I don't consider it derogatory, and if someone wants to call me a Yank, I'm fine with that. But I don't personally regard myself a Yankee. Yankees come from the Northeast section of the U.S. That's where the name originated, as in Yankee ingenuity.

I'm a Westerner. At least in the U.S. I am. :-)
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It's quite an interesting monicker. Outside the U.S. it means any American, while if you are from the American South, Yank or Yankee means any American not from the South. Regardless of whether your respective state fought in the Civil War or not. I remember being called a Yankee on a cruise by a British guy and I said "hell naw, I'm not from the North" and they were totally confused. To Southerners, a Yankee is someone from Seattle as well as Boston. This is a term someone form outside the South always confronts; I remember going on a date with a girl from Boston and jokingly calling her a Yankee and she responded "Oh no! I'm a Redsox fan!" lol. But I would say in the 21st century it normally is a moniker of jest, although I believe the cultural difference is still prevalent.

That being said, to a Southerner the term Yankee also comes with stereotypes: loud, talkative, greedy, secular, urban etc.

Of course, like any stereotype, including Southerners as stupid, redneck or backwards, they are not true. But as a graduate student studying Southern history, we talk about the perceived difference between the American North and South ubiquitously

Seeing you're from the Republic of Ireland, the interesting aspect about the history of the American South is it's similarity with the rest of the world. Unlike the rest of America, the American South has experienced defeat, occupation, long term poverty and struggles with industrialization. Which makes in interesting enough, for me personally, to study it as a career!

:-)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StDpLge_ITM
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Fair enough, good answers and a bit of knowledge for me.

I will continue to use the term yank as it's not deemed offensive.
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I have never been called a yank, but I do not see how it would be offensive to the northerners here in the US. I have been called a redneck by the yanks, but I walk away back into my trailer :-):-)
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Both Northerners and Southerners are "Yanks" by the definition of Ireland and other countries. For them, it has nothing to do with where in the U.S. one lives.
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:-)
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Yup...beating it 'cause lots of people just ain't getting the O.P.'s question. :-) :-)
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but i wouldnt mind being called a Yank even though i dont like the Yankees.
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Wouldn't bother me a bit, either. Just don't call me late for dinner.
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Wouldn't offend me in the least...and I still don't like the Yankees.
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Honestly....I'm 25 and always watch old movies. I never hear the term used out here in SoCal, but have always looked forward to being called it one day. Being a word you hear thrown around casually in old movies but appears nearly outdated now gives it a sort of romance of its own. Odd, I know, but for some reason ive never thought of it as a derogatory term. But I guess I've never been exposed to being called derogatory terms (other than redneck) so I don't have the experience to fathom the feeling some get from derogatory terms.
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I'll give you an example.

Traditional Irish craft shop owner, Dublin city centre

" the shop has seen a vast decline in turnover this year, there doesn't seem to be as many tourists around, especially noticed there arnt as many yanks visiting"

Offensive?
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highly offensive. you get punched in the mouth for something like that around here.
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Properly, a Yankee is a New Englander. I believe it derives from the Dutch word for "Johnny", a reference to the English speaking colonists of New England, IIRC.
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Was stationed overseas for 14 years and being a Yankees fan I did not mide one bit. My Red Sox fan friend really hated it for some odd reason.:-)

T
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Surely you jest.
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Again not at all offensive, same as brit, aussie, kiwi, paki ect. People can add a negative connotation but by itself innocent. :-)
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There is no official record of where the term "Yank" came to refer to Americans, but by the end of WWI it was so widely used that by WWII it had stuck. The most common theories here are either a shortening of the phrase "Yankee", or more recently a reference to the song "Yankee Doodle".

Similarly, the term "Yankee" has no clear origins, although the most common two theories involve either Cherokee origins or Dutch origins. Neither one is exactly friendly.

Most historians I have read agree that the origins of both words have probably been forgotten multiple times throughout history, and both have been re-purposed and originated again from new meaning in different time periods.
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It's all perspective! I thought he was referring to an action! As in "I yanked o.....". Er..... Never mind!
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