprised look is one of amazement and is seriously coupled with the introspection that you CAN'T see of them saying to themselves, "I guess the stereotypes of the South being backwards are true." Which is why I brought it up. People from other regions of the country are thinking this when you use that term, whether online or in person. When I told my buddy from San Diego that people in the South still use the term "Yankee" to describe Northerners he did not even believe me, for instance, and probably still doesn't unless he were to see it for himself. Now we can either learn from this and possibly be open minded to correction, or at the very least know what others may be thinking/feeling when you say something like that (not only of themselves, but toward you), or we can just act like it's normal. I hope the former.

BTW I have LIVED (not visited) in Madison, WI, Milwaukee, Carrboro, NC, London, UK, New York City (SOHO), and now Chicago (River North), and have travelled extensively, visiting every area of the country, which is why I brought up that the Southeast is the only place I have ever heard use the term "Yankee" in such a, yes, "derisive" manner, and I bring this up because it really makes the South look backward, and as a former Southerner it's something that needs to be corrected. Maybe you guys can help spread the word and hopefully one day people won't use this provincial and divisive term anymore, and that is exactly what it is, a divisive term.

[LSyd]

Really? I'm the one being ignorant? You're holding a grudge against modern day people from the North for what happened to the South 140 years ago? Civil Rights issues are solely the North's fault? Gimme a break. You and the Embarcadero are bitter southerners just like my old backwards-ass neighbors from Alabama. I'll bet you're the type who refers to the Civil War as the "War of Northern Aggression".

see, you're the one who does need to get over it. it seems you've developed a paranoia about the south, that we're all about rising again and blaming people in the north (living people) for the war.

you're saying we've got a victim mentality in blaming living people?

no one is blaming anyone alive for the war though; you're assuming things. you also assumed i said "civil rights issues are solely the north's fault," when it's clear from what i wrote that radical reconstruction made them worse.

you've repeated your story about your neighbors 3 times.

you talk about people who are "backwards-ass," you should look in the mirror and then learn some reading comprehension. maybe it'll happen when you get to 10th grade.

have you even been to the south? have you been outside of "Minn-ess-soh-ta?"

justadude, very well written.

-

p.s. i really don't give a damn about the causes of the civil or blaming anyone. my ancestors weren't even on this continent when it happened. i just don't like seeing ignorance, and i like putting trolls in their place, too.

p.s.s. i really don't like the south that much either and plan on moving north, on this continent or others, at some point in the future.

[LSyd]

i've rarely heard "Yankee" used in a derogatory manner; usually it's an adjective or nickname, like, "you've got that yankee accent." the only two times it really struck me as being used in a derogatory manner, one guy was obviously mentally ill and the other was a dumbass.

i've heard "redneck," "hick," "hillbilly," and plenty of other of other terms though used against southerners.

and i've never seen as large a hissy fit about it as the reactions to being called a yankee in this thread.

poor, poor yankees, get some thick skin. talk about a victim mentality...

-

[The anti-cheesehead]

you're saying we've got a victim mentality in blaming living people?

no one is blaming anyone alive for the war though; you're assuming things

When I said that some southernerns need to "get over it" this was your response:

that's a bit of an ignorant stance to take.

So southerners shouldn't have to "get over it"? That's asking too much? Some southerners should continue to waste their energy being resentful towards a group of people based only on where they live? That makes sense?

no one is blaming anyone alive for the war though; you're assuming things

They're not?

just a little bit resentful

[LSyd]

you're taking things way outta context. it seems you have 1. a lack of reading comprehension 2. lack of knowledge about the subject 3. a victim mentality 4. a hatred of the south.

you should get over it.

-

[jmancuso]

anyone north of I-10 = yankee

[Mobuchu]

When I first moved down here from NJ I was told by a guy I worked with that a northerner who came to the south was a yankee, and a northerner who came to the south and stayed was a damn yankee. This was all in a joking manner, and not offensive at all. I found it pretty funny myself since I'd never heard that before. But most people in Charlotte are from the north or dont even give the North/South difference a second thought.

On the other hand, there is a bar in one of the rural towns in S.C. just outside of Charlotte that has rebel flags all over the door and a sign that says "no yankees allowed". I certainly wouldn't even bother going in, but was told by a friend that lives down there that they really dont like northerners. Whatever, thats so stupid I find it funny, I'll take my money elsewhere. Maybe they just want to keep it to the "good ol boys", as ive heard them called.

Other then that, anytime iv'e been called a yankee has always been in good fun, so I didn't mind one bit.

[The anti-cheesehead]

I may have travelled and lived more places than you have, for all you know. Do you know me? No. The more you travel the more you realize how the word "Yankee" stems from provincial thinking. Go to ANY region of the country besides the deep South, and tell someone where you are from, and their response will not differ: "Oh cool, you are from the West Coast." or "Oh, how's Milwaukee?" or "Came all the way from Texas, huh?" or "Glad to see you visiting from New York City. How's the weather been?" But visit certain people in the South and their response can many times be: "Oh, you're a Yankee." See how backward this makes the region look? Take the last season of Real World, for instance. That girl from Alabama, what was one of the first things out of her mouth in the first episode? "I don't know how I feel living with all these Yankees." Now see how provincial this makes her sound, as if people from another area of the country is some different species. Do you know how many millions that watched her say that were shocked and probably rolled their eyes. It sounds as stupid, if not more backward, than saying: "I don't know how I feel living with all these black people."

Listen, it's the nickname for "other people" that really bothered me, like they are so different and strange that you have to come up with a term for them, which is generally how I have heard "Yankee" used. It's seriously in the same guise, though not NEARLY as severe, don't get me wrong, as the "n" word to describe "other people." Anytime someone uses a term to try and divide and differentiate someone else just because of some aspect of diversity, they end up looking like a backwards idiot. The term "Yankee" is just one of those ways. I mean I was seriously having a great conversation with a "nice guy from Alabama," nothing more, and found out he thought DIFFERENTLY of me when he found out I was a "Yankee." I was almost like, fine, I had no problem with you, but apparently you have some problem with me, and not only that, but the problem must be so bad and so stereotypical supposedly, that you have some common derisive term to use against me.

BTW that initial experience with that gentleman from Alabama was many years ago, not anytime recently, so it's not like I left Wisconsin for the first time and just flew back from Florida yesterday and decided to tell everyone how surprised I was that people are still using left-over Civil War-era terms in a sluring fashion. My point of saying how surprised I was, years ago mind you, was to emphasize the point that NO one in the U.S., besides portions of the deep South, would associate the word "Yankee" with anything other than the baseball team, so don't be surprised if visitors from California, Minnesota, Colorado, wherever, give you a surprised look if it is ever used to describe people from the North. And the surprised look is one of amazement and is seriously coupled with the introspection that you CAN'T see of them saying to themselves, "I guess the stereotypes of the South being backwards are true." Which is why I brought it up. People from other regions of the country are thinking this when you use that term, whether online or in person. When I told my buddy from San Diego that people in the South still use the term "Yankee" to describe Northerners he did not even believe me, for instance, and probably still doesn't unless he were to see it for himself. Now we can either learn from this and possibly be open minded to correction, or at the very least know what others may be thinking/feeling when you say something like that (not only of themselves, but toward you), or we can just act like it's normal. I hope the former.

BTW I have LIVED (not visited) in Madison, WI, Milwaukee, Carrboro, NC, London, UK, New York City (SOHO), and now Chicago (River North), and have travelled extensively, visiting every area of the country, which is why I brought up that the Southeast is the only place I have ever heard use the term "Yankee" in such a, yes, "derisive" manner, and I bring this up because it really makes the South look backward, and as a former Southerner it's something that needs to be corrected. Maybe you guys can help spread the word and hopefully one day people won't use this provincial and divisive term anymore, and that is exactly what it is, a divisive term.



On the other hand, there is a bar in one of the rural towns in S.C. just outside of Charlotte that has rebel flags all over the door and a sign that says "no yankees allowed". I certainly wouldn't even bother going in, but was told by a friend that lives down there that they really dont like northerners. Whatever, thats so stupid I find it funny, I'll take my money elsewhere. Maybe they just want to keep it to the "good ol boys", as ive heard them called.


You see LSyd, that's what this thread is all about. yoyoniner, Mobuchu, and I have all seen first hand how the term "Yankee" is used in a derogatory manner by some southernerns.

I can read and comprehend what I read just fine, I'm not in the 10th grade (I graduated from college 4 years ago), I don't hate the south, I am not ignorant, and I know enough about the subject to know what some people mean by the term "Yankee". Many, many people still fly the rebel flag in the south for christ's sake.

[AubieTurtle]

I see a locked thread, warnings, and possible banishment coming real soon now.

[SkyHigh529]

Come on guys, you find the term Yankee offensive? Wow...

[waccamatt]

I am a New Jersey native that settled in Columbia at an early age. Usually it is rural Southerners that use the term Yankee and Damn Yankee. I occassionally hear the expression, but it is rare and always from people that grew up in rural areas. It is also used mostly in a playful manner. Remember that many people from small towns (anywhere) grew up without having contact with many people who were "different". To them they saw Northern and especially New York brashness as a foreign, distasteful trait. I'm sure the same is true with Northerners when they meet people that fit a stereotype. Neither regions' majority of populations fits the stereotype, but unfortunately they persist.

All that being said: people in neighboring states, neighboring cities and neighboring counties all have stereotypes like that. Most people that grew up in Richland County wouldn't be caught dead living in Lexington County and vice versa.

[SkyHigh529]

I can read and comprehend what I read just fine, I'm not in the 10th grade (I graduated from college 4 years ago), I don't hate the south, I am not ignorant, and I know enough about the subject to know what some people mean by the term "Yankee". Many, many people still fly the rebel flag in the south for christ's sake.
Yankee is not derogatory, it's just a southerners way of describing someone from the north. Like any adjective it can be used in a tone that may sound derogatory, but that is different. Yankee does not imply "white trash, stupid, unsophisticated, lower-class, etc.." like the term redneck does. You tell me which one is more derogatory. By the way, I love Yankees and this southerner hopes to become one! :)

[james2390]

I don't think it is going to go away. Heck, I still use the word "Carpetbagger" and I'm originally from Detroit.
LOL!

Was this really bothering you that bad that you made a thread? :?

[AubieTurtle]

I think he is just a troll.

[james2390]

It's definitely a possibility. :D

[Fear of Heights]

The original post in this thread is so typical of the arrogance and hypocrisy of Midwesterners and Northeasterners (i.e. "Northerners") when it comes to the supposed ills of the South. You have someone from the Midwest butting into a forum labeled the "Southeast" and basically telling everyone on the board how stupid they are. It is so symbolic of the attitude of many Northerners towards Southerners. Instead of showing a little courtesy and behaving as a guest, he comes in as if he owns the place and is entitled to give orders to the locals.

The argument for Southerners to "get over it" is so incredibly laughable and hypocritical it's almost comical. The poster also uses one experience with a neighbor to brand an entire state and region as guilty of using the derogatory names and such yet the same poster wouldn't hesitate to justify the use of the words "redneck" "hick" "racist" to routinely describe Southerners. I know some may think that Southern whites are the only people it's politically correct to trash and name call anymore but they aren't. They deserve the same respect the so called "civilized" citizens and other ethnic groups in the rest of the country deserve. Some people don't appreciate being made fun of no matter how much you may think it's justified. The same "get over it" comment is viciously villified (and on occasion rightfully so) when Southerners are accused of suggesting that to AAs when it comes to their terrible treatment during the 60s and prior. The North also routinely ignores their own role in the mistreatment of African Americans throughout our nation's history while laying all the blame on the South.

BTW, if you're bothered about being called a "Yankee" and have a problem with provincial attitudes in the South, perhaps you had a problem with the Minneapolis sports writer's totally gutless, classless and uncalled for comments during the 1991 World Series when the Twins played the Braves. The sportswriter suggested that Sherman should have completely burned Atlanta down and finished the place off when he had the chance. Real classy.

P.S. I passed through Minneapolis/St. Paul in May 1998 on my way back from a short stint of living in Colorado. The area is quite lovely and impressive. Having said that, I visited the Mall of America and the people taking my order at one of the mall's eating establishments acted like I was an alien from outer space. I have a remarkably "mainstream" accent for someone who was born and raised in Alabama (not unlike many native Alabamians) yet the guy taking my order acted like he had never seen or heard anyone from outside the Midwest before. My point is that no matter how lily white and perfect you think the Midwest is, it has just as many prejudices as the rest of the country.

[smiley]

Yankee is mostly a northeasterner - though a really obnoxious midwesterner could be a Yankee.

In my experience as used in the south "Yankee" is a derogatory term. But, you could say it jokingly, like most profanity - and, thus, it would not be derogatory - just like "redneck" (or really "southerner" - since Yankees seem to think that all southerners are backward idiots) when said by a Yankee.

[yoyoniner]

The original post in this thread is so typical of the arrogance and hypocrisy of Midwesterners and Northeasterners (i.e. "Northerners") when it comes to the supposed ills of the South. You have someone from the Midwest butting into a forum labeled the "Southeast" and basically telling everyone on the board how stupid they are. It is so symbolic of the attitude of many Northerners towards Southerners. Instead of showing a little courtesy and behaving as a guest, he comes in as if he owns the place and is entitled to give orders to the locals.


Sounds to me like you have a far bigger problem with "Northerners" than they do with you. Sheesh.

[james2390]

Sounds to me like you have a far bigger problem with "Northerners" than they do with you. Sheesh.
No, how the hell does it sound like that? I think he hit the nail on the head with that post.

I agree with it 100% and I am not even from the South, I am a Midwesterner.

[LSyd]

You see LSyd, that's what this thread is all about. yoyoniner, Mobuchu, and I have all seen first hand how the term "Yankee" is used in a derogatory manner by some southernerns.

this thread's about people whining and trying to make others seem dumb. a few stupid rednecks hold a grudge because great-grandpappy lost the war? so what..."get over it." especially because you used "southern" like you complain about people using "yankee."

i guess now's the point to say that when i was in NYC a few years ago for halloween, and i needed a cheap costume, i decided to go as a redneck and put on a nascar cap. i've never gotten so many dirty looks in my life in one day. i love NYC, i don't consider a center of evil (i don't know any southerners who do; California's what they consider the center of evil, and that's hippy, not yankee,) but i'm not upset about it because all places have their prejudicial assholes.

-

[james2390]

^Damn, I bet the costume was bitchin' though. :(

[ironchapman]

This thread is getting us nowhere. It is only our retaliation against smeone's remark about Southerners using the word "Yankee".

Let's close it or something...it is a waste of time.

[jmancuso]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005N7TU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://www.lincolnsign.com/images/yankee.jpg
http://nearhome.com/ct/easthaven/businesscards/y/yankee.jpg

[texasboy]

http://www.usi.net/images/clients/YankeeCandle_color.jpg

[aion26]

heh, I got called 'yankee' a few times when I was in texas but it was in good fun so I didn't care (and to me I found it amusing because I grew up in chicago, however I guess they might have had a point because even though I grew up in chicago, my mom's family is all from boston and new york, so I guess I probably am one).

Nice to see that "yankee" magazine was brought up, my grandmother subscribed to it for years and I have a few of their cookbooks floating around my apartment that I somehow ended up with (I promise I'll never make any of you eat their recipe for 'boiled dinner' though, there are many things I love about New Engand and my grandmother's Boston and English cooking, but that isn't one of them ;). The word "yankee" isn't necessarily derisive but can be if the person who uses it is an asshole. In my opinion the moron that spits out the word yankee in a derisive manner is just as idiotic as the moron who is convinced that anyone with a southern drawl is dumb. So go ahead, laugh and call me a yankee in the bar all you want, just buy me a drink afterwards.

[TreeBeard]

As a Canadian the word Yankee has two meanings. One is for the baseball team. The other is for Yankee Jim the beer. It tastes bad but for a dollar a beer I will drink it. I don’t know anyone in Canada who refers to Americans as Yankees we refer to you as Americans.

Really I find this whole South vs. North, Redneck vs. Yankee to be very similar to the whole Canada vs. Quebec debate. Really though is there that much animosity between the two groups. The recent elections would suggest the two sides have a difference of opinion.

I still get a kick from that one Family Guy episode where the Griffins go to some State in the South not sure maybe Georgia or Alabama, and Stuey is holding the banjo, and says “warm out today, warm out yesterday, even warmer out today.” Where does this all fit in I don’t know but, it makes me want to visit the South really bad, to see why they have developed such a reputation. O yeah Jeff Foxworthy and the guy who says “get er done happen to be some of the funniest comedians ever.

[TreeBeard]

Oh yeah and I am a communist well no not at all, but the hammer and the sickle was a pretty sweet sign.

[ironchapman]

You just like the symbol?

[Shawn]

That's "To Love and Die in Dixie," one of my favorite episodes.

"Looks like Oinky set the curve again"
"Aww man, that's one smart pig . . . good thing I cheated off of Oinky!"
Best part of the whole episode is when the raccoon comes out of Lois' shirt and attacks Peter.

Oh, and I seriously hate those Yankees.

[teshadoh]

I've learned so much! Please, answer this, is it derogatory to call someone a dumbass b/c they are a big fucking pussy? Just wondering....

[James704]

Within the US, maybe. But they use the term in Europe.

[The anti-cheesehead]

The argument for Southerners to "get over it" is so incredibly laughable and hypocritical it's almost comical. The poster also uses one experience with a neighbor to brand an entire state and region as guilty of using the derogatory names and such yet the same poster wouldn't hesitate to justify the use of the words "redneck" "hick" "racist" to routinely describe Southerners..

I was using my neighbors as an example of how some people from the south behave. I never typed the words "redneck", "hick", or "racist", so I'm not sure what you're talking about there, you may have me confused with someone else.


BTW, if you're bothered about being called a "Yankee" and have a problem with provincial attitudes in the South, perhaps you had a problem with the Minneapolis sports writer's totally gutless, classless and uncalled for comments during the 1991 World Series when the Twins played the Braves. The sportswriter suggested that Sherman should have completely burned Atlanta down and finished the place off when he had the chance. Real classy.

Geez. I don't remember reading that, I was 15 years old at the time. Anyway, it wouldnt' be the first time that a sports writer wrote such a thing.

I've learned so much! Please, answer this, is it derogatory to call someone a dumbass b/c they are a big fucking pussy? Just wondering.....

Apparently you haven't learned enough, here's a dictionary, look up the term "derogatory":

http://www.m-w.com/

[SneakyJungleCow]

This is silly, but being new I wont comment too much on that.

I think we should always remember the civil war...it was a pretty big deal, but not to the point that it should run anyones life like it does some. I can pretty much gaurantee that even your granparents werent alive in the civil war, so I will stand by what someone else said get over it, it is silly. Alot of what the war stood for isnt something to run around and brag about either. I think alot of people in the south use it as a badge of pride more than a historical point in time.

When I say alot, I am mostly talking about my experience with people outside of major metropolitan areas. I have not heard anyone in Atlanta say "the south really won" or damn those northerners for doing "this" to us, I have heard a good many people say that in smaller towns though. By the same merit I never have heard someone in the rural north talk about the civil war unless they were an enthusiast. (Of course they didnt suffer the same type of devistation). I am just yammering on and on not really being able to get my point across so I will stop, but some people get so worked up about stuff that is over and done with and doesnt really affect them.

[SkyHigh529]

I was using my neighbors as an example of how some people from the south behave.
Some people from the south.... We are all well aware of how some people in the south behave, we live here. Every region has its stereotypes, and every stereotype has its truth, but today that stereotype is hardly representative of the south as a whole, and so is the terms that are used to describe it. The same could be said for Yankee, although it is a much more harmless word, and if anything, a people southerners felt threatened by but not better than. Many people are proud to be Yankees, as jmancouso showed earlier... you see the New York Yankees, but you don't see the Atlanta Rednecks... In the end, lets all quit being so sensitvie, because in Europe, we are all Yanks!

[The anti-cheesehead]

Some people from the south.... We are all well aware of how some people in the south behave, we live here. Every region has its stereotypes, and every stereotype has its truth

Good, so what's the big deal? I thought I made it clear many times that I wasn't talking about the entire south, but I guess not.

Here, I'll quote myself:

I realize all southerners aren't like my neighbors were.

It's beyond me why some southerners still feel this way.

Some southerners should continue to waste their energy being resentful towards a group of people based only on where they live?

yoyoniner, Mobuchu, and I have all seen first hand how the term "Yankee" is used in a derogatory manner by some southernerns.

Is it not clear that I was not talking about everyone in the south?

If you know that some southern people act like that, then why are there people in here getting defensive, jumping on my back, and insulting me any chance they get?

[Fear of Heights]

We could ask you the same question. Why are you so concerned with the Southerners who use the term "Yankee"? I know there are backwoods rednecks all around the South. I actually find the ones with hardcore attitudes like your neighbor's very annoying myself. No offense, but I just don't need to be told that by someone from Minnesota. It's the embellishment of the tired old stereotype that many Northerners are convinced is true that is annoying. If one of the locals in this thread went to the Midwest forum and asked why Minnesotans have such a corny accent and pronounce their home state "Men uh soooooot uh" or why they're so pasty white and tanless you'd probably take offense as well.

[The anti-cheesehead]

We could ask you the same question. Why are you so concerned with the Southerners who use the term "Yankee"? I know there are backwoods rednecks all around the South. I actually find the ones with hardcore attitudes like your neighbor's very annoying myself. No offense, but I just don't need to be told that by someone from Minnesota. It's the embellishment of the tired old stereotype that many Northerners are convinced is true that is annoying. If one of the locals in this thread went to the Midwest forum and asked why Minnesotans have such a corny accent and pronounce their home state "Men uh soooooot uh" or why they're so pasty white and tanless you'd probably take offense as well.

What are you talking about? Why don't you address what I said in my last post?

The argument for Southerners to "get over it" is so incredibly laughable and hypocritical it's almost comical. The poster also uses one experience with a neighbor to brand an entire state and region as guilty of using the derogatory names and such yet the same poster wouldn't hesitate to justify the use of the words "redneck" "hick" "racist" to routinely describe Southerners.

When did I "brand an entire state and region as guilty of using the derogatory names and such yet the same poster wouldn't hesitate to justify the use of the words "redneck" "hick" "racist" to routinely describe Southerners"?

Tell me, when did I generalize? When did I "routinely" describe all southerners as "redneck", "hick", and "racist"?

Please don't dodge my questions again. Are you confusing me with someone else?

[The anti-cheesehead]

No offense, but I just don't need to be told that by someone from Minnesota.

I am not "telling" you anything personally.

[The anti-cheesehead]

Minnesotans have such a corny accent and pronounce their home state "Men uh soooooot uh" or why they're so pasty white and tanless you'd probably take offense as well.

That's just a little bit different than using the term "yankee" in a derogatory manner.

[teshadoh]

Apparently you haven't learned enough, here's a dictionary, look up the term "derogatory":

http://www.m-w.com/

Fuck dude, grow some balls & don't take things so fucking personal - I'm joking. Are you taking this thread serious?, I thought it was just a joke...

Have a fun weekend! :)

[SneakyJungleCow]

Heh ... personally think people saying 'yankee' in a condescending (sp?) way are the people you should be embarrassed for.

Having lived in a good deal of different places and being born into the modern age I see the US as one entity, those of you/us who have this north good south bad/south good north bad mentality need to take some time off and drive around the country and see that really everywhere is the same, just different scenery.

[ReggieZ]

Hmm, I don't think this term gets much use in the Black community in the south, except in reference to the baseball team. Just an observation....carry on.

[The anti-cheesehead]

Fuck dude, grow some balls & don't take things so fucking personal - I'm joking. Are you taking this thread serious?, I thought it was just a joke...

Have a fun weekend! :)

Sometimes it's hard to judge someone's tone on an internet forum. I thought you were trying to call someone in here a fucking pussy and a dumbass. I apologize if that was not your intention.

[SneakyJungleCow]

I just remembered Blanche Devaroe from the golden girls used to say Yankee alot ... how appalling.

[teshadoh]

Sometimes it's hard to judge someone's tone on an internet forum. I thought you were trying to call someone in here a fucking pussy and a dumbass. I apologize if that was not your intention.

Hey - no problem, I wasn't being direct but I do think there is a lot of unneccessary whining going on. Yankee, redneck - these are all minor compared to the far more hurtful words that are around in this country.

But anyways - nothing personal, sorry if I upset you :)

[teshadoh]

I just remembered Blanche Devaroe from the golden girls used to say Yankee alot ... how appalling.

Excellent point - that is excellent! :)

[The anti-cheesehead]

I just remembered Blanche Devaroe from the golden girls used to say Yankee alot ... how appalling.

Is the term "yankee" a harmless term or is it a derogatory term?


Yes.


It depends on what context the term is used.

This thread clearly isn't about using the term "yankee" in a harmless manner.

[hauntedheadnc]

It's been my experience that a "Northerner" is a person from somewhere up north, or in the Midwest who, for whatever reason, has moved to the South and is adjusting well, respectful of what and who they've found here, and realize that there are marked differences between here and wherever they've come from. They realize and appreciate that some things here are better, some things are worse than where they came from, and many things, like the weather, are just simply different in a way that's neither good or bad. We love Northerners because they come down, waving their money in the air, and keep our tourist attractions humming like well-oiled machines. Developers love them too because it means they, at least around here, get to clear-cut another mountainside and just develop the living hell out of it, guaranteed that people from Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and droves of Northerners who moved to Florida first and then got sick of it, will be beating down their doors to buy a house, no matter how ugly or poorly-constructed. Yes indeed, developers do love Northerners.

Yankees on the other hand are a different matter. A Yankee is someone from up North or the Midwest who has moved here apparently just for the sheer love of complaining. They hate everything -- the people, the customs, the accents, the terrain, the weather, the buildings, the shopping, the restaurants, and the fact that there's a decent chance the local symphony orchestra's conductor is a native English speaker. We hear an endless litany of complaints about how this or that is not as good as it was "back home" and we think to ourselves, Then why the fuck do you not go back "home"? Oftentimes, the complaints aren't even valid because the thing they complain about isn't worse than what they're used to, only different. For example, if one complains that the Appalachian Mountains are not as large as the Rocky Mountain, or that the Asheville Lyric Opera is not as large as the New York Metropolitan Opera (complaints I have actually heard), the person complaining is a certified moron, and we get sick of hearing them prattle on about such bullshit. Sadly, as I mentioned, many of them apparently derive such personal gratification and joy from complaining, that they've moved to a region they hate simply to have things to complain about. That is what we call a Yankee, at least around here.

Your personal mileage may vary depending on what part of the South you're in. Bottom line though, in this part of North Carolina, we adore Northerners and tourists of every stripe. We do not like Yankees as I've described them.

[SneakyJungleCow]

Is the term "yankee" a harmless term or is it a derogatory term?


Yes.


It depends on what context the term is used.

This thread clearly isn't about using the term "yankee" in a harmless manner.

Oh Blanche was not harmless with that word. She threw it around in the most hurtful way. Yankee this Yankee that, turning and storming out of the room with her big shoulder pads. If the show was still on the air I would personally write a letter.

Generally speaking, who is actually offended by being called a Yankee, honestly id rather be called that than a redneck, or an insult from the trailor array. Mostly because who the hell calls someone a Yankee, I mean really. There are much more fun things to call people, like rootin tootin raspberry.

[SkyHigh529]

If you know that some southern people act like that, then why are there people in here getting defensive, jumping on my back, and insulting me any chance they get?
I hope you don't think I was doing any of those things... like I said, we all know *some* act that way, but hardly the whole... pretty much this entire thread stinks of southern generalizations and negative stereotypes: "Do Southerners realize they are the only ones who use the term 'Yankee'?"

Honestly, I think all of us in the southeastern forumn were a bit taken aback by the thread question and the way it was asked... it was not so much his misunderstanding of southerners that got me/us, but the way he came here and tried to give a holier than thou lecture on why southerners should not stereotype, when southerners are perhaps the most negatively stereotyped group of Americans out there.

[Talbot]

I have an idea, lets go to the midwest and northeast forums and make a thread thats titled "Do Northerners realize they are the only ones who use the term "Redneck"?"

Man I bet that would be hella hilarious! :D :D

[ironchapman]

Too bad they're not the only ones to do so.

[yoyoniner]

I have an idea, lets go to the midwest and northeast forums and make a thread thats titled "Do Northerners realize they are the only ones who use the term "Redneck"?"

Man I bet that would be hella hilarious! :D :D


See the thing is, people in the Midwest (at least the upper midwest where I have the most living experience), do not really use the term "redneck." In fact the first time I heard that word used, growing up in Wisconsin for 20 years before I moved, was on Comedy Central during a Jeff Foxworthy show. I can honestly say that the only people I have heard use the term "redneck" during my entire life and all the places I've lived, was when I was in North Carolina. It was used to describe people that were poorer that lived in the mountains.

[johnatl]

hauntedheadnc - Man, you hit the nail right on the head. Yours is also the prevailing attitude among the few natives left in metro ATL. I'm not one of them - I'm one of those damn "halfbacks" you hear about!

I have a question for our friends in MN. Why the hell do ya'll consume fried cheese curd?

[nyxmike]

Rednecks are everywhere, even in New York, trust me!

[Fear of Heights]

"I hope you don't think I was doing any of those things... like I said, we all know *some* act that way, but hardly the whole... pretty much this entire thread stinks of southern generalizations and negative stereotypes: "Do Southerners realize they are the only ones who use the term 'Yankee'?"

Honestly, I think all of us in the southeastern forumn were a bit taken aback by the thread question and the way it was asked... it was not so much his misunderstanding of southerners that got me/us, but the way he came here and tried to give a holier than thou lecture on why southerners should not stereotype, when southerners are perhaps the most negatively stereotyped group of Americans out there."


Nail meets head. Very well said.

[Agent Orange]

I've learned so much! Please, answer this, is it derogatory to call someone a dumbass b/c they are a big fucking pussy? Just wondering....
Well said.

[The anti-cheesehead]

I have a question for our friends in MN. Why the hell do ya'll consume fried cheese curd?

I don't know, because they taste good? Why do you say "ya'll"? Fear of Heights says it's the Minnesotans that have a corny accent.

Seriously though, fried cheese curds aren't an everyday food here, they're pretty much a State Fair food, which is once a year.

Honestly, I think all of us in the southeastern forumn were a bit taken aback by the thread question and the way it was asked... it was not so much his misunderstanding of southerners that got me/us, but the way he came here and tried to give a holier than thou lecture on why southerners should not stereotype, when southerners are perhaps the most negatively stereotyped group of Americans out there."

SkyHigh was responding to me, and I didn't start this thread, or ask the question, I simply gave an example of how I've heard the term "yankee" being used.

And, you dodged my questions AGAIN. I'm starting to think it's because the things you've accused me of were all made up.

The argument for Southerners to "get over it" is so incredibly laughable and hypocritical it's almost comical. The poster also uses one experience with a neighbor to brand an entire state and region as guilty of using the derogatory names and such yet the same poster wouldn't hesitate to justify the use of the words "redneck" "hick" "racist" to routinely describe Southerners.

Please explain yourself. When did I justify use of the words "redneck", "hick", and "racist"? When did I "routinely" describe people from the south in such a manner? When did I stereotype an entire region?

Are you confusing me with someone else, or did you pull all of that straight out of your ass?

[Fear of Heights]

"Please explain yourself. When did I justify use of the words "redneck", "hick", and "racist"? When did I "routinely" describe people from the south in such a manner? When did I stereotype an entire region?"

I may have gotten you mixed up with someone else but the point still stands. Those are names and stereotypes that many people outside the South including "Northerners" associate Southerners with. Those descriptions are far more offensive than Yankee. Yankee is more or less just a description of people from a certain place sort of like New Zealanders are called Kiwis. The term is used by some Southerners to describe self righteous snobby Northerners that think they're smarter and better than anyone else. The term is largely neutral whereas the terms "redneck", "racists", "hicks", and "white trash" are almost universally very negative and insulting names. Yet these terms and the Southern whites they are used to describe are the only group of people in America it's still politically correct to name call.


BTW, someone brought up Julie, the girl on the first ever "Real World" episode and how she sounded like an idiot for referring to someone as a Yankee and how that was so terrible. Funny how it was OK for the model on that show to talk about her being barefoot and pregnant seeing as how she was from Alabama. The same guy talked about how much of a total culture shock it must have been for her to live in NYC after growing up in a small town like Birmingham. Kevin, the black journalist on the show also automatically assumed she was a racist because she was from Alabama. She correctly verbally blistered the guy and stood up to the abuse after putting up with his verbal harrassment. She didn't seem to have a problem with the gay guy she lived with as they got along just fine. Her best friend in the house was the female rapper Heather B. She blew away every Southern stereotype they could come up with and had to put up with that despite showing everyone that those stereotypes weren't at all true in her case. She was probably the coolest character on that stupid reality show as a matter of fact despite all the crap she had to take from some of her prejudiced roommates.

[EarlyBird]

The term "Yankee", despite what people in here seem to think, did not come from the Civil War. It came from the Revolutionary War (War of Independence) and came specifically from the song "Yankee Doodle". :)

The origins of the words and music of the Yankee Doodle are not known exactly due to the fact that the song has many versions. But, this patriotic U.S. song has an uncomplimentary history.

The music and words go back to 15th century Holland, as a harvesting song that began, "Yanker dudel doodle down." In England, the tune was used for a nursery rhyme -- "Lucy Locket". Later, the song poked fun of Puritan church leader Oliver Cromwell, because "Yankee" was a mispronunciation of the word "English" in the Dutch language, and "doodle" refers to a dumb person. But it was a British surgeon, Richard Schuckburgh, who wrote the words we know today that ridiculed the ragtag colonists fighting in the French and Indian War.

Soon after, the British troops used the song to make fun of the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. Yet it became the American colonists' rallying anthem for that war. At the time the Revolutionary War began, Americans were proud to be called yankees and "Yankee Doodle" became the colonists most stirring anthem of defiance and liberty.

During Pre-Revolutionary America when the song "Yankee Doodle" first became popular, the word macaroni in the line that reads "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni" didn't refer to the pasta. Instead, "Macaroni" was a fancy and overdressed ("dandy") style of Italian clothing widely imitated in England at the time. So by just sticking a feather in his cap and calling himself a "Macaroni", Yankee Doodle was proudly proclaiming himself to be a country bumpkin (an awkward and unsophisticated person), because that was how the English regarded most colonials at that time.

[teshadoh]

Actually you are all wrong, the term 'yankee' was invented by famed linguist Ted Nugent. With his comrades, including Tommy Shaw, he formed the Damned Yankees in the late 1980's.

[AubieTurtle]

Actually you are all wrong, the term 'yankee' was invented by famed linguist Ted Nugent. With his comrades, including Tommy Shaw, he formed the Damned Yankees in the late 1980's.

Tommy Shaw use to live in the same house that my sister-in-law lived in a couple of houses down from the one I lived in during high school. Which of course means absolutely nothing

:)

[teshadoh]

^ It would mean a lot to my wife

[ironchapman]

Why is it that TheBrad is the only one with a sense of humor about the whole deal of calling someone a Yankee?

The only time I call someone one is if it is a joke, and they know it, or if they are a fan of the team (Me to Barry Bonds: "You're a Yankee, aren't you?"...well, actually I haven't met Mr. Bonds yet.)

[vindaloo]

No where else is the term "Yankee" used to describe/stereotype people but in the Southeastern U.S. I am originally from Wisconsin and some guy from Alabama, when I was visiting a buddy in Florida, said I was just a "Yankee" after he heard me talk. This was used in a very derogatory manner and to say the least, I was not only shocked as if I stumbled upon some secret American culture I was unaware of, but the only time I have heard the word "Yankee" my entire life was during baseball highlights, like most people in America. My initial reaction was to say "I hate the Yankees" (meaning, the baseball team), so why would I be a "Yankee?" It was only after I dug deeper that I found out that this is a common and mostly deragatory slur used against anyone from the "North" whatever that means. I have even heard it used online against people from the West Coast (?) so I guess to some it means anyone "not Southern."

To say the least, people from every region (Mountain, Central, West Coast, Northwest, Northeast, Midwest, etc.) do not use this term and would be shocked at how often it is used in the South, and how it is basically a negative slur against millions of people.

It sounds completely backward and does nothing to help any negative stereotypes other regions have of the South. How much longer will this outdated slur stick around?

No offense but you obviously are not a very well read individual. The term was originated depicting the "Yankee merchant" and is found used in a non-derogitory manner in many novels. It is a term that is used basically to describe individuals from the northeast. It may or may not be used in a derogitory manner. You need to ease up. If southerners got pissed off every time a yankee referred to them as rednecks, they would be pissed all of the time. Sounds like you should keep your sheltered midwestern body in Wisconsin. I am originally from London. I refer to all Americans as yankees.

[vindaloo]

The term "Yankee" as it is used in the rest of the world doesn't have the same meaning as it does in the southern US.

To the rest of the world, "Yankee" means an American. In the south, "Yankee" means a northerner.

I learned this when I was very young because I had neighbors from Alabama. I realize all southerners aren't like my neighbors were. My neighbors were something else and I know that they are not the only ones from the south who are like that. I'd eat dinner or lunch over there and it wasn't uncommon to hear the "n" word during conversations, even from the otherwise very friendly mother. One of the kids had a model Civil War battle field in his room where all of the Union troops were dead and all of the Confederate troops were still standing.
There are southerners who believe that being a "Yankee" isn't a good thi and believe that the south will rise again ala the Civil War.

Like northerners don't use the "N" word just as much? Maybe your neighbours learned the "N" word at school from blacks that were constantly calling themselves "N"? Or maybe from some great rap group from up north?

[Justadude]

There it is right there!

"we're-victims-of-northern-agression-the Civil War-ended-yesterday" at it's finest.

Listen here bub, no one in the north now had anything to do with what happened so there really is no reason to be resentful. It's about as ridiculous as a grown man in the 1980s calling a 7 year old kid "yankee boy" because of 19th century politics. :ohno:

You're such a victim. I feel for you man, really.

Good golly... do you always insert your own opinion into others' writing, or am I just a special case?

Did I justify use of the word "Yankee"? No. Did I blame any living person for the civil war? No. Did I even say I was a victim of anything? No.

What I said was that it is absolutely ignorant and ridiculous to chide a huge group of people whose region WAS victimized for actually having an institutional memory about such things. When you order someone to "get over" the Civil War, you're implicitly telling them to write it off as ancient history, not worthy of our attention any more.

What you don't seem to understand is that the Civil War is NOT ancient history in this region. It is very, very easy to point to modern-day manifestations of its aftershocks: poverty, racism, non-historic city centers, collapsed agricultural markets, entire families wiped out, and so forth. The war was fought on southern, not northern, soil and ravaged the area in a way that is still quite noticeable to this day.

For you to barge in here, in the same manner as the thread's originator, and demand that we simply drop the subject and pretend it never happened, is utterly unreasonable. Again, it's comparable to demanding that Jews or African-Americans or any other victimized group simply forget their history, "get over" the past and behave as though nothing ever went wrong. It's not realistic, it's not reasonable, and it's certainly not sensitive to cultural memory.

Ransom once wrote that the American North was isolated from the shared memory of the rest of the world on the count of never having been invaded and subjugated. I'm beginning to think he may have been right.

[vindaloo]

Once in Myrtle Beach I saw a shirt that said, "The more I know about yankees, the more I wonder how they won the war". After reading some of the postings, I wonder the same thing?

[SneakyJungleCow]

As a Jewish person, I really dont think about the past, nor do many other Jewish people I know, and that is much more recent history. I guess it could have to do with the fact that being a jew wasnt AS difficult in the United States.

Also, i dont understand what some of you are saying, do you wish the north would not have succeeded in winning the civil war? Do you not think that some of the reasons for fighting the civil war were worth it and both parties at that time were being unreasonable?

Honestly I dont think alot of southerners really study what went on and the actual history of it, but just wear it as a badge. On second thought too, I really dont understand you comparing the holocaust of about 60 years ago to some pretty selfish reasons for fighting a war over 100 years ago. Could you imagine what the US would be like right now had the north lost?

I have to say this is way off topic probably, but the original subject really doesnt hold much discussion value.

[waccamatt]

Good golly... do you always insert your own opinion into others' writing, or am I just a special case?

Did I justify use of the word "Yankee"? No. Did I blame any living person for the civil war? No. Did I even say I was a victim of anything? No.

What I said was that it is absolutely ignorant and ridiculous to chide a huge group of people whose region WAS victimized for actually having an institutional memory about such things. When you order someone to "get over" the Civil War, you're implicitly telling them to write it off as ancient history, not worthy of our attention any more.

What you don't seem to understand is that the Civil War is NOT ancient history in this region. It is very, very easy to point to modern-day manifestations of its aftershocks: poverty, racism, non-historic city centers, collapsed agricultural markets, entire families wiped out, and so forth. The war was fought on southern, not northern, soil and ravaged the area in a way that is still quite noticeable to this day.

For you to barge in here, in the same manner as the thread's originator, and demand that we simply drop the subject and pretend it never happened, is utterly unreasonable. Again, it's comparable to demanding that Jews or African-Americans or any other victimized group simply forget their history, "get over" the past and behave as though nothing ever went wrong. It's not realistic, it's not reasonable, and it's certainly not sensitive to cultural memory.

Ransom once wrote that the American North was isolated from the shared memory of the rest of the world on the count of never having been invaded and subjugated. I'm beginning to think he may have been right.

I think this is a very poor analogy. Remember, the South started the war. The act of calling it the "War of Northern Aggression" is preposterous and comparing the aftermath with the holocaust or with black oppression is a weak argument. Yes, white Southerners did have alot of struggles after the war, but that was well over 100 years ago.

[The anti-cheesehead]

I think this is a very poor analogy.

It's not just a poor analogy, it's insanity.

Again, it's comparable to demanding that Jews or African-Americans or any other victimized group simply forget their history, "get over" the past and behave as though nothing ever went wrong.

My God. White southerners are a "victimized group" on a comparable level to Jews and African-Americans?!?!?!?

[vindaloo]

Did you ever study American history? Both Black and white Southereners were victim ized. Ever hear of General Sherman's march. Did you know that the intentions of the U.S. government was to dehumanize the south by burning anything that would be "cultural". In addition it was intended to starve southern citizens. There were no special concessions for black southerners. Schools, homes, and other institutions were burned. Northerners took over the government and appointed blacks as political figures to instigate hate between the races. Hate between southern blacks and whites was an objective of the government. The U.S. government did all possible to eradicate the south. The Radical Republicans made it virtually impossible for southerners to get money as loans to rebuild the south. Unbelievable interest rates made it impossible. Blacks were freed from slavery resulting in the Freedman's bureau begging former plantation slave owners to take their slaves back as workers as no provisions had been established for them in the north. The north did all possible to keep blacks from going their way for fear of loosing jobs, ets. The south suffered until the 1930s as a result of the Civil War. Yes southern whites were vicitms. In my opinion they suffered emencely. Of course Southerners haven't existed as a group as long as the Jews so comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges. Both nevertheless have suffered. It would take an idiot not to see this.

[vindaloo]

Southerners should refrain from getting involved in this idiotic thread. It has nothing to do with southern pride which is the intention of this southern forum. It obviously has been invaded by some southern hating jerks.. My advise is to don't even waste your time debating them. They are truly ignoramouses.

[Sean in New Orleans]

Maybe, I'm a lost soul that is completely out "of the link...," but, I'm born and raised in New Orleans and have never heard the word "yankee" in any type of general conversation that made any sense. I've heard the word and I know it's definitely a baseball team (ha! ha!), but, seriously, what is a yankee? Is this some small area that our nation has significant roots (like Jamestown). I know it originates out of New York. We do know that much in New Orleans. Are we rednecks down here? I know I've definitely seen rednecks in Florida...those are some serious hicks....but, I've met nice Rednecks in Florida.

[SneakyJungleCow]

hahahah The fact that there is SOUTHERN PRIDE makes me hurl....get a life this is a unified country the United States .. you remember right?

[Molo]

Let me see if I understand....

..southern whites were victimized like jews and blacks?

And what was the name of that planet again?


btw: didn't the whites victimize the blacks and jews? And Asians, and south Americans, and native Americans, and... it's just a point.

But really, this forum sounds like pure hate. Aren't we all victims of terror now? What happened to the unity we felt after 9/11?

Blacks and jews were even safe to drive through Montana. (well maybe not) But still, how soon we forget.

Can we please move past civil war bigotry?? Now!!

[Justadude]

I think this is a very poor analogy. Remember, the South started the war.

Oh, please. Everyone knows that Confederates fired the first shot, but anyone who's seriously studied the war knows that the South didn't just "start" the thing for the hell of it. Union troops were ordered to take position on a key Confederate port... what else is going to happen but gunfire?

The act of calling it the "War of Northern Aggression" is preposterous and comparing the aftermath with the holocaust or with black oppression is a weak argument.

How? Is having your culture systematically destroyed not on par with the suffering of others? We're not talking about mere wartime atrocities here (though there were more than plenty on both sides), we're talking about the intentional and systematic prosecution of an entire region's civilian population... much of which took place in the decades after the war. Universities burned, cities wiped out, families slaughtered, the agricultural economy intentionally depressed, businesses forced out in favor of carpetbagging, puppet governments installed... the list is very long and extremely ugly.

Yes, white Southerners did have alot of struggles after the war, but that was well over 100 years ago.

That's where this conversation is going off the rails. We're not talking about wartime, we're talking about peacetime persecution. Look up "Reconstruction". It's all there in black and white.

The mere fact that this all needs to be explained and argued about tells you something about the loss of historical knowledge of these events.

[vindaloo]

And part of the problem was the issue of slavery and the Jewish shipping lines that were so very prodominant in the logistics of slavery. In the 1600s through 1800s practically all shipping lines were owned and operated by Jews both in New England and Europe. Even after the Civil War, the shipping lines continued to ship slaves to places like Brazil. And you wonder why people get pissed off at you?

[vindaloo]

hahahah The fact that there is SOUTHERN PRIDE makes me hurl....get a life this is a unified country the United States .. you remember right?
Maybe this will become a unified country when northeastern people loose the superiority complex they have and realize they there are idiots within their nation. This is not a unified country. To say so depicts ignorance.

[SneakyJungleCow]

Oh gosh, I dont think its just northeasterners, I really think its a bit of everyone that thinks they are better than one another. While it may not be in some peoples hearts, this is ONE unified nation. There is only north south east west by direction, so it is a little pointless to constantly talk about this type of thing, I am surprised it is talked about so much here.

Its one thing to keep heritage and not forget the past, but to dwell on it with an air of hatred is silly.

"And you wonder why people get pissed off at you?"

Who are you talking to? All groups of people have some sort of spotty past. Why dont we ever talk about all the indians we killed and sent off to lands no one wanted? Yeah I dont see people crying over that.

[vindaloo]

Unification means that we think as one. In this country we don't. The U.S. is a country that is separated from the major powers of the world therefore access to these countries is not as prevailant as it is with Europeans. The average American can't tell you where Pakistan and/or Iraq is on a map without reading the name. We are a country that is totally divided on major issues like defense and minor issues like abortion. The two major political parties are becoming so divided that the premise of freedom of expression has become a matter of "If you don't think like I do, you are wrong and I don't like you".
Americans are different. If you are a southerner and socialize with northerners, it is very likely that you will be insulted within the course of the evening through some sort of comment concerning the way southerners speak or the "redneck" that the northerner had a bad experience with. It ALWAYS happens. We southerners try our hardest to retain dignity and ignore it, but it bothers us. And, when we respond to insulting comments, the innevitable "Still fighting the Civil War" comes up. Imagine the frustration. Northerners come south, insult the people that live here, we get annoyed and respond and then here we are being accused of still fighting the civil War just because we disagree or respond. I have been in this situation numerous times. Additionally, anyone that disagrees with many northerners is automatically a redneck. Living in Florida, probably half of my friends are yankees. I have expressed my feelings about their unawareness of social properness and they are fine. But the fact is that people are proud of what they are and nobody likes to be belittled or
insulted. And you are an example of one that annoys me and others. I could care less about what happened to the native Americans, Jews or Blacks in the past. The past has happened and there is nothing we can do about it. I don't even care about what happened before or during the Civil War. I just wish you damn yankees would drop the subject. The truth is that you are the ones still fighting the Civil War. We are fine.

[SneakyJungleCow]

"You damn yankees"

I live in Kentucky right now, I was born in Kentucky.

I guess it is just that I have never found myself in these social situations you speak of. I have lived in various different regions and the only place I have really seen a disrespect for southerners is on TV, and possibly on this message board. I have lived in New Orleans, Atlanta, and Dallas in the south and really never came into contact with whiney northerners or people that spoke in the ways that you describe above, maybe these cities are less touched by these social ills or I just had the right circle of friends.

I am still young though so I dont know many people 18-21 that would have conversations pertaining to that subject matter anyways, and I am glad because it is pretty fruity.

[Dale]

hahahah The fact that there is SOUTHERN PRIDE makes me hurl....get a life this is a unified country the United States .. you remember right?

Tell that to the Chicago forumers.

[sanvista]

Who gives a shit?

[SneakyJungleCow]

Tell that to the Chicago forumers.

Yeah i probably worded that incorrectly, I should have said regional pride.

Pride is a good thing though, and I am having trouble finding the right word, but I mean when it gets to the point where you think that you are the dominant area or become pompous or provincial. It is really easy to do in such a large country.

[vindaloo]

Sort of like people from Southern California or the Boston area?

[LSyd]

Who gives a shit?

ask the moron who started this thread.

-

[Talbot]

Im surprised this shitty thread isn't closed yet.

[krazeeboi]

"....Feldman. I'm a Feldman dammit....from Buffalo."

[nomarandlee]

No where else is the term "Yankee" used to describe/stereotype people but in the Southeastern U.S. I am originally from Wisconsin and some guy from Alabama, when I was visiting a buddy in Florida, said I was just a "Yankee" after he heard me talk. This was used in a very derogatory manner and to say the least, I was not only shocked as if I stumbled upon some secret American culture I was unaware of, but the only time I have heard the word "Yankee" my entire life was during baseball highlights, like most people in America. My initial reaction was to say "I hate the Yankees" (meaning, the baseball team), so why would I be a "Yankee?" It was only after I dug deeper that I found out that this is a common and mostly deragatory slur used against anyone from the "North" whatever that means. I have even heard it used online against people from the West Coast (?) so I guess to some it means anyone "not Southern."

To say the least, people from every region (Mountain, Central, West Coast, Northwest, Northeast, Midwest, etc.) do not use this term and would be shocked at how often it is used in the South, and how it is basically a negative slur against millions of people.

It sounds completely backward and does nothing to help any negative stereotypes other regions have of the South. How much longer will this outdated slur stick around?


Right off the bat I am a life long Chicagoan. Southerners are not the only ones to use the term "Yankee". When I have been oversees or hear other people talk about ALL Americans (north and south) I hear the phrase much more then I ever did here. I wouldn't say its commun usage in places like the UK, South Africa, Australia, and other places but the term is generally used to an occasional degree.

Oversees I don't usually get the feeling the term is meant as a slight. At times it can even be said with a bit of affection. At other times it is said with a brushness and a slight attitude though.

When I hear Southerners use the term I think more often then not they often mean to snub or take a subtle shot at northerners to differiante themselves.(that is the way it comes off I am not saying its true).

As a northerner though I have always been miffed at the term "Yankee" though. The only time I thought of Yankee was the New York Yankees or in the song Yankee Doodle Dandee. I never thought of myself as a "Yankee" and instead just usually a Chiagoan, mid-westener, or maybe northener. The lable "Yankee" is one I don't get offended by really but one I don't really care for at the tsame time (since I think at times it is used as a subtle pejorative).

All that said there are names for southerners that are used that are much less flattering and stupid in my eyes ESPECIALLY on this rather liberal forum. I hope that most southerners realise that the harsh word by some of the more close minded and ignorant northern liberals on these boards are not nearly as readily thrown out about the south as in this forum.

[nomarandlee]

Although the term Yankee can be said in a derogatory manner, I have to agree that it is not a slur. Just because you take offense doesn’t mean it is meant to be offensive.

And like LSyd said, you and I are both Yankees to the rest of the world.

Yes the term redneck is still very much alive. But again it really is not automatically a derogatory term, at least in the south.



Redneck is not a derogatory term in the south?

[ralex231]

I would be offended if someone called me a redneck even though I am not one.

[Yankee BOY]

yo check this site out i ran across http://www.southernnationalcongress.org/

[nomarandlee]

First of all, this thread should have been locked from the moment it began. It could have had no purpose other than starting a regional flamewar.

I was not going to respond until I saw the "Get over it" comment. That, my friend, is the voice of ignorance speaking loud and clear. If you honestly cannot understand why a region that was burned, pillaged, raped of its resources, gutted of its political and economic power, exploited for the enrichment of its invaders, overtly slandered in public school textbooks for at least a century, and intentionally held back from achieving any kind of power for half a century would not be just a little bit resentful, I can only hope that you might someday educate yourself enough that you can come to a point of understanding.

One does not have to believe in some future "rise" of the old South to understand the sheer devastation that was callously wreaked upon this place. How someone could honestly think that the memory of such intentional and inhumane treatment would go away in a few generations is beyond me.

By means of comparison, this is like asking African-Americans to "get over" slavery. Get real.



Exageration is a fine art. To bad you don't practice well.

Do you really expect anyone to have any kind of "sympathy" for the south? Frankly the south was ont he side of evil at the time. Slavery was an evil practice and there were southerners that wanted to keep it.
Do you have much sympathy for what the poor German people got during WW2? Do you honestly think that the south was anymore held back and "pillaged" then the South was? Same with Japan. Both those countries were far more devesistated by the war and had much harsher conditions imposed upon them (at least in Germanys case) then the South did. And yet those regions/countries came back stronger then ever in almost 30 years!!!!!! Spare me this "we were deprived of our day in the sun" attitude. The south even at the time of the civil war didn't have anywhere near the wealth, population, resources, industry, and importance that the north did.

In all honesty the South was fighting for a real BAD cause back then. I have as much sympathy for what was imposed on the south about as much as Nazi Germany (close to zero). I am not saying the South was as bad as Nazi Germany but both were CLEARLY morally wrong in their reasons for war.

[nomarandlee]

Rednecks are everywhere, even in New York, trust me!


Thats true. Even though the connotation is most associated (fairly or unfairly) with the South there are plenty who could be viewed as "hickish" or "red neck" even in the metro areas of Chicago or New York. Growing up my friends and I though that almost anyone who grew up in the state of Wisconsin was a hick or a pseudo-redneck. That was largely just ignorance and elitism though of a pretty innocent nature.

Even though the South is what most gets hammered with the label it is hardly exclusive to the South.

[great prairie]

In all honesty the South was fighting for a real BAD cause back then. I have as much sympathy for what was imposed on the south about as much as Nazi Germany (close to zero). I am not saying the South was as bad as Nazi Germany but both were CLEARLY morally wrong in their reasons for war.

chill out...

[nomarandlee]

And part of the problem was the issue of slavery and the Jewish shipping lines that were so very prodominant in the logistics of slavery. In the 1600s through 1800s practically all shipping lines were owned and operated by Jews both in New England and Europe. Even after the Civil War, the shipping lines continued to ship slaves to places like Brazil. And you wonder why people get pissed off at you?


wow dude, just dumb. I would say more but I don't want to waste breath.

[great prairie]

if it is true what is the problem....

[nomarandlee]

if it is true what is the problem....



Why is it a problem? Because it is totally irrelevant and a deflection from the issue. Even if it is 10% of 99% true it doesn't really matter to this discussion. It was Anglo-Americans who bought slaves, it was Anglo-Americans who whipped them, it was Anglo-Americans who fought a war and sacrificed hundreds of thousands of their young to KEEP them slaves!!!!!! What a few hundred Jews (or who knows the numbers undoubtedly they were not the only ones involved in the trade) is not really relevant.

And no I am not Jewish but largley Angl-American Christian probably like you.

[great prairie]

irrelevant like this?


Do you really expect anyone to have any kind of "sympathy" for the south? Frankly the south was ont he side of evil at the time. Slavery was an evil practice and there were southerners that wanted to keep it.
Do you have much sympathy for what the poor German people got during WW2? Do you honestly think that the south was anymore held back and "pillaged" then the South was? Same with Japan. Both those countries were far more devesistated by the war and had much harsher conditions imposed upon them (at least in Germanys case) then the South did. And yet those regions/countries came back stronger then ever in almost 30 years!!!!!! Spare me this "we were deprived of our day in the sun" attitude. The south even at the time of the civil war didn't have anywhere near the wealth, population, resources, industry, and importance that the north did.


you take a very northern stance on the civil war, when the real cause was manifest destiny...

[Boreal.]

great prairie, are you truly a texan? i mean, are you a WASP or redneck or a latino, chinese, asian or something else in Texas?

just wonder.

[ROCguy]

Europians call Americans in general "yanks"... also, I have discovered something. There actually is a difference to Southerners when they say "yankee" and "damn yankee". This total redneck (self-proclaimed redneck so don't get on my back for using the term) that I worked with over the summer explained it .... a "damn yankee" is a person from the North who moves to the South and stays there... a just plain "yankee" is a Northern person who just visits the South, has a vacation house there, or moves there and moves back home to the North (I have been a "damn yankee" for almost 11 years now will soon be "yankee".. thank God)

[Justadude]

Exageration is a fine art. To bad you blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Was it really necessary to resurrect a five-month-dead thread just to make that kind of comment?

[Raleighmark]

And no I am not Jewish but largley Angl-American Christian probably like you.
I think the point is not that they were Jewish, but that they were New Englanders and Europeans. I don't want to start an argument with you, but the causes of the civil war were numerous. Even the great emancipator himself, Abraham Lincoln was willing to allow slavery to remain if it would preserve the union. When the emancipation proclamation was announced it only freed the slaves in the confederacy, they weren’t freed in the slave states that remained with the union. When the importation of slaves was forbidden anywhere in the U.S. in the 1830’s, the slave traders simply started shipping them to Brazil. My point is that the bloodstains of slavery were on many hands and the notion that the civil war was fought only to eliminate slavery simply isn’t true. Besides it’s not like any of us wish that the slaves weren’t freed or even that the south had won.

[Raleighmark]

There actually is a difference to Southerners when they say "yankee" and "damn yankee". This total redneck (self-proclaimed redneck so don't get on my back for using the term) that I worked with over the summer explained it .... a "damn yankee" is a person from the North who moves to the South and stays there... a just plain "yankee" is a Northern person who just visits the South
That's an old joke. Don’t take things so seriously.

And yes it would have been nice if this thread had been left to die. :)

[eweezerinc]

Dumb-ass thread. Yeesh

I don't think the major problem is the south stereotyping the north, but everywhere stereotyping the south. The south has a hell of a lot more to prove than New England.

[TampaMike]

I only use Yankee when talking about the baseball team

[great prairie]

great prairie, are you truly a texan? i mean, are you a WASP or redneck or a latino, chinese, asian or something else in Texas?

just wonder.

On my Dads side I am a 5th generation Texan(deep east texas/dallas), my mom moved to Houston from Pennsyvlania when she was 3 years old.. both have white european(German/english??) descent. I consider myself a Texan :)

[ROCguy]

That's an old joke. Don’t take things so seriously.

And yes it would have been nice if this thread had been left to die. :)

I know, but it's still used.

[atx001]

Why was this thread revived? This whole thing is childish and stupid.

If there is any smart moderator you should close and delete this thread now so we all can retain some of our dignity.

:llama:

[Boreal.]

On my Dads side I am a 5th generation Texan(deep east texas/dallas), my mom moved to Houston from Pennsyvlania when she was 3 years old.. both have white european(German/english??) descent. I consider myself a Texan :)


I love Texas! thats cool :okay:

[nomarandlee]

irrelevant like this?




you take a very northern stance on the civil war, when the real cause was manifest destiny...



I take a very northern stance on the war? How is that, because I said that frankly slavery was an evil institution? Or that the south was in fact on the wrong side of history to fight a war to preserve it? I didn't figure that would be such a radical notion.

How was the war "Manifest destiny"? Are you serious or you getting seriously mixed up with the Mexican War.

[nomarandlee]

I think the point is not that they were Jewish, but that they were New Englanders and Europeans. I don't want to start an argument with you, but the causes of the civil war were numerous. Even the great emancipator himself, Abraham Lincoln was willing to allow slavery to remain if it would preserve the union. When the emancipation proclamation was announced it only freed the slaves in the confederacy, they weren’t freed in the slave states that remained with the union. When the importation of slaves was forbidden anywhere in the U.S. in the 1830’s, the slave traders simply started shipping them to Brazil. My point is that the bloodstains of slavery were on many hands and the notion that the civil war was fought only to eliminate slavery simply isn’t true. Besides it’s not like any of us wish that the slaves weren’t freed or even that the south had won.



80% of the war was due to the Republicans stance that slavery would not and in no condition should not spread to the new states to the west. The Republicans (even though most didn't agree with slavery) wanted to preserve the union but not at the cost of just making an institituion more widespread that they didn't morally agree with. All the talk about states right by the South and fighting to preserve the union in the north all boiled down basically to slavery. If there would have been no slavery or all slavery in the U.S. then the Civil War would not have gotten past the point of a glorified food fight between the South and North.
It was hysterical Southerners who wanted war and felt compelled to break away due to the fact they couldn't have their slavery respected in the western states and they feared that slavery would be banished sooner rather then later once the new free states would grow and oppisition to slavery would only grow.
If you want to call that "manifest destiny" to want new states not to follow an evil instition then so be it.
And I never said there were not elemants in the north that didn't participate and benefitt from the slave trade. Who in the heck would deny that? What that has to do with ANYTHING I have no idea though.

And I think most Southerners are glad the South didn't win and that slavery was abolished. Yet it seems some (and a few here) take a victem attitude and a "we were denied are place in the sun" stance for some whack job reason. Which I find as more sad then anything. I realise this is probably the more hard core fringe it is still pretty whacked to see though.

You should realise you were on the wrong side of history. That the north were not "barbariens" who raped your women on a mass scale like some kind of Huns like some here have tried to claim. That compared to places like Germany that reconstruction was a benign blip as painfull as it was.

[nomarandlee]

Dumb-ass thread. Yeesh

I don't think the major problem is the south stereotyping the north, but everywhere stereotyping the south. The south has a hell of a lot more to prove than New England.



I agree with that. And I find it as ignorant and distastefull when northerners (mainly hard core leftist) ridicule and demean Southerners.

The use of "hick" or "redneck" is far more of a stereotype with negative conotations then "Yankee". It stems from an arrogence and superiority and hypocrasy in the north by those who claim others should not judge and be tolerant. Most of the time it is said in jest and not as an all inclusive slight but it still should be said with far less derision and frequancy among certain northerners.

[great prairie]

:| .....

[nyxmike]

I agree with that. And I find it as ignorant and distastefull when northerners (mainly hard core leftist) ridicule and demean Southerners.

The use of "hick" or "redneck" is far more of a stereotype with negative conotations then "Yankee". It stems from an arrogence and superiority and hypocrasy in the north by those who claim others should not judge and be tolerant. Most of the time it is said in jest and not as an all inclusive slight but it still should be said with far less derision and frequancy among certain northerners.

Are you sure it's just northerners? That alone seems like a stereotype. Besides, however they feel, it's not stopping a lot of them from moving to the south. I believe most of the people moving to the south are from NY, NJ, OH, and CA, and they all love it. I hear plenty of people on the train saying how they want to move south - seems like a compliment to me..

[Shawn]

I use "red neck" all the time, but I'm talking about New Hampshire, not Alabama. The South doesnt have a monopoly on trailer trash!

[ROCguy]

^I hate living in the South and can't wait to move back North. Many people, especialy those like me, who moved here as kids and partially grew up here, feel the same way.... however, unlike the rest of the people like that, It's not Southern culture or Southerners that I really hate about the South; lol, it's my fellow relocated yankees. They are all yuppies who slam their hometowns all the time, and congregate here, thinking they have escaped all problems on earth. They are sprawling and sprawling more and more, increasing the decline of the areas they come from, and also depleating the culture of the areas they are relocating too. Again, it's not that I don't like Southern culture, it's just not my thing. Also, eventhough I have lived here for more than half of my life now, it has never felt like home.

[yoyoniner]

I believe most of the people moving to the south are from NY, NJ, OH, and CA, and they all love it.

They "all" love it? I know more than a few northerners who moved south, didn't like it, and moved back. I am one of them.

[atx001]

Why was this thread revived? This whole thing is childish and stupid.

If there is any smart moderator you should close and delete this thread now so we all can retain some of our dignity.



I'm afraid I'm going to have to change my opinion on this thread. Unfortunatly I found out, right after I wrote my opinion, that this may actually be a bigger problem then I thought it was. At first I thought this was just hearsay, but appearently I was proved wrong.

To see first hand, to the Philadelphia versus Atlanta thread in the city versus city section of the forum. Then go towards the bottom of the ninth page.

[ROCguy]

They "all" love it? I know more than a few northerners who moved south, didn't like it, and moved back. I am one of them.

Yeah, more or less. that's what my whole last post was about. lol. I guess I should and have been more blunt. But you said it right yoyoniner, I am soon to be onf of them too. I think the figure is somewhere between 20-25 percent of the people end up moving back to the North. I can't remember where I heard that, but I think they said that the most "moved back to" city was Pittsburgh. I know in Rochester, 4 neighbors of ours had moved around the same time we did, and are now all back, almost in the same neighborhood. There's so many cliche's that could be said... there's no place like home; the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence; you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

[atx001]

Read the last post.

[ROCguy]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to change my opinion on this thread. Unfortunatly I found out, right after I wrote my opinion, that this may actually be a bigger problem then I thought it was. At first I thought this was just hearsay, but appearently I was proved wrong.

To see first hand, to the Philadelphia versus Atlanta thread in the city versus city section of the forum. Then go towards the bottom of the ninth page.

What are we supposed to be looking for on that page?

[ROCguy]

Read the last post.

lol.

[TexasBoi]

Good lord. close this thread.

[samsonyuen]

People overseas call Americans in general Yankees as a derogative term too. I've heard the term "Cowboy job", as in a crappy job used here in the UK too.

[vindaloo]

Yes, I have often been heard calling an American a "Bloody Yank".

[LSyd]

yankee yankee yankee yankee yankee. happy? the guy who started this thread is a damned, dumb dirty yankee.

i love going overseas so i can call all my fellow countrymen "yanks."

-

[lancetop]

When I first moved to Seattle, a guy asked me if I was a Yankee. He was Canadian, and was asking if I was an American. I thought he was asking if I was from New York or Boston or Buffalo:) hee hee

But when I hear the word Yankee, it always makes me think of good old Fidel Castro....who blathers for hours about us Yanks!

I'm from N.C. and it's a real stretch to think of myself as a Yankee!!!! lol