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Wikipedia suggests it was being used by the English to refer to New England colonists as early as 1758, so the term (and it’s use as a pejorative) predates the USA.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Yank is short for yankee. Yankee is a baseball team. And a historical term for the guys who whooped Britain’s ass. I’d take it as a compliment.

Eh?

When did America whoop Britain's ass?

Relations between our two nations have always been ultra-friendly. When I was at school, I remember being taught about the American Independence act of 1776.

When our Parliament granted the 13 colonies immediate independence, and sent over 20,000 social workers to help with the transition.

The social workers wore red coats, so everybody would know they were good guys, red being a calming colour and all that

Ah yes, my relatives, being fresh off the boat, mistook them for more British Redcoats, and properly responded in proper tricolor fashion with a hearty Vive Le Emperor!

Mad Emperor Smith?

The short guy..


Yank never bothered me. Yankee had a different meaning, as noted by others above.

No true American would be offended by the term "Yank", or anything else muttered by an Englishman!!!

I dont take any offense to it, of course having an English Stepmother and having her parents come to visit means I've been hearing it most of my life.

It was a quaint thing when I was visiting England a couple years back to be refereed to as a Yank or Bloody Yank while drinking with an older couple I met in a pub. Good people those two, bought me several drinks and politely refused to let me return the favor.

Polite in the retired Navy Vet slapped the money from my hand and said "You're our guest in this country Yank! Our treat!"

 Frazzled wrote:
The short guy..


Yank never bothered me. Yankee had a different meaning, as noted by others above.

I am surprised, what with you being a proud Texan and all, I thought you'd be mortally offended at being called a Yank/Yankee

As an American I'm offended by anybody that's British, get off our lawn!

 VictorVonTzeentch wrote:
I dont take any offense to it, of course having an English Stepmother and having her parents come to visit means I've been hearing it most of my life.

It was a quaint thing when I was visiting England a couple years back to be refereed to as a Yank or Bloody Yank while drinking with an older couple I met in a pub. Good people those two, bought me several drinks and politely refused to let me return the favor.

Polite in the retired Navy Vet slapped the money from my hand and said "You're our guest in this country Yank! Our treat!"

I don't even like limes, but if an American called me a Limey, I wouldn't mind

But yeah, bloody Yanks is a common term of affection in the UK towards our American friends and allies


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Alpharius wrote:
No true American would be offended by the term "Yank", or anything else muttered by an Englishman!!!

Years ago, I remember mistaking some Americans for Canadians. They were...unhappy to say the least

I also did the same with New Zealanders and Australians, but damn it, they all sound the same to me.

 DeffDred wrote:
I took a trip down south to hike the Appalachian Trail.
Somewhere in the Carolinas I found a BBQ shack called "Paw Paws".
My New Hampshire accent and his Carolina accent were quite the clash.

Me - "Oh, nice. Time fer ribs."

Pawpaw - "we'ain gaw naw pour. Sol'ow ta Fy-day. We gah plenny chiggin' doh."

Me - "Smoked wings? Uh... They like regular wings?"

Pawpaw - "Where y'all frum boy?"

Me - "Nah'Ampshuh"

Pawpaw - "Ooooooo DAMN YANKEE! Y'all gone love deez!"

And he handed me a pile of chicken wings.
I take no offence to being recognised as a Yankee or being given free smoked chicken wings.

Of course, being from New Hampshire you are, by definition, a Yankee. The real question is, would HE have been offended, and if so, HOW offended?

Given his reaction to serving a 'Damn Yankee', I'd bet it would be somewhere between 'firm but friendly denial of being a Yankee' and mild annoyance.

Most people really aren't all THAT bothered by it anymore, even southerners.

I'm curious if the guy ever really explained why?
What was his reasoning?
I want to know the history where Yank is on par with other, more known, racist name calling?

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
The short guy..


Yank never bothered me. Yankee had a different meaning, as noted by others above.

I am surprised, what with you being a proud Texan and all, I thought you'd be mortally offended at being called a Yank/Yankee

Yank, no. I don't recollect foreigners calling me Yankee, just a redneck who regretted it.

If I was called lime-y I would be forced to assume they were complimenting my lack of scurvy

I dont know who would be, tbh.

One of my good friends (and something of a distant love) is from the UK, and she calls me "Yankee Joe" or "Yank". Even her father calls me "The Yank".

I call her "Redcoat" and "Loyal Subject". We tease each other about our words, and I like to correct her spelling by removing the "u" from the British words like "Armor" (Don't lie, Brits, you only started doing that to feel fancy like the French).

I call her father "Sir". He's a pretty big guy, but one hell of a guy. Might be my father in law someday. I'd be taking his baby girl away, so... I joke with him a bit less, though more about what football really is, and how Brits drive on the heathen side of the road.

I don't mind it at all, to be honest. It's a joking bit of sport between us and our British cousins across the pond. I mean, even in the US we sometimes call people something based on where they're from- "Hey, Cajun! What's up?" or "Oh, what's going on, Tex", and "Oh, great, here comes New Jersey, don't breathe through your nose and just ignore him and maybe he'll go away if no one mentions Bon Jovi."

Even one of my good friends from the Marines was a northern fellow, and I used to call him "Yankee" and he called me "Redneck"- even those words can be more a term of endearment these days, more so than an insult. For some, "Rednecks" are the guy you call when something needs to be fixed, or moved- and you don't know what to do. So that word doesn't bother me, either.

So, no- it's not even offensive to me at all, and I don't think anyone ever should be.

Just don't call me Canadian.

Originally a 'redneck' was someone who farmed for a living, and thus the back of their neck was usually sunburned.

Hardly something one should feel ashamed of or criticize others for, doing honest and productive work for a living.

 Vulcan wrote:
Originally a 'redneck' was someone who farmed for a living, and thus the back of their neck was usually sunburned.

Hardly something one should feel ashamed of or criticize others for, doing honest and productive work for a living.

Actually I heard that the term "redneck" came from a coal miners' strike, where the workers demanding better working conditions all wore red bandanas as a show of solidarity. Or something like that. Can't remember where and when that was supposed to have happened. Or how the term came to be associated with "country bumpkins" and Jeff Foxworthy...

 ZergSmasher wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:
Originally a 'redneck' was someone who farmed for a living, and thus the back of their neck was usually sunburned.

Hardly something one should feel ashamed of or criticize others for, doing honest and productive work for a living.

Actually I heard that the term "redneck" came from a coal miners' strike, where the workers demanding better working conditions all wore red bandanas as a show of solidarity. Or something like that. Can't remember where and when that was supposed to have happened. Or how the term came to be associated with "country bumpkins" and Jeff Foxworthy...

It could be both.

I don't know about coal miners, but I do know the term originates in the political arena. The origin I'm familiar with is in reference to poor farmers back in the 1800s (back when the term carried an endearing connotation), but political terms are obviously pretty nebulous and can radically change connotation very quickly. By the 1950s red neck had become a derogatory term for poor "culturally backwards" whites, and by the time I was born and growing up less than 40 years after that it was expanded to mean "culturally backward and racist" whites. Also a pretty hilarious bait-and-switch meme series.

People in rural areas make a clear distinction between Redneck and Hillbilly, particularly in blue grass or coal country. Redneck is a like badge of honor and pride in many areas because they were the original union members (red bandannas on their necks during the riots), they might be poor but they're very hard workers and honest family men. Redneck can be both a compliment and joking insult between friends based on the context, or it can be fighting words.

Hillbilly has always been for the back country good old boy, uneducated, lazy, white trash, confederate flag waving, etc and is much more insult intended although people do sometimes use it jokingly with friends. The younger millennial crowd growing up in the city may not discern the difference but use the wrong one with somebody out in the country and you're setting up for a fight very quickly. It's one of those things like black people dropping the N-word between themselves it can be friendly or insulting and if you're not part of the social circle it's best to avoid using it until you get a feel for where their sense of humor lies. It's also more accepted to refer to a general random 3rd person as "that redneck" but if you direct it at them personally "you redneck" the context changes dramatically and they may take offense. Millennial's may not bat an eye with either term but older generations may get temperamental.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

And don't get me started on Cornwall and the West Country.

Hehaha! That's gas you should mention that -one of my best pals is originally from Cornwall, so I happen to know exactly what you're talking about -he never shuts up telling me how Cornwall isn't actually part of England!!

Fun fact: The word yankee is actually derived from Dutch.
When the Dutch traded (lost control of) Manhattan and the rest of that general area for Surinam, the new English settlers had a lot of trouble pronouncing the settlers' more typical Dutch names like Jan and Kees.
Pretty quickly they glued the two together as anglicized slang for the earlier Dutch settlers, aka Yankee.

To answer the question at hand..."Nope". That's all the excitement I can muster for this silly thread.

Getting offended by anything that someone else calls you is pointless and emotionally immature as an adult. You can't control what people run around saying, but you can control how you react to it.
Yank lacks the negative connotations (IMO, of course) of something like 'Hun' for the Germans or various slang I can't repeat for fear of a ban used for Japanese, Vietcong, and NVA forces. It seems especially pointless to be offended by that. I'd compare it to how New Zealanders are called 'Kiwis'.

And Kiwi's are delicious fuzzy fruits or adorable fuzzy birds. Nobody could be offended by being called that.

I find 'rebel scum' and 'silly new worlders' are more effective than Yank, but even those are received in a hearty way.

Generally speaking Americans are pretty proud to be Americans, and if you call them something that refers to their American status they only get prouder no matter how glazed in offence the term is.


Bloody yanks!

Looks like someone needs their tea thrown in the harbor again!

No! Not the tea!

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
So, I thought I'd ask some real Americans. Is using the word Yank offensive to you guys?

- holding in laughter -

Not at all.... That is ridiculous.

nareik wrote:
No! Not the tea!

Wait, due to climate change they will actually make tea this time

Or would you want to stop your fellow man from creating the biggest ammount of tea in one go?

Not Online!!! wrote:
Wait, due to climate change they will actually make tea this time

In Boston harbor? Yeah, I don't know if you've seen the water there but I promise, that's not going to be something you wanna sip on.