But where did the term come from? I've been told that it was a corruption of the term "John Cheese", which was an derogatory term for the Dutch settlers in Northeast US back when we were still colonies.
This has been a long standing gripe, and I hate it. It may seem like nothing to anyone else, but I feel really strongly about it, and I feel like flaming about it.
Thank you for bothering to read my rant.
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Jeff Raven - Having more fun than any human being should be allowed to have
Them's fighting words. :P
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Lawrence Boucher
Not just a proud Yank, a proud Yankees fan too.
[This message was edited by LB4747 on April 24, 1999.]
:-�
:-�
:-�
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Jeff Raven - Having more fun than any human being should be allowed to have
So :�, :�, and :� right back at ya!
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Lawrence Boucher
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The important thing is not to stop questioning."--Albert Einstein
If your not from The U.S., then any American is a Yank. To a southerner, anyone from the northeast is a Yankee. To someone from the mid-Atlantic or northeast, a Yankee would be a New Englander (not someone from New York City, as you say -- although a New Yorker would be considered a Yankee to someone from the South or from outside the States). So your gripe is not quite accurate since, under no definition, is a Yankee someone specifically from NYC (unless we're talking baseball). It's all relative.
You can find a further discussion of the term on this website: http://h-net2.msu.edu/~south/archives/threads/yankee.html
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Lawrence Boucher
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The important thing is not to stop questioning."--Albert Einstein
'Wah hay! Yank!'
'Huh'
'Yank! Get it?'
'No'
'*sigh* YANK! Sonunds almost exactly like w...'
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'Those are the headlines. Happy now?'
-Chris Morris.
*raises eyebrow*
BTW that sounds like John Cleese..
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http://frankg.dgne.com/
Ultra Magnus: "I know you're bored, Rodimus, but with the mantle of leadership comes obligations."
Rodimus Prime: "I don't suppose I could interest you in a used mantle?"
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Jeff Raven - Having more fun than any human being should be allowed to have
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"Audaces fortuna juvat."
"Fortune favours the bold."
yankee \Yan"kee\, n. [Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word English, or of the French word Anglais, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin, a diminutive of John, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. W. Gordon (``Hist. of the Amer. War,'' ed, 1789, vol. i., pp. 324, 325) says it was a favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant excellent; as, a yankee good horse, yankee good cider, etc. Cf. Scot yankie a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov. E. bow-yankees a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.] A nickname for a native or citizen of New England, especially one descended from old New England stock; by extension, an inhabitant of the Northern States as distinguished from a Southerner; also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any inhabitant of the United States.From meanness first this Portsmouth Yankey rose, And still to meanness all his conduct flows. --Oppression, A poem by an American (Boston, 1765).
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That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
[This message was edited by Baloo on April 24, 1999.]
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"'I'm afraid there's nowhere for you to sit,' I said coldly; 'the verandah is full of goats.'" --Saki "The Guests"
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Jeff Raven - Having more fun than any human being should be allowed to have
I am in an interesting position. I was born and reared in the South. Virginia to be specific. In fact, you may say I come from the area whose decendents are former plantation material. I, however, come from a line that fought against those I live among. My great-great-grandfather came from New York, so I have a split lineage. I have been called (in non-verbal form, if not actual words) an aristocratic backward Southerner that should be disdained for what other people did to the Union and to Blacks, and by others a carpetbagging scalawag that should be held at arms length for how my people raped the land.
What I see here is something I've been studying all year in my industrial-organizational psychology classes. We see group labels attached, creating the "us vs them" mentality, which, by the presence of our defining characteristics, pits some against others. My advice to us all (including myself, I too fall into the trap) is to concentrate on what I/O pscyhologists call "superordinate goals" here. In the case of this forum, Star Trek and finding a better way to live with one another. It's fun to dwell on differences, we learn from them, but let's not let it get so out of hand it produces hard feeelings.
It's good to be back!
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All Sisko needs is ANOTHER tall ship and a star to steer her by.
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"Fishing promotes a clean mind, healthy body and leaves no time for succumbing to Communistic or Socialistic propaganda."
--
Ivar Hemmings, chairman, South Bend Bait Company
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"Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Tao to survivial or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed."
"...attaining one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle of excellence. Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 6th century B.C.E.
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'Sir, you've been ordered not to take Polermo'
'Ring General HQ, ask them if they want me to give it back'.
(United Statesian )
well, 'bout this here topic on Yankees....i figure as I've gotten sumpthin' t'say I might as well say it. (*L*...drops fake accent now) I'm from Nashville, originally Memphis, TN...we have "yankees" living all around us...something about nashville they must like...*snickers* the warmer weather maybe? Anyhow, Jeff and I have talked about this, and I basically came to this conclusion: I hate being called a redneck, hick, hillbilly, etc, associated with those of us in the south...he hates being called a yankee. (...even in jest, i found out ...ouch :P ) so, i make my statement: ignore Nike's motto (i hate nike anyway...hehe) "Just DON'T do it". Pleh. Dont' call me a hick, and i won't get all ticked and try and call you ...whatever you 'are' *L*
--G.R.I.T.S.: Girl Raised In The South. (hehe..proud of it, too!)
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**The Light only shines in the dark, and sometimes innocence is just an excuse for the guilty**
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"'I'm afraid there's nowhere for you to sit,' I said coldly; 'the verandah is full of goats.'" --Saki "The Guests"