Helen asked Dr. Linguist,
>>Aren't "yankees" the "northern" americans, ie. the ones who were on
Lincoln's side in the Civil War (excuse my profound ignorance of American
history here)!<<
Yankee is a slippery word. As Kakki pointed out, those of less fortunate
nationality frequently call all of us USA-born people yankees. And yes, the
losers of the American Civil War, (er... I mean "our southern _cousins_")
call the victorious Northerners "yankees" as if we were some foreign entity,
inflicting a nasty concept (called equality?) upon them. ANYWAY.....
There's a baseball team called the New York Yankees.
Furthermore, in north eastern USA ("New England" if you will), I believe
that they like to call themselves "yankee" as a kind of regional singifier
for excellence. (My mother frequented a used bookseller's shop called "The
Yankee Peddler", for example.) Nobody calls another a "yankee" in the
midwest.
I've also heard the word "yankee" as a synonym for thrifty. As in, "Yeah,
he's collects cameras. But he's sort of a _yankee_ camera collector; he
only buys folding Kodaks!"
All the best,
Dr. Linguist
Remember Dr. Linguist isn't a *real* doctor. He has a *masters* degree...
in *linguistics*! (I stole that from Duck's Breath Incorporated, all rights
reserved)
"
Darn right
He says 'We walked on the moon.
You be polite.'
"
I stole that from the only Joni song so far to use the word "notches". And
the beat goes on
