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I just want to know one thing. Who in real life, not online on this forum or another, but real life, has heard somebody actually use the word yankee? I'm 28, I've never heard it, and I do mean never, same thing goes for the civil war(outside of a history class). Reading some of these post I find it hard to believe people's claims. Now I can believe a transplants claims to not getting a warm welcome(but I doubt how some of them put it and whether they are telling the whole story) You may not have got the warmest welcome but I guarantee you there was something that happened that brought it on.
For example in college had plenty of friends from Boston, New York, Jersey,DC, etc some of them would just for no reason, you guys don't got this, you guys don't got that, you guys can't dress, you guys are country, many of them knew nothing of the city but would complain about things that were indeed actually there had they at least took a week to learn their new home(for at least 4 years). After a while it doesn't take long for a lot of people to say, well damn why the hell did you come here in the first place. And for the most part I know when I traveled to xyz place, when I didn't like a certain aspect about it, I just didn't like it, no need to complain to xyz native about it then play victim when he/she has something to say right back. In then on this thread often it isn't natives but other transplants that are the first to have a rebuttal against so and so transplant moving here.
I'll also say while cherry picking comments is okay, cherry picking isolated events and judging a place is not. Some of you are actually simply home sick and are finding any and every reason to dislike this place, so some isolated meeting with a few bad apples that represents one drop in a bucket of water of people you could meet isn't the isolated event that it is, but a major event that represents the general consensus of everybody that lives here.
Sorry to say, but yes I have run into some that do not like "Yankee's" heck, some still fly confederate flags in their front yards ! I even had one co-worker tell me to my face "y'all try to change our lifestyle," and thats why she didn't like Yankee's.....SAD. For me it takes just one ignorant statement like that, that makes me form my opinion on ignorance with some southerner's just because I have'nt met them there are lots out there with similiar feelings. Sorry, but its how I feel !
In my dealings with others, I always try to understand their point of view. Consider this: The American Revolution has long since been taken for granted by Americans, but many in the UK have a cultural bitterness towards the US - even despite our succor during World War II.. The vanquished always carry the burden of a Lost Cause. I imagine in the older (now nearly extinct) generation in Germany there is much the same sentiments.
When I was younger, about a half century ago, some of the older people then used to say that they "were a full grown adult before they knew d*mn Yankee was two words"! he he.. In time differences have been forgotten, but I think the South still feels the sting of vilification and still continues to have racial tensions.
One of the things that some of the Natives are having the toughest time with is the overwhelming influx of people seeking financial stability.. Most of them have been misled about the abundance of job opportunities in NC. What the Natives don't yet understand is that the highly regulated environments of metropolitan areas is also a function of population density. Restricting the behavior of people and business is necessary if a densely populated area is going to function properly. People in the North move more rapidly and efficiently to accommodate this necesity.
I just want to know one thing. Who in real life, not online on this forum or another, but real life, has heard somebody actually use the word yankee? I'm 28, I've never heard it, and I do mean never, same thing goes for the civil war(outside of a history class).
Yes, I have. And I also believe the people who have posted here saying the same.
Yes, I have. And I also believe the people who have posted here saying the same.
Well you have to the right to believe what you want and if you have heard it, I'll take your word for it. I still say it's not something that most people say, are complain about, and that for the most part people exaggerating and cherry picking isolated events, all I can think when I get on this forum and read some post is, who in the hell still says yankee and who in the hell is still talking about the civil war? And still say that in many of the cases "online" (in real life none of my transplant friends(which is the majority of them since moving here) have ever heard it and complaints are more so about things they had in their hometown that they didn't have are at least haven't seen here.)
Don't get me wrong, if people don't like this place then they don't like it, but reading some of these, in my opinion it seems like more of issues with certain individuals instead of the city itself.
Well you have to the right to believe what you want and if you have heard it, I'll take your word for it. I still say it's not something that most people say, are complain about, and that for the most part people exaggerating and cherry picking isolated events, all I can think when I get on this forum and read some post is, who in the hell still says yankee and who in the hell is still talking about the civil war? And still say that in many of the cases "online" (in real life none of my transplant friends(which is the majority of them since moving here) have ever heard it and complaints are more so about things they had in their hometown that they didn't have are at least haven't seen here.)
Don't get me wrong, if people don't like this place then they don't like it, but reading some of these, in my opinion it seems like more of issues with certain individuals instead of the city itself.
Like RR, I've heard it plenty of times. My mom still refers to anyone from DC or further north as a "Yankee."
And, as a collective group, she's not fond of them when they move here. Individuals are another matter and I doubt she's ever been rude to anyone specifically because she thought they were from up north or called anyone a Yankee to their face. She just likes to gripe.
Every time she makes the Yankee comment to me, I just ask her if her hoop skirts are too tight. Or some such. Depends on my mood. She stops and laughs. She knows she's being ridiculous.
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I have heard "Yankee", too, and I have used it in jest with my friends from up North, but I will say I don't hear it much from younger folks (and really I'm not that old). I think what you're observing is a cultural shift. Older folks (older than me) like RedZin's mom really did use the term frequently to refer to people from the Northeast just like you'd say Midwesterner or Californian. Sometimes there was the modifier d@mn in front of it, but many times it was just a shorthand way of saying "person from the Northeast". I have several friends in their 40s and 50s who will refer to themselves as Yankees, too, but I don't hear it as much from folks in their 20s and 30s.
Sometimes there was the modifier d@mn in front of it, but many times it was just a shorthand way of saying "person from the Northeast". I have several friends in their 40s and 50s who will refer to themselves as Yankees, too, but I don't hear it as much from folks in their 20s and 30s.
See, coming from the upper midwest, I always considered a Yankee to be a Northeasterner, usually more specifically a New Englander, similar to how one might refer to a Cajun or a Texan, with their own specific accent and traits.
That's how I have always thought about it, too, JONOV, but there are some Southerners who use it a little more liberally to refer to almost anyone from the US who's not from the South, so folks from Chicago or St Louis or occasionally even California could be "yankees", too.
That's how I have always thought about it, too, JONOV, but there are some Southerners who use it a little more liberally to refer to almost anyone from the US who's not from the South, so folks from Chicago or St Louis or occasionally even California could be "yankees", too.
Yes to Chicago, probably not to California.
To the one who asked, I hear it used, but rarely in a derogatory way, just as a synonym for "Northerner". Just as you might say "Southerner" if you lived up North. It's a demographic fact about someone, not necessarily judgmental though it can be. It's just like you can say someone is a Jew (hmm, that's cool), or you can say someone is a Jew, with a particular inflection that shows derogation. "Yankee" said a certain way can definitely have a stereotypical meaning, but said in common tone, just means someone from the North.
I've only heard my friend from Ohio call herself a Yankee but I've not been here long
I've never ever heard anyone in the UK refer the war of independence or feel bitter towards americans for it.
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