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Old 10-03-2008, 07:55 PM
 
10,238 posts, read 19,509,977 times
Reputation: 5942

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Quote:
Originally Posted by nocturnal rooster View Post
Well, to be fair, Brits call everyone in the USA yankees. So when you call me a yankee, some get the impression that you don't associate yourself with the rest of the United States.
Yes, to be fair, you are right. To the British, any American is a "yank" (as an aside, such a label caused a few problems in English bars with soldiers from Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, etc., during WWII! LOL).

But seriously, the conclusions you draw are very spurious. "Yankee" -- as used among Americans -- is a very relative term, as I am sure you know. To a Southerner -- as GuestPoster said -- the fact one is not from the South makes one a "yankee". I cannot emphasize enough that it is NOT necessarily derogatory! To a Midwesterner, a "yankee" is someone from the northeast. To the latter, someone from New England.

Does this fact translate into that midwesterners or northeasterner who apply the label to someone outside their own perception of a region or sub-region, have negative ulterior motivations for doing so?

Somehow though, when a Southerner uses the term "yankee"..which is part of our historical and cultural vernacular and idiom -- every bit as solid and entrenched and harmless as that of the Brits -- we get charged with the most ludicrous of accusations. Such as the following, of yours:

Quote:
Are you still fighting the Civil War? Why do you hate America?
Are you serious??? How in the hell does the use of what is, again, almost always innocuous, translate into "still fighting the Civil War"? Can you explain this logic? Hell, if an Englander calls me a "yank"...does that mean s/he is still resentful over the outcome of the American Revolution?

Hate America? THIS one is so outlandish as to -- other than that a few out there might actually buy into it -- be almost unworthy of discussion. Surely you are being facitious....?

Fact is, Southerners are the most patriotic and "proudly American" folks -- in the traditional sense -- of all in the United States. And a disproportionate number of the sons and daughters of the South have always been represented in the U.S. military....

Oh well...

Quote:
*sigh*, I get the impression that nobody listens around here sometimes.: (
Actually, please consider that maybe some of us DO listen...and conclude that your conclusions are just flat wrong.

Last edited by TexasReb; 10-03-2008 at 08:39 PM..

 
Old 10-03-2008, 08:00 PM
 
7,330 posts, read 15,317,350 times
Reputation: 3800
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post

Actually, please consider that maybe some of us DO listen...and conclude that your conclusions are just flat wrong.
Hear, hear!
 
Old 10-03-2008, 09:27 PM
 
835 posts, read 2,296,304 times
Reputation: 250
Quote:
Originally Posted by nocturnal rooster View Post
Well, to be fair, Brits call everyone in the USA yankees. So when you call me a yankee, some get the impression that you don't associate yourself with the rest of the United States. Are you still fighting the Civil War? Why do you hate America?


*sigh*, I get the impression that nobody listens around here sometimes.
I love America and I love the South.

I think TexasReb pretty much answered for me on this one.

Thank you TexasReb!
 
Old 10-03-2008, 09:43 PM
 
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains
451 posts, read 1,559,545 times
Reputation: 308
I keep coming across this post and have been trying to ignore it, but it is so mean spirited I couldn't help but check it out. Only a troll would start a thread like this. Has anyone noticed that only non-southerners always bring up the civil war? Do you, Rooster person, have so much free time that all you have to do is insult people from the south? Apparently your attitude when you lived down south was so annoying that you were not too well received. It is very understandable and we are very happy your not among us anymore. I am sure you have the most sophisticated accent in the world. Too bad we can't hear it for ourselves. For your information, your narrow-minded generalizations about southern accents show your ignorance. There are so many different accents that you couldn't count them. But here I am feeding the troll. You need to get a life and maybe do some volunteer work or something. If this was someone on here making fun of foreign accents, it would not be tolerated.
 
Old 10-03-2008, 09:58 PM
 
3,674 posts, read 8,626,737 times
Reputation: 3085
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
Yes, to be fair, you are right. To the British, any American is a "yank" (as an aside, such a label caused a few problems in English bars with soldiers from Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, etc., during WWII! LOL).
I've seen several supposedly "bad boy" Brits beaten to a pulp for using that term to the wrong American. I think the worst I ever saw was an Alabama couple who did not take kindly to the reference in a bar (everyone was drunk, is my assumption). I've never actually seen a glass broken over someone's head until that night.

As it stands, I personally take offense at the whole "yank" thing. It's like they purposefully misunderstand the size of the United States. I'm not from New England and I have nothing to do with the whole North vs. South thing. I'm from Chicago, damnit.

With respect to accents, if accents are light and do not affect my ability to understand, I don't think much of anything about them. But when you have someone from the deep, deep South (say, somewhere rural in Georgia) it can become ridiculous.

... and on bad days, internally, I become exasperated and just wish to god people with accents would speak normally.
 
Old 10-03-2008, 10:17 PM
 
7,330 posts, read 15,317,350 times
Reputation: 3800
Quote:
Originally Posted by coldwine View Post

... and on bad days, internally, I become exasperated and just wish to god people with accents would speak normally.
Which reminds me of one of my favorite pastimes since moving to Chicago...

Convincing Midwesterners (especially Northern Midwesterners) that they do, in fact, have accents, and are not, if fact, speaking normally.
 
Old 10-03-2008, 10:31 PM
 
10,238 posts, read 19,509,977 times
Reputation: 5942
Quote:
Originally Posted by coldwine View Post
... and on bad days, internally, I become exasperated and just wish to god people with accents would speak normally.
BUT...*AHEM* What, in your honest, unbiased, opinion, is the lingustic standard of dialect, accent, and idiom against which all others should be measured in terms of being "normal"?

Am I being ironic in tone and intent?

Yeah, I guess I am! LOL

But please answer...!

Last edited by TexasReb; 10-03-2008 at 11:07 PM..
 
Old 10-03-2008, 11:02 PM
 
3,674 posts, read 8,626,737 times
Reputation: 3085
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan View Post
Which reminds me of one of my favorite pastimes since moving to Chicago...

Convincing Midwesterners (especially Northern Midwesterners) that they do, in fact, have accents, and are not, if fact, speaking normally.
No, I completely disagree. And I'll tell you why: I've been in so many situations where I was the only person in a room full of Americans, British and Australians... And I was the only one everyone could understand. If five people cannot understand themselves but they understand me, my accent is the correct accent
 
Old 10-03-2008, 11:20 PM
 
Location: South GA
12,014 posts, read 11,237,536 times
Reputation: 21911
Quote:
Originally Posted by nocturnal rooster View Post
Jesus, it's easy to touch a nerve with you people. I now remember why I moved out of the south.
Gosh, and we sure do miss you!
 
Old 10-03-2008, 11:22 PM
 
Location: South GA
12,014 posts, read 11,237,536 times
Reputation: 21911
Quote:
Originally Posted by coldwine View Post
But when you have someone from the deep, deep South (say, somewhere rural in Georgia) it can become ridiculous.
*****sigh****
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