Is "yanks" an offensive title

[dragonaxe]

I agree. Mankind is like a child. We've passed through the infant and toddler stage (middle ages etc) and have been experiencing the adolescent period (for the last century), where we throw a tantrum when we dont get what we want. Now I feel we are about to mature, and finally realise that if we are to move forward then we have to understand each others needs, and realise that "my" needs are "your" needs. Its only when everybody is engaged and co-operating, that we can become like an adult. Crisis and Victory - its the way we learn. Phew that was a bit heavy. Think I need a lie down now lol

 

[Tomasso]

I personally found it very offensive to do away with what I was born to understand as Terms of Endearment in the South to be politically correct.

Darlin, Sugar, Honey, Sweetie are terms I adore from men and women. I am comfortable with it and now they are practically dead or mute things.

I'm right there with ya', Honey.

 

[Tomasso]

Phew that was a bit heavy. Think I need a lie down now lol

Go ahead, you've had a long day.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Believe...

Yank has got absolutely nothing to do with yankee,it maybe had at a point when only the New England area was populated by non-indiginous americans, and lumping the two together isn't getting the drift,like hoosier mentioned earlier on in the thread, he was surprised when a british exchange student pointed out that he didn't want to be called English.There are subleties that neither of us get and really don't have to,believe me us Brits calling you yanks is a world away from placard waving iraqis shouting 'yankee go home'.It's like we call australians 'ozzies',they call us 'poms',it's affectionate,I have many friends from both America and Australia and we call each other limeys,yanks,poms and ozzies without anyone feeling the slightest bit offended,and to be honest with you anyone who is offended has maybe a little too much time on their hands.I mean what else are we supposed to call you when we want to refer to you informally, 'Citizens of the United States of America' is a bit of a mouthful! Any ideas for an informal,affectionate and short alternative would be gratefully received.

...the history of the word and how it came be misapplied has been well laid out . Let's just leave it at the fact that some americans don't like it.

 

[Mr Vim]

I've always enjoyed the term. While overseas in Iraq there was a group of British soldiers, I'm not sure of their unit, but they had red berets as I recall. They always referred to me as Mr. Volkmar or Yank, and I had the pleasure of breakfasting with them on a near daily basis. Good men all of them... always complaining about the food though. There was something about the hamburgers they didn't like.

 

[Carnage]

I've always enjoyed the term. While overseas in Iraq there was a group of British soldiers, I'm not sure of their unit, but they had red berets as I recall. They always referred to me as Mr. Volkmar or Yank, and I had the pleasure of breakfasting with them on a near daily basis. Good men all of them... always complaining about the food though. There was something about the hamburgers they didn't like.

Royal Military Police are the only ones in red berets...

 

[Smithy]

I've never thought of Yank as derogatory or offensive. I use it fairly often as I imagine many from the Commonwealth do. To my mind it's no different from Kiwi or Aussie. It's just a nickname for a nationality.

I get called Kiwi all the time, and even occasionally (as I did today) a "South Sea Pom". Doesn't worry me in the slightest. I think offensiveness is more often than not how something is said rather than the words themselves.

 

[morgan]

As a Southerner, If a Brit called me a Yank I wouldn't be offended. However, in our shop we routinely use the word Yankee as a slight derogatory descriptive of someone born above the Mason-Dixon Line. It is generally used to describe behavior or food tastes.

Morgan

 

[DesertDan]

I personally found it very offensive to do away with what I was born to understand as Terms of Endearment in the South to be politically correct.

Darlin, Sugar, Honey, Sweetie are terms I adore from men and women. I am comfortable with it and now they are practically dead or mute things.

I'm with ya a 100%, sweetie!
And I liked your mum thread by the way, brought back good memories.

Yep, people need to grow some thicker skin, dump all this PC garbage and stop looking for any and every reason to be offended.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I'm with ya a 100%, sweetie!
And I liked your mum thread by the way, brought back good memories.

Yep, people need to grow some thicker skin, dump all this PC garbage and stop looking for any and every reason to be offended.

And on the other side of the coin, people need to perhaps think past what 'they' believe and perhaps think about how they might be offensive to others.

That's not PC'ism. It's common courtesy and part of that is not always just writing how others might feel off as 'too touchy'

Respect gains respect. Disrespect garners the same in return.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I worked for a British gal for eleven years. She called me "Lizzie" and I called her "Jan." Anything beyond that never really came up.

 

[Foofoogal]

Respect gains respect.
--------------------------------
Interesting concept.

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

I personally found it very offensive to do away with what I was born to understand as Terms of Endearment in the South to be politically correct.

Darlin, Sugar, Honey, Sweetie are terms I adore from men and women. I am comfortable with it and now they are practically dead or mute things.

We used to have a nun at our catholic girls school who was from the South and all the girls would call her Sister Honey cause honey is what she always call us. She was our favorite nun.

Oh and I don't mind if a Brit calls me a Yank but I did find it weird to go to an American Bistro when I was in England the place mats were American Flags oh no sorry they were confederate flags. I guess as a yankee I thought that was a bit odd.

 

[/|\]

I apologise for not reading through the whole thread, but I wanted to answer the OP.

I do not find 'Yank' offensive at all.

But I bristle when we're called 'Septics'. In my opinion we tend to take ourselves too seriously. But that's just going too far in my opinion.

 

[dhermann1]

Septic tank - Yank. Oohhhhh . . . Now I understand. VERY rude, but in a cute inoffensive Cockney way. I'll let it stand.

 

[p71towny]

No offense at all. Thats what I am, a Yankee, from Indiana. Just a name for northerner.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Not in the least! Now, 'Damn Yankee'!...that's another thing altogether!! (LOL)

-dixon cannon

 

[Barrelhouse]

My Grandfather would have punched you on the snout for calling him a "Yank" but all reconstructed Southerners know it is merely an endearing term for North American. You can call me anything but late for supper.

 

[MikeBravo]

Oh I get it

Hoosierdaddy ... Who's your daddy? lol

 

[Silver Dollar]

Interesting thread, likely never to reach any satisfactory conclusion. But satisfactory conclusions aren't what they're cracked up to be.
Just a little history: the term "Limey" comes from the tradition in the Royal Navy of feeding limes to sailors to combat scurvy, back in the 18th century. Nothing really inherently derogatory there at all.

The term Yankee has a complicated etymology. I'll quote Wikipedia:

"Most linguists look to Dutch sources, noting the extensive interaction between the colonial Dutch in New Netherland (now largely New York state, New Jersey, and much of Delaware) and the colonial English in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The Dutch given names "Jan" and "Kees" were and still are common, and the two sometimes are combined into a single name, "Jan-Kees". The word "Yankee" is a variation that could have referred to English settlers moving into previously Dutch areas.[4]

Michael Quinion and Patrick Hanks argue[6] that the term refers to the Dutch nickname and surname Janneke (from "Jan" and the diminutive "-eke", meaning "Little John" or Johnny in Dutch), Anglicized to Yankee (the Dutch "J" is pronounced as a "Y" in English) and "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times". By extension, the term could have grown to include non-Dutch colonists as well."

I think the term "Yank" as opposed to "Yankee" is essentially British.

You have it pretty much correct, DH. The story I heard was that a Dutchman by the name of Jahn Kee was a bit of a shyster and somehow cheated some folks out of something. They referred to the shysters as a bunch of Jahn Kees which changed to Yankees. Then it progressed to everyone from that community until was used in the Civil War to denote all Northerners. Outside the US no matter where we come from, we're all Yanks. I really don't find it offensive at all. It's no worse than Brit or Aussie. I personally don't believe that it's in the same category as the terms Wop, Ginny, Kike, Heeb, Sheeny, Hunky or Polack. Those to me are truly offensive since I'm one of the last five terms I mentioned. I'm Jewish, Polish and Hungarian.