Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Missouri is probably the hardest (IMHO) to classify. It definitely has some strong historical ties to the South. I know my good friend StLouisan might not necessarily see it this way, but I still see it that way. Is is Southern? No. But is it Northern? No. Is it Midwestern? Yes, but...not like Kansas is.
*chuckling a bit* On a related tangent, if anyone had suggested Missouri was a yankee state back in the day? The James and Younger brothers would have shot them dead on the spot!
But anyway, I don't know how to put it exactly, but sometime after the War, Kentucky became more Southern and Missouri began to lose ties to their Southern roots.
That would make sense. Although it is funny that New York has the Yankees baseball team since it was originally a Dutch colony so they would be the ones calling New Englanders Yankees. It sheds a whole new light on the Boston Red Socks and New York Yankees rivalry. I love it! XD
The word "Yankee" probably started in the New York area and may have a Dutch insult against the English settlers. But it also might have started as a English insult against the minority Dutch settlers! More and more I think the second is more likely. In other words, the orginial Yankees may have been the Dutch minority group.
Regardless of how it started, the British took the word and made it an insult against all colonial Americans from Georgia to Maine (and possibly even Nova Scotia as well). It was sort of like calling someone a country bumpkin, hick or redneck.
New York Yankees. Anyway, the word Yankee was a familar one to New Yorkers who seemed traditionally to use the word as an alternative to the word American. In fact that is how the Yankees got their name. They were the brand new American league team in New York and were often called the New York Americans (instead of the semi official Highlanders). Interestingly enough the Boston Red Sox was also called the Americans at the time! Gradually the press and public in New York began to call them the NY Yankees instead of the Americans.
Now, why the Boston Americans did not start calling its team the Boston Yankees, and instead changed the name of their team to something you wear on your feet can only be guessed at.
I got a kick out of these, especially the BBQ point! LOL
Anyway, to take things one at a time. Yep, I agree with my friend Bass&Catfish. That is, those not from (or without powerful and immediate family ties to..), the 11 former Confederate States, plus Oklahoma, Kentucky and mostly West Virginia. I have some trouble calling Missouri a "yankee state", simply because it DOES have some early and strong ties to the South. Likewise, I would say there are some states in the Rocky Mountain West that really don't really seem TOO yankee! LOL
The BBQ thing? Oh man. You are right UT. I used to date a lady from Massachussetts. She came down here occasionally on business and all, and we would go out. Anyway, I was talking to her on the phone once and she said she had to hang up, because her parents were having a "barbeque", and she needed to get on over there. Naturally, I asked what type of meat and sauce and process, etc. In final explanation, she told me they were cooking hotdogs and hamburgers out on a grill. (*gasp, arrrrgh, strangles myself and pulls off my own ugly head...*)
Uhhhhh. I refrained from saying anything. It would have been bad manners on my part to burst out laughing. To say nothing of the more practical fact it might cost me some warmth next time she came down to visit! Yikes!
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
2,709 posts, read 5,094,873 times
Reputation: 1028
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb
Missouri is probably the hardest (IMHO) to classify. It definitely has some strong historical ties to the South. I know my good friend StLouisan might not necessarily see it this way, but I still see it that way. Is is Southern? No. But is it Northern? No. Is it Midwestern? Yes, but...not like Kansas is.
*chuckling a bit* On a related tangent, if anyone had suggested Missouri was a yankee state back in the day? The James and Younger brothers would have shot them dead on the spot!
But anyway, I don't know how to put it exactly, but sometime after the War, Kentucky became more Southern and Missouri began to lose ties to their Southern roots.
It is an interesting subject...
No, I actually do see it that way. There is no denying Missouri has strong historical ties to the South. Missouri may not be Midwestern like Kansas, but it's still Midwestern, and therefore more of a Northern state by modern standards than a Southern one. Prior to the Civil War there is no doubt Missouri was more Southern.
Missouri is probably the hardest (IMHO) to classify. It definitely has some strong historical ties to the South. I know my good friend StLouisan might not necessarily see it this way, but I still see it that way. Is is Southern? No. But is it Northern? No. Is it Midwestern? Yes, but...not like Kansas is.
*chuckling a bit* On a related tangent, if anyone had suggested Missouri was a yankee state back in the day? The James and Younger brothers would have shot them dead on the spot!
But anyway, I don't know how to put it exactly, but sometime after the War, Kentucky became more Southern and Missouri began to lose ties to their Southern roots.
In New England, a Yank (rarely do you hear "Yankee" used) is someone of WASP ethnicity. Usually a monied WASP. Someone with less money is sometimes called a "Swamp Yankee". It used to be that "Yank" could be considered a fighting word if used against, say, someone from a Boston Irish background. Tall, thin, cardigan, Congregationalist, reading half-glasses on a chain? That's a Yank.
Missouri is a Midwestern state, and while it may not be a Northern state, it is more Northern than it is Southern. I could say the same thing about Kansas.
So why did the University of Missouri turn down the Big Ten and join the Southeastern Conference?
Historically, a lot of New Englanders settled west around the Great Lakes and some took a boat over to the Pacific Northwest. The first Mormons are also from New England originally. All these could be considered Yankees. Other Westerners and Northerners are more cowboy/miner, Mexican spillovers or "Middle America". Some of these (especially the cowboys and cowgirls out west) are southerner diaspora, so I don't think the Yankee label would fit. I have trouble seeing the greater Quaker "Middle America" as Yankee. That culture is heavily German and a lot more inclusive than the snobby New Englanders.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Speaking of Missouri...
Gradually the press and public in New York began to call them the NY Yankees instead of the Americans. 
