Yankees: How accepted are they? (Black: areas, population, Hispanic)

[southernnaturelover]

A lot of it is also city versus rural. I have two close friends that moved here to my small town from more "northerly" states. One is from rural eastern Kansas, and the other is from Plainfield in central Indiana (I wouldn't consider them "yankees"). They don't have our accent, but these are two of the most downhome country folk I have ever met. They certainly fit right in here.

Someone from a rural northern area will probably enjoy the south more than someone from Boston or Chicago (for example).

[Southlander]

To clarify: in the South, any United States resident NOT from the South is a Yankee. So yes, you can be from California, Oregon, Arizona, North Dakota, Kansas etc. and be called a Yankee. Anyone from another country is not a Yankee.

The term is usually used in a gently joking manner, unless the subject is a total jerk. Then it will be hurled. It is also occasionally used between Southerners to excuse the subject for his/her boorishness.

[TootsieWootsie]

Southlander, you nailed it totally I think. Thanks!

By the way, one of my first experiences in Texas was seeing two guys who were dressed in 3 piece suits and looked like professionals in the DFW airport saying, "Well, he isn't bad for a Yankee." Good gosh...I would have thought two educated good looking professional men wouldn't talk like that, but they did. It's in all class levels.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

Southlander, you nailed it totally I think. Thanks!

By the way, one of my first experiences in Texas was seeing two guys who were dressed in 3 piece suits and looked like professionals in the DFW airport saying, "Well, he isn't bad for a Yankee." Good gosh...I would have thought two educated good looking professional men wouldn't talk like that, but they did. It's in all class levels.

Sometimes there's no other explanation!

[Threestep]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

Southlander, you nailed it totally I think. Thanks!

By the way, one of my first experiences in Texas was seeing two guys who were dressed in 3 piece suits and looked like professionals in the DFW airport saying, "Well, he isn't bad for a Yankee." Good gosh...I would have thought two educated good looking professional men wouldn't talk like that, but they did. It's in all class levels.

If a three-piece suit makes someone look like a professional - Mens Wearhouse has a sale going on.

[TootsieWootsie]

Threestep, I've read your postings. I think you just like to argue.

[desert sun]

How is it towards people from the West? We always here the thing about the South vs the North and yankess and all that and honestly I dont even know what a yankee is.

I will be in Birmingham in August and Im excited to see Alabama, Ive never been north of Denver or east of Memphis so this will be cool. Im from a small farming community in Eastern New Mexico so Im kinda interested in checking out some of the small towns on the way.

I bet yall dont get too many New Mexicans in your area.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

Texas is still fighting the Civil War and has Juneteenth celebrations in case anyone forgets about it. Arkansas relatives, also, still fighting that big war on a daily basis. It gets old.
If the prejudice isn't bad there towards Yankees, I'm definitely interested.

Having lived in Texas for the greater part of my adult life I would beg to differ. Texas nationalism is a much stronger force in the state than Confederate sentiment. Texas was, after all, an independent republic for ten years. Sam Houston, who opposed secession at the time of the Civil War, took the stance that if Texas did secede, the state should revert to her status as an independent republic rather than joining the Confederacy. In any event, Texas isn't part of the Deep South and much of the state has more of a Southwestern, Hispanic-influenced identity than a Southern one; likewise, the Texas Panhandle has more in common with the Great Plains than with the South. Texas has Southern influences, but only in East Texas -about the eastern 20% of the state - do you really see common displays of things such as the confederate battle flag and a strong cultural commonality with the rest of the lower South (as well as a geographical commonality in terms of the piney woods, dogwood and other flora that can't survive or at least thrive farther west). The few Texans who have a strong identification with the Old South tend to be VERY vociferous about it, but they are very much a minority. Frat boys, a lot of them; or else East Texas rednecks. As to Juneteenth, this is the first really authentic African-American pride holiday in the country, commemorating June 19, 1865 when federal troops finally landed at Galveston and the slaves were effectively freed (since TX was never occupied during the Civil War, no African-Americans were freed during the course of the war; the lack of military action on Texas soil during the Civil War also greatly reduces the significance of the Civil War in Texas history -- contrast with the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto in the Texas Revolution).

[TootsieWootsie]

I can say that often a few women raised in Texas try to pass themselves off still as Southern belles...or maybe they do this to show-off in front of us Yankee women (which is my best guess). Anyway, it is done in the "we're so superior because we're Southern" style. Granted, this is just a few of them and certainly not by any means the majority of women there. I thought it was kinda asinine myself.
Ahhhh...the Alamo. This is certainly something that Texans should be proud of, and it always irritates me when I hear out-of-Staters claim, "yeah, I saw the Alamo. It was no big deal." It was a very big deal, but I guess they just didn't get the entire picture.

[doctorjef]

I do think that, although the Texas women of your experience sound like a bunch of haughty bitches, this does get to some authentic cultural difference between the South -broadly defined- and the North. Some Northern accents, for instance, just sound abrasive to anyone living broadly in the the Southern states. I really detest the vocal sound of many Northerners. Fortunately, the native Delaware accent is very neutral and sometimes even very slightly Southern. You can always tell the tax refugees here from PA and NJ from the way they talk (although some South Jersey accents are pretty neutral). Northern women often come across as rather loud and a bit course compared to Southern - including Texas - women. Of course, you can always find ill-mannered people anywhere, North, South, East or West.