Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site im4u.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!ut-sally!im4u!jsq From: jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman) Newsgroups: net.politics,net.nlang Subject: Re: Re: One for our side Message-ID: <624@im4u.UUCP> Date: Sat, 9-Nov-85 10:44:11 EST Article-I.D.: im4u.624 Posted: Sat Nov 9 10:44:11 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 10-Nov-85 16:25:56 EST References: <973@decwrl.UUCP> <12580@rochester.UUCP> Reply-To: jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman) Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas Lines: 34 Keywords: yanqui Xref: linus net.politics:11243 net.nlang:3403 In article <858@terak.UUCP> suze@terak.UUCP (Suzanne Barnett) writes: >I doubt you'll find many (American) southerners who will accept >this name. The word "yankee" is usually used as part of the >contraction "damnyankee" and refers to northerners, strictly. It has >extremely negative connotations to the southern portion of the >population of the US. What this word means changes as you move northward. South of the U.S. (and in most of the rest of the world) people take it to mean an inhabitant of the U.S., especially as in "Yankee go home!" In the southern U.S., it is often used in the more formal :-) form mentioned above of "damyankee", which is more or less equivalent to "carpetbagger". In both places, the most pejorative uses are reserved for those yankees who have come from where they live to impose themselves on others. People from south of the border who want to refer to people from the states while in Dixie are likely to use "gringo" or even "norteamericano" or "American" as much safer words, lest they inadvertently use "yankee" to refer to a southerner. (While south of the border, they can probably get away with it, as long as they say "yanqui". :-) In the midwest and around New York State, Yankee means someone from New England, especially from Boston, and seems to have connotations of quaint and old-fashioned. In Boston, it refers to a particular variety of old stock and old money, and is more or less equivalent to "Boston Brahmin". (You know, those people who claim to be descended from the passengers of the Mayflower, the boat which was aiming for Jamestown but missed Virginia by half a thousand miles.) Note how the scope of the word not only narrows as you move northward, but also the connotations change from unfavorable to favorable at about the break between the above two paragraphs. -- John Quarterman, UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,harvard,gatech}!ut-sally!im4u!jsq ARPA Internet and CSNET: jsq@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, formerly jsq@im4u.ARPA