In American, why do people in the South sometimes refer to people in the North as Yankees, yet, Europeans refer to all Americans as Yanks (short for Yankee obviously)?
The “original” Yankee was a New Englander, in particular a rural one.
But nowadays what “Yankee” means depends on where exactly you are.
In New England it means a back-country, laconic farmer or fisherman-type.
In the northern U.S., it means a New Englander in general.
In the southern U.S., it means someone from the northern U.S.
And outside the U.S., it means any American in general.
Being a native New Englander myself, my favorite as alwasy been the Swamp Yankee, as we call certain types in Souther New England. Kind of a New England Good Ol’ Boy/Redneck. And, beleive it or not, there are a lot of swamps in rural New England.
I don’t have a cite, but the word “Yankee” was originally something of a racial slur. It is a bastardization of the Dutch name “Janke”, which is the equivalent of the English “John”. The city of New York was originally named New Amsterdam, and of course, Amsterdam is in Holland, from whence come the Dutch people.
So those non-Dutch people living outside of New Amsterdam/New York would use the name “Janke” to refer to the Dutch living in that area. It’s very much the same thing as the Cold War practice of referring the name “Ivan” to refer to Soviets (Russian “Ivan” = English “John”) or calling a Frenchman “Jacques”, regardless of whether his name is really Jacques or not.
In what has always been a fairly common occurance, the Dutch of New Amsterdam/New York took the insult and turned it into a badge of honor, cheerfully calling themselves “Yankees”. This is similar to Southerners proudly identifying themselves as “rednecks”, another label that started out as a insult. The term “Yankee” eventually came to refer to anybody living in or around New York, and of course, for a long time New York was the USA as far as Europeans were concerned. So they picked up on the word and began to use it as a general term that meant “American”.
And not that it has anything to do with the OP, but did you know that then New York Yankees baseball team was originally called the New York Highlanders?
Interesting, I never knew about the New Englander meanings.
Nope. But then again, I’m not really into sports.
I thought it was the other way around: the term was used by the Dutch to refer to the English. This aricle seems to confirm this:
Actually, their original name was the Baltimore Orioles, before they moved to New York in 1903.
Note the first sentence: The etymology is uncertain.
And that’s still the status.
YANKEE, n. In Europe, and American. In the Northern States of the Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMYANK.)
The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce.
In searching for material to post here, I looked in the OED.
Amazing! I never realized the term “Yank” as a shortening of “Yankee” went back that far.
Fair enough, but my point is that whenever I’ve seen a proposed etymology involving Dutch settlers, etc., the Dutch have been the ones using the term that became “yankee” (to refer to the English), not the ones being referred to by it. I’ve never encountered the second alternative, which is not to say it has never been proposed.
Josh. YOu’re absolutely correct. Sorry if I didn’t address your point.
http://www.wordorigins.org/wordory.htm#yankee
Dave Wilton’s explanation at his wordsite above helps.
I think the link is right about the term being little known outside of Conn. I’ve never heard it before, even when I lived in MA. OTOH, I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I’ve heard new englanders refer to someone as a “yankee.” It’s not a well received term, and nearly always reserved for someone you’d also call an “old coot.” Definitely not meant to flatter.
That Devil’s Dictionary is very interesting. However, if you look under the D’s there is no listing for Damyank. A dam yank would probably be someone that was working in conjunction with swamp yankees to drain the swamps. The term in the South of course is Damn Yankee. It is never Damn Yank, but always Damn Yankee. I know since I’ve been called that for the last 50 some years. 
Outside of the US, a Yankee is anyone from the USA
In the US, a Yankee is anyone from back east.
In the east, a Yankee is from north of the Mason-Dixon line.
North of the Mason-Dixon line, a Yankee is from New England.
In New England, a Yankee is from Maine.
In Maine, a Yankee is from Down East.
In Down East Maine, a Yankee eats pie for breakfast. With a spoon.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_260.html
Since this thread is actually something that Cecil discussed, I just moved it to the appropriate fora. See above for Cecil’s original column.
I’ll also tell you to search for threads about this topic. I’m sure there have been a few.
Is this true? I can’t imagine someone from California referring to someone from Georgia as a Yankee.
IMHO, a person who was labled from “back East” today in the US, would be assumed from above the Mason-Dixon Line. A Northerner.
That interpretation doesn’t fit in with the progressive narrowing in Telemark’s list.