Yankee

When we talk about Yankees on this site we are not talking about baseball or candles. No, we are talking about the slang term which is used as a geographical indicator of a person’s origins.  There are three basic meanings of Yankee.

To people outside the United States, Yankee is a generic term for all Americans. Sometimes shorted to Yanks.

To people in the Southern United States, Yankee refers to anyone from north of the Mason-Dixon Line. This is rarely used as a term of endearment. If someone with a Southern accent calls you a Yankee, it is not meant as a compliment.

In the Northern United States, Yankee generally refers to someone from New England or the surrounding area.

There are a number of theories as to the origin of the word. The most likely have it coined by Dutch settlers in Colonial America and comes from the name “John Cheese” (Jan Kaas), which was sort of a generic name used for Dutch settlers by the English. Eventually the Dutch would turn it around and use it as a derogatory term for the English settlers from Connecticut. Of course, after Britain took over New Amsterdam and it became New York, everyone became a cheesehead. So to speak.