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if you are from these states, you are a Southerner!!!
if you are from here you're a yankee
What I don't understand is that when Southerners use the term Yankee and refer to the Civil War, they are referring to those from the Northeast, but the Midwestern states were Union states as well. So, why aren't Midwestern states considered "Yankee" anymore?
What I don't understand is that when Southerners use the term Yankee and refer to the Civil War, they are referring to those from the Northeast, but the Midwestern states were Union states as well. So, why aren't Midwestern states considered "Yankee" anymore?
The Midwestern states are a bit more similar to the South, largely rural with lots of agriculture. Many of those states are also quite Conservative, unlike the ultra liberal Northeast. Accents that a little more plain and neutral for the most part, nothing like those New Joisy/New Yawk accents. Seems like more Northeastern people are moving to the South than Midwestern, definitely the case where I'm from (North Carolina). I can't tell you how many kids from New Jersey I went to school with. The more these transplants come, the "Yankee" term will be thrown around more (mainly for jokes). Really, take someone from Springfield, Massachusetts or Cherry Hill, New Jersey and put him next to someone from Des Moines, Iowa or Peoria, Illinois. Know what I mean?
The Midwestern states are a bit more similar to the South, largely rural with lots of agriculture. Many of those states are also quite Conservative, unlike the ultra liberal Northeast. Accents that a little more plain and neutral for the most part, nothing like those New Joisy/New Yawk accents. Seems like more Northeastern people are moving to the South than Midwestern, definitely the case where I'm from (North Carolina). I can't tell you how many kids from New Jersey I went to school with. The more these transplants come, the "Yankee" term will be thrown around more (mainly for jokes). Really, take someone from Springfield, Massachusetts or Cherry Hill, New Jersey and put him next to someone from Des Moines, Iowa or Peoria, Illinois. Know what I mean?
I get the impression you see "Yankee" as more of a Northeastern thing but keep in mind that many years Southerners saw Midwesterners as Yankees too. There may several reasons for that but one reason is surely that many Midwesterners came from the Northeast or have Northeastern roots.
By the 1800s New Yorkers themselves seem to still be using the word Yankee the way the British were using it - as a term for Americans. Thus the "New York Yankees" and NY Irish immigrant "Yankee O'Sullivan".
That is why I see Midwesterners as Yankees too even though I realize they are rarely called that. It seems to become more common the further northeast you go.
That is why I see Midwesterners as Yankees too even though I realize they are rarely called that. It seems to become more common the further northeast you go.
That's because it originally referred to New England. And here it still does, usually to refer to more "traditional" New England. On the Massachusetts forum, some said they would only consider those with colonial heritage "Yankees". Can be a bit kitschy, but it's a popular magazine:
I once worked with a man from Connecticut who told me that to be a true Yankee, one had to be from New England and that New Yorkers, or other types of Northerners, were not real Yankees.
I once worked with a man from Connecticut who told me that to be a true Yankee, one had to be from New England and that New Yorkers, or other types of Northerners, were not real Yankees.
He's right. Only New England uses "Yankee" to describe itself or any local customs.
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If locals still want to use it, why shouldn't they?
