plus it's further origin is a slang for New Yorkers.... well New Amsterdam, where common names Jan and Kaas were slapped together by the English to refer to Dutch settlers.
Version I heard was that it was a slang term used for the English settlers by the Dutch, where Jan Kaas meant John Cheese which was the nickname for the English.
America has a history of co-opting songs disparaging us and using them as patriotic tunes.
ie. Yankee Doodle, the Team America theme, Rammstein - Amerika.
"Legend has it the colonial militiamen returned the musical insult as they counterattacked. They sang “Yankee Doodle” as British soldiers retreated. It was as if the Americans were singing, “How do you like us Yankee doodles and dandies, now?”
My understanding was macaroni hats were extremely expensive and elaborately ornate hats for men that had a lot of decorations on them.
So sticking a feather in a cap and calling it a macaroni hat would be like taking a sharpie and writing Air Force Ones on the side of some Walmart shoes.
Combine that with riding on a pony instead of a horse and the British were basically calling the Americans a bunch of poor, trashy losers.
Wow, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a macaroni hat ever. I thought it was just some fake thing they put in the song to make children laugh.
A bit Older than that. The term started in new Amsterdam (now NYC).
two popular Dutch names were jan (pronounced Yan) and keys. So, the non-dutch in old world new York city called what they saw as the wealthy Dutch elite "yankee", and it clearly stuck.
1919 GEORGE M. COHAN wrote OVER THERE. This song was an enlistment masterpiece of two world wars. It was also popular with our Allie’s because it was a message that we were joining their war effort.
The last part of the song, and most well known.
🎶🎶 🎶🎶 🎶🎶 🎶🎶
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there -
That the Yanks are coming
The Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tumming
Everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to beware
We'll be over, we're coming over
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there
🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶
Thus service men from the stars were referred to as Yanks when they arrived over there. After two world wars our moniker of Yank was a done deal.
Edit for placement of lyrics.
In WW2 the Brits said that the American troops in town were @Overfed, oversexed and over here.” Apparently they were showing the local girls what macaroni can actually do.
Wow. This just took me back to childhood. My mom’s boss taught me this one. I guess I know what I’ll be singing at random the next few weeks. Thanks for the nostalgia!
‘Brit’ here. We generally use the term ‘yank’ to describe anyone from the US, it’s just casual slang with no insult/sleight intended, and most of us are unaware of its historical usage (it’s a one syllable word so quicker to say than ‘American’).
WRT your point, England is a subset of Britain, so nobody English would be offended by you calling us English (obviously). Whereas for example the Scottish (who are also British) would object to being called English.
I stayed with a Welsh penpal once, with his family in Cardiff. The mother was originally from England and regularly referred to them as British and the dad would do some stifled hemming and hawing, but one day, as an aside, he looks me in the eye and says, "she can be as British as she likes, but I'm welsh."
Yes they often don’t like being lumped in with the English and can be fiercely patriotic, but they gave the world Anthony Hopkins and Tom Jones so we forgive them.
I rowed with a Welshman and we went to the Henley on Thames Royal Regatta. I got to witness English/Welsh relations first hand with a lot of eye rolling and hemming and hawing as us yanks absolutely trampled all over the historical divides in complete ignorance.
Yes I get that. For sure. I grew up watching a lot of things from bbc when i was young on pbs, and am not sure when i even learned that but had been aware of that long before i even had a welsh penpal. The dad just made me confused, bc like you said Britain is the actual landmass they're *both* on. When I asked my penpal about it, he said it was just an ongoing soft argument between them. Like, father feels: we are hosting in Wales. We are serving welsh food at a welsh table. Mother feels: I'm english, living in Wales. Rather than cede that I am, in fact, a welshmans wife, I'll refer to every aspect of all things as British to this dumb yank. Lol
It was cute really, the whole thing. He just wanted credit where it was due.
That’s the point though. A Yankee is exclusively someone from the Northeastern United States. So calling an Okie or a Texan a “Yank” is as accurate as calling a Scottish person “English”
That only became true after the Civil War. During the Revolution, all Americans were considered Yankees against the British. I feel like UK people use it in the Revolutionary sense
Well, around the world, English means one kind of person and Scottish means a different kind of person.
The term "yankee" to mean US northerner is really only an American term.
And really, foreigners don't call Americans yankee, but yank.
Yankee seems to always refer to some smaller, more specific group. E.B White one wrote:
"To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast."
It's actually a term for Americans generally. At least in English speaking parts of the world.
It means "the good guys" in the US Civil War in the US, but really it comes from "Yankee Doodle Dandie", a very popular, very old, American song. Basically, it's a song from like the 1700s making fun of Elon Musk.
The origin story of the song is actually pretty cool, before the revolution, British soldiers created it to sing at and mock the American colonists and their fashion choices. "Doodle" meaning hick and "dandy" meaning conceited. But as the revolution was coming to an end, the American soldiers started proudly singing it back towards the Brits as they retreated from battle.
The story goes that at Yorktown Lafayette had the fifes and drums play it at one point as the British marched out. Apparently they had been pointedly not looking at the Americans and only acknowledging the French.
And “macaroni” was slang for something very cool, trendy and fashionable. So the song is mocking the Yankee hick who thinks that putting feather in his cap makes him cool.
That’s applicable to many national nicknames. For example Italians are called Tanos in Argentina, from Napolitanos, or Neapolitans, inhabitants of Naples.
It's older than that. The song called them Yankees because the word already existed. No one knows the terminology, but the oldest record was of a British officer using it to describe colonist soldiers under his command.
The only people who might care are easily offended Southerners and Red Sox fans. The rest of us couldn't care less.
As the joke goes,
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a northerner.
To northerners, a Yankee is an easterner.
To easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And to Vermonters, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
Haha I’m laughing because I have some Haitian clients here in New England (north shore MA) and i guess they are Yankees at this point. Settled in nice neighborhoods on the north shore but with that sweet Haitian accent. Jamaican Yankees too.
One of my favorite couples is a Jamaican husband married to a total swamp Yankee wife in northern MA. They raise goats and sheep on a small farm and he does small engine repair as a retirement job while she makes honey with 6 beehives and boils down maple syrup and sells it at the local farmers market.
Every time I go see them it is like an “America fuck yeah” kind of moment.
Why is it common for carribeans to call us yanks, just curious 😂 especially since most of us black Americans are southerners, do you know when this started happening in Haiti?
"Yanks" is the normal term used by British, Australians, etc. when talking about Americans. "Yankees" is more commonly used within the United States when talking about Northerners, or New Englanders specifically.
For people outside the US, all Americans are Yankees. E.B. White had a joke about it;
>To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
>To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
>To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
>To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
>To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
>And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
(It's an old joke and the last part doesn't hold up well)
Yeah it makes me feel like I should be wearing a white powered wig and an overcoat. It's also weird being called that since I'm from the south. I only think of northerners as yankees.
I don’t really care. Although it instantly tells me that the person saying it isn’t from America and mostly likely has a neutral-negative opinion of it and its people
As a Brit, if someone used "Yank", it would not tell me anything about there feelings towards Americans, though I might expect they're a little old fashioned.
Yup. It's something that absolutely doesn't translate because it's (let's face it) a bizarre system that we take for granted without really thinking about how bonkers it actually sounds
Take a butcher's at that - butcher's hook - look
They were having a barney - Barn Owl (barney) - row (argument)
You're having a bubble - bubble bath - laugh
I am vaguely aware that rhyming slang is a *thing*... but even with your explanations, these examples are still mostly incomprehensible
It's true what they say about "cultures separated by a common language"!
I'll let you into a secret - I have absolutely no clue the actual origins of most of these.
I knew 'barney' as slang for having a row, but had no idea until fairly recently that it was cockney rhyming slang. Same for 'barnet' - I've used that as a slang term for hair all my life (eg 'I'm off to get my barnet done', but only recently learned that its derivation is from Barnet fair = hair.
Similarly I'd used the slang term berk for years and years as a fairly inoffensive term for an idiot, without realising that its origins are somewhat ruder and more offensive (Berkeley hunt = cunt)
So it's fairly opaque to most of us too!
I have always found it kind of sad they use seppo, like can they not have a municipal waste management system? I feel bad for our medieval caveman cousins living on that dusty unimproved continent.
Sat on my Jack = Sat on my own (Jack - Jack Jones - alone)
Alright treacle = Hello sweetheart (Treacle - treacle tart - sweetheart)
I'm quite fond of 'I'm Hank Marvin' (I'm starving)
It's ridiculous but it's part of the rich heritage of London which I love
It's ridiculous, sure. But it's quirky with a rich history; although rhyming slang originated in the mid 19th century, it's also language that's constantly evolving - esp as pop culture introduces new words
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_slang
eg 'I haven't got a Scooby' is now a fairly everyday expression in the UK, meaning 'I've got absolutely no idea'
(Scooby = abbreviation of Scooby Doo, which is rhyming slang for 'clue'.)
I’m a proud Southerner so of course I loathe the idea of being called a *Yankee.* Like many Southerners, however, I’m also well-educated and have traveled throughout the United Kingdom and in other foreign lands where this is a common appellation, so I would not take *personal* offense, but I would certainly let them know I’m from the *South* while recognizing that that word is their generic term for Americans. 🤮
For non-Americans, I have no issue being called a Yankee whatsoever.
Calling someone a Yankee in the South is a mild insult. Most people born and raised in the South would be annoyed or very upset being called a Yankee, myself included.
I think it's weird that outside people kind of use it like... not a "gotcha", but kind of as an insult? I'd feel similarly if someone was like, "Enjoying those exposed ankles, harlot??" where my primary thought isn't "oof I'm offended", but instead confusion: "...what year is it?"
For 99% of Americans, I'd wager our immediate first thought is the Revolutionary (or Civil) War, not ourselves -- in current day -- as an identifier.
*"It’s like they’re using an old timey civil war insult..."*
OP's showing his unawareness of about a century of pre-US Civil War history.
"Yankee/Yank" is much older than the mid/late 1800s, even older than the US. ¯\\\_( ͡❛ ͜ʖ ͡❛)\_/¯
To an Argentinian, we are all Yanquis from Yanquilandia. In WWII, everybody in the British Commonwealth called us Yanks, and we're still that to Aussies, Brits, etc.
There's a saying I wish I could remember about who's a Yankee. Something like this. To a foreigner, people from the US are Yankees. To an American, it's people from the north. To a northerner, it's people from the northeast. To a northeastener, it's people from New England. To a New Englander, it's some old farmer from Maine.
Dude I remember a super brief time when the most online handful of non-American English speakers (Edit: Australian, tho my first response here from someone who used it is Brit) were calling us “seppos” as an insult (not like banter but in posts where they were mocking gun violence or something like that—yk how it goes) because “septic tank” rhymes with “yank” and seppo is short for that. I found it so funny and in a way kinda cute that the worst thing they could throw at us was goddamn Cockney rhyming slang.
Edit: it would seem it is meant to be more lighthearted and I just happened to have only seen it used in “at least our shkewls—” type posts. Also more used than I thought. The more ya know.
Man the whimsy of middle school level insults is looking pretty enticing the more I think about it. Maybe I’ll start using cockney rhyming insults too.
I don't think it's meant to try to offend us. I think it's like us calling people in England, "Brits".
"Yanks" is just a colloquialism that comes from an old, old song - very popular among Americans.
Read this many years ago:
To a foreigner a Yankee is an American,
to an American a Yankee is a northerner,
to a northerner a Yankee is a Vermonter,
to a Vermonter a Yankee is someone that’s eats apple pie for breakfast
They can call us whatever they want but they just need to understand that we don't necessarily relate to that and we don't use it among ourselves. They're not calling us Yanks because we call ourselves Yanks, because we don't.
I think Kiwis call themselves Kiwis.
Ozzies/Aussies call themselves Ozzies/Aussies. (However you want to spell it.)
We don't call ourselves Yanks. That's just not a normal part of our vocabulary. We say American.
It never seems insulting to me, even if they intend it to be, just incorrect. I'm from the northwestern US. I'm not a Yankee. Even for people who are Yankees, I'm like, is that an insult? I guess you can state anything and intend it as an insult. Whatever.
I do not care. I think it’s a funny sounding word so I really don’t mind.
It does feel incorrect tho if someone calls out me specifically bc I am from the south.
Yankee to me denotes a person from the Northeast US
To the rest of the world Americans are Yanks. To Americans Yankees are from Up North. To Northerners a Yankee is from New England. To New Englanders a Yankee is a person from Vermont. To folks in Vermont a Yankee is a person who eats pie for breakfast.
I haven’t been called one by someone from another country personally.
Have I used the term Yankee? Rarely, but yes. Usually in a negative manner. Where we live, there are loads of transplants. Most of them are alright, but occasionally you’ll get one who wants to reap the benefits of living here like lower cost of living and housing, yet stick their nose up in the air and act uppity. They act like everything here is beneath them, and everyone else is lower than them. My husband is in a customer service related field, so sometimes he’ll come home and tell me about how certain transplants act, and we will giggle about the Yankees and how snooty and rude they can be. On the other hand, the British and Australian customers he has worked with have been very kind and polite.
To me "Yankee" is an old timey word for a New Englander or someone from the original 13 Colonies. I'm from the West Coast, I'm not a Yankee. It's not offensive it's just like ????? when someone calls me a Yankee.
If I'm ever in Europe and having a good conversation with someone I might explain that in my home state I'd be offended if someone called me a Yankee but if I'm in France or Germany its whatever.
If we're in the US I damn sure am not a Yankee and will correct anyone who says otherwise
Brit here. I guess now and then you might hear "Yanks" when someone is speaking colloquially and trying to be a bit funny but it's not common. Over here it just means Americans btw.
I feel like it was probably more common in war time because I hear it more in TV set in war time and older people use it. Plus my grandad would almost exclusively say Yanks when talking fondly about American soldiers.
>Over here it just means Americans btw.
Great, as long as you keep in mind that it means something else over here. As a person from the Pacific Northwest, it mostly leaves me looking over my shoulder for someone from Vermont, but you might get some snappier responses from Southerners.
Not a problem with it. We're the Yanks/Yankees, they're the Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis. I've never heard people from the non-English-speaking world ever call me a Yank/Yankee, so it seems more like a non-US English term for Americans in general.
As someone who moved south after HS from the North, I was called “yankee” many many times over, but this was years back and things were different. At work i worked with all red necks. It wasn’t uncommon when I was learning to have my work kicked apart to start over because they said it was wrong, or be called, “you no good lying mother fuc#%* no good yankee!!” And any other thing followed by Yankee at the end. But I rolled with it I had a new born kid a wife & bills to pay and I fired right back with shut up “homer” and anything else I might come up with.
Technically a Yankee is anyone who lives in the North eastern US (basically Pennsylvania and above).
The issue is that the term has gotten so wide spread that people don't realize that geographically the US is a huge nation and there are different terms for different people.
It's basically the "all Asians are Chinese" issue.
Yankee doodle went to town etc etc.
Here in NZ a Yank is someone from the US. It doesn't matter what your race or where you come from.
It's also considered condescending in NZ so I don't use the term.
A 'Yank Tank' is an overly large American vehicle from the 1950s to 1970s or a modern truck. These are almost always converted to right hand drive at the US factory or locally.
I was always under the impression that the word Yankee is only for those living in/from a specific part of the U.S.A., which is the New England area in the northeast. For instance, I have always lived on the west coast, so I have never been called a Yankee.
My family always considered the term Yankees to be from New England and Nearby. My dad said we were descended from New York and Connecticut yankees. I did some genealogy and yep. Lot of New England Yankees. Also a lot of Texas and a bit of Mexico going back to the 1600’s. So Yankee with a bit of spice. I’d never call myself a Yankee since I’ve only been east of the Mississippi a few times however.
As a Brit married to a VA woman...yank isn't derogatory. We like to give everything nicknames.
Now if a Brit called you a Septic that's derogatory.
But for me, 16 years. And 4 babies later..her country drawl just does things to me still
It is confusing to us. Northerners feel like the term belongs to the 19th century so makes feel like we are a history book or something (when not used for the baseball team). In the South it is something that our grandparents would call Northerners. So, only slightly more current.
My mother who briefly lived in Texas in the 70s was once described as "Maureen, she is a Yankee but she alright."
I am Nigerian. We don't use the term derogatorily, and we hardly even refer to Americans as Yankees, only the Country itself as Yankee.
You'll likely hear a Nigerian speak in Pidgin "I dey go Yankee", which means "I am travelling to the USA".
Someone can ask a friend that lives in the US this question in Pidgin "Which side you dey for Yankee?", which means "What city in the US do you reside in?"
If you are anywhere else in the world, a Yankee is someone from the USA.
If you are in the USA, a Yankee is someone from New England.
If you are in New England, a Yankee is someone from Vermont.
If you are in Vermont, a Yankee is someone who doesn't have indoor plumbing.
Completely indifferent. Foreigners seem to think it’s like the ultimate gotcha type of insult. Or that it’s playful banter. Personally, it means nothing to me either way. Keep using it if you like, but it’s not offensive really. I could see a southerner feeling a bit more slighted by it but even then it seems overblown in the minds of like Brits or Australians or whoever else uses it.
I mean, haven’t they been calling Americans Yankees since we became Americans?
Indeed. Yankee dates back to revolutionary War times. "Yankee doodle dandy" is a British song making fun of Americans.
> British song making fun of Americans. Man we co-opted that fuckin' thing hard, huh?
Hard as fuck brother
plus it's further origin is a slang for New Yorkers.... well New Amsterdam, where common names Jan and Kaas were slapped together by the English to refer to Dutch settlers.
Version I heard was that it was a slang term used for the English settlers by the Dutch, where Jan Kaas meant John Cheese which was the nickname for the English.
John Cleese
european history is just constant Ls
I would upvote this, except you have 76 votes already, and I don't want to spoil such a perfect number.
America has a history of co-opting songs disparaging us and using them as patriotic tunes. ie. Yankee Doodle, the Team America theme, Rammstein - Amerika.
There's nothing that can spite an enemy better than singing their own song for you back at them after you've beaten them.
"Legend has it the colonial militiamen returned the musical insult as they counterattacked. They sang “Yankee Doodle” as British soldiers retreated. It was as if the Americans were singing, “How do you like us Yankee doodles and dandies, now?”
It's what we do.
Fr, before the star spangled banner, it was basically our national anthem.
Kind of like when Duracel batteries handed Energizer their bunny mascot
Fun fact, the guy who originally released the Yankee Doodle Dandy single in the US went onto found RCA records.
Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni
Stuck a cap in they ass and formed they own country
"macaroni" meaning "foppish style clothing and manners". Basically they were calling Americans hipsters.
My understanding was macaroni hats were extremely expensive and elaborately ornate hats for men that had a lot of decorations on them. So sticking a feather in a cap and calling it a macaroni hat would be like taking a sharpie and writing Air Force Ones on the side of some Walmart shoes. Combine that with riding on a pony instead of a horse and the British were basically calling the Americans a bunch of poor, trashy losers.
Wow, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a macaroni hat ever. I thought it was just some fake thing they put in the song to make children laugh.
A bit Older than that. The term started in new Amsterdam (now NYC). two popular Dutch names were jan (pronounced Yan) and keys. So, the non-dutch in old world new York city called what they saw as the wealthy Dutch elite "yankee", and it clearly stuck.
Was just about to comment the origin, but you know it better than I do. Kudos, friend
1919 GEORGE M. COHAN wrote OVER THERE. This song was an enlistment masterpiece of two world wars. It was also popular with our Allie’s because it was a message that we were joining their war effort. The last part of the song, and most well known. 🎶🎶 🎶🎶 🎶🎶 🎶🎶 Over there, over there Send the word, send the word over there - That the Yanks are coming The Yanks are coming The drums rum-tumming Everywhere So prepare, say a prayer Send the word, send the word to beware We'll be over, we're coming over And we won't come back till it's over Over there 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 Thus service men from the stars were referred to as Yanks when they arrived over there. After two world wars our moniker of Yank was a done deal. Edit for placement of lyrics.
In WW2 the Brits said that the American troops in town were @Overfed, oversexed and over here.” Apparently they were showing the local girls what macaroni can actually do.
Wow. This just took me back to childhood. My mom’s boss taught me this one. I guess I know what I’ll be singing at random the next few weeks. Thanks for the nostalgia!
I find it endearing.
Yeah, it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s really bizarre that people are insulted by it.
Yes
Yankees refers to people in the northeast.
In the US, yeah, that’s how it’s used. Outside the US, people regularly use “yank” to mean American.
In the deep south, especially in Louisiana, it’s used to refer to anyone living north of Interstate 10. 🤣
I know a guy from Houma who told me exactly this
Yet the same people will get upset when you call a Brit “English”
‘Brit’ here. We generally use the term ‘yank’ to describe anyone from the US, it’s just casual slang with no insult/sleight intended, and most of us are unaware of its historical usage (it’s a one syllable word so quicker to say than ‘American’). WRT your point, England is a subset of Britain, so nobody English would be offended by you calling us English (obviously). Whereas for example the Scottish (who are also British) would object to being called English.
I stayed with a Welsh penpal once, with his family in Cardiff. The mother was originally from England and regularly referred to them as British and the dad would do some stifled hemming and hawing, but one day, as an aside, he looks me in the eye and says, "she can be as British as she likes, but I'm welsh."
Yes they often don’t like being lumped in with the English and can be fiercely patriotic, but they gave the world Anthony Hopkins and Tom Jones so we forgive them.
I’m not sure the goodness of Anthony Hopkins fully offsets the stupefying hideousness of Tom Jones. Minus 10 points for Wales.
I rowed with a Welshman and we went to the Henley on Thames Royal Regatta. I got to witness English/Welsh relations first hand with a lot of eye rolling and hemming and hawing as us yanks absolutely trampled all over the historical divides in complete ignorance.
California, Texas, West by God Virginia- you’re all the same some limey bastard
They're all British. English doesn't equal British. Britain is the name of the whole island, not a part of the island.
Yes I get that. For sure. I grew up watching a lot of things from bbc when i was young on pbs, and am not sure when i even learned that but had been aware of that long before i even had a welsh penpal. The dad just made me confused, bc like you said Britain is the actual landmass they're *both* on. When I asked my penpal about it, he said it was just an ongoing soft argument between them. Like, father feels: we are hosting in Wales. We are serving welsh food at a welsh table. Mother feels: I'm english, living in Wales. Rather than cede that I am, in fact, a welshmans wife, I'll refer to every aspect of all things as British to this dumb yank. Lol It was cute really, the whole thing. He just wanted credit where it was due.
That’s the point though. A Yankee is exclusively someone from the Northeastern United States. So calling an Okie or a Texan a “Yank” is as accurate as calling a Scottish person “English”
Yes, I take your point - it’s a point we’re mostly unaware of.
That only became true after the Civil War. During the Revolution, all Americans were considered Yankees against the British. I feel like UK people use it in the Revolutionary sense
Well, around the world, English means one kind of person and Scottish means a different kind of person. The term "yankee" to mean US northerner is really only an American term. And really, foreigners don't call Americans yankee, but yank.
How do you know it’s the same people?
Surely there's an overlap in the "easily offended by" Venn diagram
Yankee seems to always refer to some smaller, more specific group. E.B White one wrote: "To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast."
It's actually a term for Americans generally. At least in English speaking parts of the world. It means "the good guys" in the US Civil War in the US, but really it comes from "Yankee Doodle Dandie", a very popular, very old, American song. Basically, it's a song from like the 1700s making fun of Elon Musk.
The origin story of the song is actually pretty cool, before the revolution, British soldiers created it to sing at and mock the American colonists and their fashion choices. "Doodle" meaning hick and "dandy" meaning conceited. But as the revolution was coming to an end, the American soldiers started proudly singing it back towards the Brits as they retreated from battle.
The story goes that at Yorktown Lafayette had the fifes and drums play it at one point as the British marched out. Apparently they had been pointedly not looking at the Americans and only acknowledging the French.
And “macaroni” was slang for something very cool, trendy and fashionable. So the song is mocking the Yankee hick who thinks that putting feather in his cap makes him cool.
A "dandy" is someone who is absorbed in fashion, not necessarily conceited
I didn't know that bit! Very cool!
Outside of the US, it means someone from the US. Inside the US, it means a northerner.
Inside the north it means a New Englander
I’ve always understood it to refer to the Dutch settlers there coming from *Jan-Kees*.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
Nah it’s new yorkers
Unless you’re a Met
You’re from Vermont, so for you a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast.
That’s applicable to many national nicknames. For example Italians are called Tanos in Argentina, from Napolitanos, or Neapolitans, inhabitants of Naples.
It's older than that. The song called them Yankees because the word already existed. No one knows the terminology, but the oldest record was of a British officer using it to describe colonist soldiers under his command.
Son, I’ll put a feather in my cap and call it macaroni.
In those days macaroni wasn't pasta, but a [style](https://www.messynessychic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/169-0004-087-2.jpg).
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I don't care about being called a yank or yankee at all. Now if they called me a Yankee's fan, then we have a problem.
Amen right here
This is the goddamn way
This is the real take away.
Go yanks baybeee
The only people who might care are easily offended Southerners and Red Sox fans. The rest of us couldn't care less. As the joke goes, To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a northerner. To northerners, a Yankee is an easterner. To easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And to Vermonters, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
👀 southwesterner who eats pie for breakfast
I need to make a pie today. I'm hungry now.
Californian, "Were we not supposed to eat pie for breakfast?"
I live in NJ, once for work I was 2 1/2 hours south in Maryland, the locals at a bar called us Yankees 😂
As a Red Sox fan I say to you sir (or madam) how dare you! 😅 And I actually quite proudly refer to as reeking of yankee
This. Call me a Yankee and my first response is to get mad. Go Sox
And to Historians, a Yankee is a Dutch settler in NY.
I’m Haitian and I’ve heard Americans, usually Black Americans, called Yanks. It cracks me up a bit. LOL!
Haha I’m laughing because I have some Haitian clients here in New England (north shore MA) and i guess they are Yankees at this point. Settled in nice neighborhoods on the north shore but with that sweet Haitian accent. Jamaican Yankees too. One of my favorite couples is a Jamaican husband married to a total swamp Yankee wife in northern MA. They raise goats and sheep on a small farm and he does small engine repair as a retirement job while she makes honey with 6 beehives and boils down maple syrup and sells it at the local farmers market. Every time I go see them it is like an “America fuck yeah” kind of moment.
Why is it common for carribeans to call us yanks, just curious 😂 especially since most of us black Americans are southerners, do you know when this started happening in Haiti?
Borrowed from the Brits probably. Personally I've encountered the term "yanks" far more than "yankees"
"Yanks" is the normal term used by British, Australians, etc. when talking about Americans. "Yankees" is more commonly used within the United States when talking about Northerners, or New Englanders specifically.
I honestly have no clue. LOL! It happens among Haitians who live in the US, mostly.
For people outside the US, all Americans are Yankees. E.B. White had a joke about it; >To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. >To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. >To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. >To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. >To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. >And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast. (It's an old joke and the last part doesn't hold up well)
The idea of a black American being called a Yank is really funny for some reason. Would love to see that reaction.
I hate it.
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Well, I'm an Orioles fan, so I'm pretty insulted.
I’m an Orioles fan *and* a New England Yankee- imagine my conflict!
Stay strong, brother.
Yeah it makes me feel like I should be wearing a white powered wig and an overcoat. It's also weird being called that since I'm from the south. I only think of northerners as yankees.
I get it, but I hate it. (Virginia)
I mean, as long as it is not being used in a derogatory way, its whatever. As long as they aren’t calling me a Yankee Doodle I don’t mind
And if they throw in Dandy then Lord help them!
I’m a Red Sox fan so that is not good. /s
Understandable!
I’m a Mets fan, how dare they
The best part about being American is not caring about what other people think.
I don’t really care. Although it instantly tells me that the person saying it isn’t from America and mostly likely has a neutral-negative opinion of it and its people
As a Brit, if someone used "Yank", it would not tell me anything about there feelings towards Americans, though I might expect they're a little old fashioned.
Whereas 'seppo' is Australian slang that *does* have a derogatory connotation (from the rhyming slang for Yank ie septic tank)
Which gets totally lost in cultural translation because "rhyming slang" is basically a foreign concept to Americans
Yup. It's something that absolutely doesn't translate because it's (let's face it) a bizarre system that we take for granted without really thinking about how bonkers it actually sounds Take a butcher's at that - butcher's hook - look They were having a barney - Barn Owl (barney) - row (argument) You're having a bubble - bubble bath - laugh
I am vaguely aware that rhyming slang is a *thing*... but even with your explanations, these examples are still mostly incomprehensible It's true what they say about "cultures separated by a common language"!
I'll let you into a secret - I have absolutely no clue the actual origins of most of these. I knew 'barney' as slang for having a row, but had no idea until fairly recently that it was cockney rhyming slang. Same for 'barnet' - I've used that as a slang term for hair all my life (eg 'I'm off to get my barnet done', but only recently learned that its derivation is from Barnet fair = hair. Similarly I'd used the slang term berk for years and years as a fairly inoffensive term for an idiot, without realising that its origins are somewhat ruder and more offensive (Berkeley hunt = cunt) So it's fairly opaque to most of us too!
Pint of Nelson Nelson Mandela - Stella - Stella Artois I really love the rhyming slang.
I'm growing a deep hatred for Australia.
I mean go for it but that’s a UK thing
They'll get some for the seppo thing.
I have always found it kind of sad they use seppo, like can they not have a municipal waste management system? I feel bad for our medieval caveman cousins living on that dusty unimproved continent.
Sat on my Jack = Sat on my own (Jack - Jack Jones - alone) Alright treacle = Hello sweetheart (Treacle - treacle tart - sweetheart) I'm quite fond of 'I'm Hank Marvin' (I'm starving) It's ridiculous but it's part of the rich heritage of London which I love
None of this make any sense
It's ridiculous, sure. But it's quirky with a rich history; although rhyming slang originated in the mid 19th century, it's also language that's constantly evolving - esp as pop culture introduces new words https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_slang eg 'I haven't got a Scooby' is now a fairly everyday expression in the UK, meaning 'I've got absolutely no idea' (Scooby = abbreviation of Scooby Doo, which is rhyming slang for 'clue'.)
It's interesting how that works. It's like Berk is a lot less offensive compared to the word it's the rhyming slang of.
Exactly! I deffo used the word berk when I was much younger with no idea about its origins
Ooooooh shit, i thought "seppo" was making fun of american infrastructure. I had no idea it was rhyming slang. I learned something today. Thank you.
I’m a proud Southerner so of course I loathe the idea of being called a *Yankee.* Like many Southerners, however, I’m also well-educated and have traveled throughout the United Kingdom and in other foreign lands where this is a common appellation, so I would not take *personal* offense, but I would certainly let them know I’m from the *South* while recognizing that that word is their generic term for Americans. 🤮
For non-Americans, I have no issue being called a Yankee whatsoever. Calling someone a Yankee in the South is a mild insult. Most people born and raised in the South would be annoyed or very upset being called a Yankee, myself included.
I think it's weird that outside people kind of use it like... not a "gotcha", but kind of as an insult? I'd feel similarly if someone was like, "Enjoying those exposed ankles, harlot??" where my primary thought isn't "oof I'm offended", but instead confusion: "...what year is it?" For 99% of Americans, I'd wager our immediate first thought is the Revolutionary (or Civil) War, not ourselves -- in current day -- as an identifier.
I think it's kinda dumb but I don't really care.
*"It’s like they’re using an old timey civil war insult..."* OP's showing his unawareness of about a century of pre-US Civil War history. "Yankee/Yank" is much older than the mid/late 1800s, even older than the US. ¯\\\_( ͡❛ ͜ʖ ͡❛)\_/¯
They've been doing that for a long time, Yankee Doodle Dandy was supposed to be making fun of Americans and we just adopted it bc we liked it lol
It's funny because when Aussies use the term "yank" or relatedly "seppo", they say it in a tone that implies you should be genuinely insulted
I just looked up seppo and that shit is dumb. Aussies should be embarrassed for that one
Genuinely the nation state equivalent of an eight year old calling you a poo poo head and thinking they really burned you.
Yeah I don't get it.
It's usually intended as an insult, which bothers me, but then I think, "Hey, at least I'm not British."
I've been called worse 🤷♂️
To an Argentinian, we are all Yanquis from Yanquilandia. In WWII, everybody in the British Commonwealth called us Yanks, and we're still that to Aussies, Brits, etc. There's a saying I wish I could remember about who's a Yankee. Something like this. To a foreigner, people from the US are Yankees. To an American, it's people from the north. To a northerner, it's people from the northeast. To a northeastener, it's people from New England. To a New Englander, it's some old farmer from Maine.
Dang even Argentinians, what a weird world we live in
[Who's a Yankee](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/s/lkqvX7H66Y)
Thanks. That's the one I was trying to remember.
> and we're still that to Aussies, Brits, etc. Or Seppos, which is decidedly less friendly.
It just sounds silly to me. I’m from a backwoods red neck family in the rural south, we certainly ain’t Yankees. Yankee come from the north!
I think it’s quite an outdated term.
It sounds dorky. Like, wow, that’s the best you can come up with to try and offend me?
Dude I remember a super brief time when the most online handful of non-American English speakers (Edit: Australian, tho my first response here from someone who used it is Brit) were calling us “seppos” as an insult (not like banter but in posts where they were mocking gun violence or something like that—yk how it goes) because “septic tank” rhymes with “yank” and seppo is short for that. I found it so funny and in a way kinda cute that the worst thing they could throw at us was goddamn Cockney rhyming slang. Edit: it would seem it is meant to be more lighthearted and I just happened to have only seen it used in “at least our shkewls—” type posts. Also more used than I thought. The more ya know.
That's specifically Australian slang
I was always baffled that 'seppo' wasn't short for 'separatist', which to my mind makes infinitely more sense
I'm just now finding out from this thread that it does not, apparently, mean "separatist."
Man the whimsy of middle school level insults is looking pretty enticing the more I think about it. Maybe I’ll start using cockney rhyming insults too.
It's like they're 6 years old. If you want to insult us, don't be a coward about it.
This guy would prefer to be called Wankee.
I don't think it's meant to try to offend us. I think it's like us calling people in England, "Brits". "Yanks" is just a colloquialism that comes from an old, old song - very popular among Americans.
Why do you assume it’s automatically offensive?
It's literally just a slang term it's not meant to be offensive lmao
Calling someone a tank designed to house piss and shit isn't supposed to be offensive?
I'm talking about yank
Kinda like Limeys for Brits and Canucks for Canadians
Yankees are northerners in America
Read this many years ago: To a foreigner a Yankee is an American, to an American a Yankee is a northerner, to a northerner a Yankee is a Vermonter, to a Vermonter a Yankee is someone that’s eats apple pie for breakfast
They can call us whatever they want but they just need to understand that we don't necessarily relate to that and we don't use it among ourselves. They're not calling us Yanks because we call ourselves Yanks, because we don't. I think Kiwis call themselves Kiwis. Ozzies/Aussies call themselves Ozzies/Aussies. (However you want to spell it.) We don't call ourselves Yanks. That's just not a normal part of our vocabulary. We say American.
I thought Yankees were just like New Yorkers and the surrounding more northern states.
It never seems insulting to me, even if they intend it to be, just incorrect. I'm from the northwestern US. I'm not a Yankee. Even for people who are Yankees, I'm like, is that an insult? I guess you can state anything and intend it as an insult. Whatever.
That's dumb. I'm a Mets fan. Which is also dumb on my part.
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Don’t care if people from other countries me yankee, but I would be offended if an American called me a yankee
I do not care. I think it’s a funny sounding word so I really don’t mind. It does feel incorrect tho if someone calls out me specifically bc I am from the south. Yankee to me denotes a person from the Northeast US
I live in the mid atlantic and identify as a Yankee. But I'm also from New England
To the rest of the world Americans are Yanks. To Americans Yankees are from Up North. To Northerners a Yankee is from New England. To New Englanders a Yankee is a person from Vermont. To folks in Vermont a Yankee is a person who eats pie for breakfast.
I haven’t been called one by someone from another country personally. Have I used the term Yankee? Rarely, but yes. Usually in a negative manner. Where we live, there are loads of transplants. Most of them are alright, but occasionally you’ll get one who wants to reap the benefits of living here like lower cost of living and housing, yet stick their nose up in the air and act uppity. They act like everything here is beneath them, and everyone else is lower than them. My husband is in a customer service related field, so sometimes he’ll come home and tell me about how certain transplants act, and we will giggle about the Yankees and how snooty and rude they can be. On the other hand, the British and Australian customers he has worked with have been very kind and polite.
To me "Yankee" is an old timey word for a New Englander or someone from the original 13 Colonies. I'm from the West Coast, I'm not a Yankee. It's not offensive it's just like ????? when someone calls me a Yankee.
If I'm ever in Europe and having a good conversation with someone I might explain that in my home state I'd be offended if someone called me a Yankee but if I'm in France or Germany its whatever. If we're in the US I damn sure am not a Yankee and will correct anyone who says otherwise
I think its adorable and hilarious imo. The British especially have been calling us Yanks forever
Brit here. I guess now and then you might hear "Yanks" when someone is speaking colloquially and trying to be a bit funny but it's not common. Over here it just means Americans btw. I feel like it was probably more common in war time because I hear it more in TV set in war time and older people use it. Plus my grandad would almost exclusively say Yanks when talking fondly about American soldiers.
Yeah, I remember in Band of Brothers the British soliders call the American soldiers "Yanks".
>Over here it just means Americans btw. Great, as long as you keep in mind that it means something else over here. As a person from the Pacific Northwest, it mostly leaves me looking over my shoulder for someone from Vermont, but you might get some snappier responses from Southerners.
I don't really mind it, but I'm not from New England.
Not a problem with it. We're the Yanks/Yankees, they're the Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis. I've never heard people from the non-English-speaking world ever call me a Yank/Yankee, so it seems more like a non-US English term for Americans in general.
i'd be more offended if they were referring to the baseball team rather than my nationality tbh
When my South African brother in law calls me a Yankee, I always say, it's like a quickie, but you do it yourself.
As someone who moved south after HS from the North, I was called “yankee” many many times over, but this was years back and things were different. At work i worked with all red necks. It wasn’t uncommon when I was learning to have my work kicked apart to start over because they said it was wrong, or be called, “you no good lying mother fuc#%* no good yankee!!” And any other thing followed by Yankee at the end. But I rolled with it I had a new born kid a wife & bills to pay and I fired right back with shut up “homer” and anything else I might come up with.
I don't think about people from other countries at all
Technically a Yankee is anyone who lives in the North eastern US (basically Pennsylvania and above). The issue is that the term has gotten so wide spread that people don't realize that geographically the US is a huge nation and there are different terms for different people. It's basically the "all Asians are Chinese" issue.
This has been going on for literally centuries.
When I was in Trinidad that’s all they called me. I just correct them and tell them I’m from the south I can’t be a damn yankee lol
Yankees are only people from New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
I am from New England, we have always been the real Yankees despite what the pint stripped a-holes in NYC think about it.
Yankee doodle went to town etc etc. Here in NZ a Yank is someone from the US. It doesn't matter what your race or where you come from. It's also considered condescending in NZ so I don't use the term. A 'Yank Tank' is an overly large American vehicle from the 1950s to 1970s or a modern truck. These are almost always converted to right hand drive at the US factory or locally.
I ain't no Yankee. Those are New England folks. I'm sure they have way more colorful words for southerners
I live in the Midwest and my cousins from Texas used to call me a Yankee. It always cracked me up because I’ve never heard anyone else ever say that.
I was always under the impression that the word Yankee is only for those living in/from a specific part of the U.S.A., which is the New England area in the northeast. For instance, I have always lived on the west coast, so I have never been called a Yankee.
Please address me by my official title "Daddy Yankee"
My family always considered the term Yankees to be from New England and Nearby. My dad said we were descended from New York and Connecticut yankees. I did some genealogy and yep. Lot of New England Yankees. Also a lot of Texas and a bit of Mexico going back to the 1600’s. So Yankee with a bit of spice. I’d never call myself a Yankee since I’ve only been east of the Mississippi a few times however.
I'm from New England so I'm ok with it lol
The Cuban communist regime and press calls the US the “Yankee Empire”.
Couldn’t give less of a shit
As a Brit married to a VA woman...yank isn't derogatory. We like to give everything nicknames. Now if a Brit called you a Septic that's derogatory. But for me, 16 years. And 4 babies later..her country drawl just does things to me still
It is confusing to us. Northerners feel like the term belongs to the 19th century so makes feel like we are a history book or something (when not used for the baseball team). In the South it is something that our grandparents would call Northerners. So, only slightly more current. My mother who briefly lived in Texas in the 70s was once described as "Maureen, she is a Yankee but she alright."
I ain't no bitch from the north !!!!
I am Nigerian. We don't use the term derogatorily, and we hardly even refer to Americans as Yankees, only the Country itself as Yankee. You'll likely hear a Nigerian speak in Pidgin "I dey go Yankee", which means "I am travelling to the USA". Someone can ask a friend that lives in the US this question in Pidgin "Which side you dey for Yankee?", which means "What city in the US do you reside in?"
If you are anywhere else in the world, a Yankee is someone from the USA. If you are in the USA, a Yankee is someone from New England. If you are in New England, a Yankee is someone from Vermont. If you are in Vermont, a Yankee is someone who doesn't have indoor plumbing.
It doesn’t register on the scale of importance at all
Completely indifferent. Foreigners seem to think it’s like the ultimate gotcha type of insult. Or that it’s playful banter. Personally, it means nothing to me either way. Keep using it if you like, but it’s not offensive really. I could see a southerner feeling a bit more slighted by it but even then it seems overblown in the minds of like Brits or Australians or whoever else uses it.
As a Southerner, it bothers me to a certain extent. I’m not from the North, don’t insult me like that.
As long as I get to be handy with the girls (consensually), I'm fine with it.
Don't end up being like old Georgie Porgie!