Pride and Prejudice: What Does "Yankee Mean to You

The Bayou....Southeast Texas From a Different Perspective ^ | 11/3/07 | Ron Francell

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Saturday, November 3, 2007 Pride & Prejudice: What does 'Yankee' mean to you?

Southerners reserve three insults for outlanders and assorted other pathetic creatures. They are:

"Bless your heart" "Y'all ain't from around here, are you?" "Yankee"

This blog is barely two weeks old, but it has already taken a few pot-shots at some sacred cows, such as "bait-and-wait" deer-hunting, litterbugs and low expectations in some local schools. The ensuing conversations have largely been delightfully rambunctious, but a few visitors have registered their disagreement by simply invoking the "Yankee" Doctrine: You ain't one of us, so shut the f*** up.

It's not always aimed at carpetbagging pantywaists from states that fought for the Union 132 years ago. Fourteen states were established after the Civil War, mostly in the West, which didn't have a dog in that fight, so there are tens of millions of Americans who never set foot on a Civil War battleground, period. And the last real Yankee has been dead for 51 years (Albert Woolson of Minnesota was a Union drummer boy who died in 1956.)

No, it seems that to a grumpy Southerner a "Yankee" is anyone who "ain't from around here." "Yankee" is never a term of endearment. That epithet is fired like a squirrel-shot at any outsider who doesn't leave his/her native sensibilities at the Mason-Dixon line ... or who doesn't agree with the insulter. ("You don't like grits? What a Yankee!")

That kind of xenophobia didn't hunt before the Civil War, it didn't wash in the civil rights era, and it's unlikely to work in the blogosphere. It might surprise those parochial Southerners who still wield the word like a revenooer's axe, but non-Southerners are rarely insulted by the term. They merely know you're trying to be insulting.

And for the record: The outlanders' habit of calling all Southerners "bubba" or "redneck" or "hillbilly" is equally xenophobic. I'm afraid the American tendency to coin a slur is infinite and knows no geographical bounds. And if you're lucky enough to be a non-Southerner living in the South, then you hear ALL of them!

So, Gator-Baiters, educate this Yankee from Wyoming who loves Texas. What exactly is a "Yankee"? Can you describe what you see in your mind when you use or hear the term? Whether you're a native Southerner or a lifelong Manhattanite, why do you think this apparently archaic term is still so widely used in the new millennium?

Posted by GATOR at 3:25 AM

Labels: epithets, insults, prejudice, Southeast Texas, Texas, Yankee

1 Gator-baiting comments: buddy said... I'm "not from around here", either, and when I arrived here nearly 30 years ago, got the 'damn yankee' comment from some of the locals. Annoying, but expected, considering some of the Gomers who live in the backwoods.

November 3, 2007 8:07 AM Post a Comment

TheBayou@BeaumontEnterprise.com wildfires Write Your Own Caption Yankee

Blog Archive ▼ 2007 (44) ▼ November (8) Pride & Prejudice: What does 'Yankee' mean to you?... Daybreaker: How come we've never seen Mile Marker ... Write Your Own Caption: The best parking spot Death Reef: A new business idea for Port Arthur? Daybreaker: Zap a Southeast Texas litterbug Drop-out Factory: Stop making excuses for Central ... Soldier's Lament: A love song to Fred Phelps Daybreaker: Is it 'hunting' if you just sit there?... ► October (36) Image is Everything: Send Gator your spooky photos... The Big Flush: Water, water everywhere Daybreaker: You can have my embalmed human head wh... Exclusive Video! Does hooker's ghost still haunt e... Daybreaker: Did Carrol Thomas cover for molester? Coming tomorrow: A real Beaumont ghost on video? Texas report concludes ... Texas has too many repo... Drivers Test #66: Life in the Stupid Lane Dirty Dancing in Texas: Paging Kevin Bacon ... Daybreaker: Happy Monday! You're becoming extinct!... Before Your Sunday Nap: A millennial meditation Daybreaker: Don't try these tax-evasion tricks at ... Walk The Line ... and you'll get hit by a train Daybreaker: Is it 'All About Me Day' in SETX? Crisis Management: FEMA fakes a press briefing Spook Me, Baby: Send Gator your Halloween photos Unsafe Sox: Kevin Millar brews tempest in a Boston... Daybreaker: Early birds will eat the worm Scooby Done: A glamour pin-up ... doggie style Nothing to See Here: What major gas leak? Hair Today, Gone to Marxist: Che's hair on the blo... Daybreaker: Funnel cake conventions sucked 'em in Out of The Box: Bopper's casket hits the road Must-Seat TV: Buses get DVDs, not seatbelts Illegals working at the federal courthouse? Yep.Bu... Ghosts of Katrina: A lesson learned under fire Forget something? Texas has your stuff 'Sweetie, I'm sorry about that hit man thing...' Hollyweird: Who'll play you in the movies? Doubting Thomas: The Supe needs a raise Kick (Democrat) Ass: Walker, Texas Ranger endorses... Gas pains in Mid-County And they think we Southerners are stupid ... A Video Conversation With ... The director of upco... So, What Exactly Is In Ethylene? Not Funny: Alligator boots

[stand watie]

i note that you didn't dispute that the TWO US Senators from YOUR state (WA) are brainless LOSERS, of the DIMocRAT type.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

Of course not you idiot - they are, just like you, complete losers. Do you have a point (besides the one that you hide by wearing a hat?)

[stand watie]

yep. i do.

the VOTERS of those states that VOTE to "bless the USA" with TWO leftist LOSERS are likely to be , as a group,FAR more leftist/less patriotic (and imVho, LESS intelligent), than those states that send TWO CONSERVATIVES to the senate (as several southern states do).

this means you, you VULGAR-spoken, LOUD-mouthed, lout/loser.

laughing AT you, LOSER.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

OK. They told me that you were retarded, but I had no idea how profoundly. I guess I know now...

[x]

I remember watching a pack of dogs roving through the neighborhood one day. As the larger dogs sparred and tumbled, there was a little yapper that would rush in and snip at one or the other of the combatants. Not having the brass to actually conduct his own battles, he would snipe away while others were fighting. You sir, are that little yapper.

Too true.

I always thought of swattie as some small rodent, a gnarled and grizzled forest creature, though.

[stand watie]

in other words, you're too dumb to answer my questions, so you post something SILLY that makes you look stupid???

laughing AT you.

free dixie,sw

[stand watie]

why hello, "x".

i see that you're AGAIN posting STUPID, clue-LESS, off-point, NONSENSE again, which makes you LOOK even DUMBER than your "serious posts" do.

PITY that you are evidently what Judy________ said you are: "mentally challenged", i.e., RETARDED.

laughing AT you, as everyone with a normal IQ does.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

I posted that before I realized that you were retarded. I don’t fight with the retarded...

[stand watie]

sadly for you, MOST here think that you're a DUNCE, who is also a BIGOT. ("bubba, the liar", solely based on his posts, evidently is ALSO a BIGOT.)

PITY that you are "getting" the same REPUTATION as "x, the useful idiot". the difference in the 2 of you is that he posts STUPID/pointless cartoons, while you post VULGARITIES.

a friend of mine, who is a "special needs teacher" locally (& a FReeper, too) says (of "x") that i should NOT "abuse or ridicule the developmentaly-challenged" ("mentally challenged" is the PC-term for what was called: RETARDED. she thinks "x" is PITIFUL.).

i, otoh, simply think the 3 of you are HATE-filled, sanctimonious, DISHONEST, bigots.

thus i laugh AT the 3 of you BOOBS.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

Whatever stan.

Now I know why you post the crap that you do - being retarded, you don’t have any self-control. As I said, I don’t fight with the retarded so I withdraw.

You may have the last (incoherent) word...

[stand watie]

actually, you "withdraw" ONLY because you have NOTHING of VALUE to say (in other words, you seem INCAPABLE of "thought" or for that matter posting anything but VULGARITIES, OBSCENITIES & NONSENSE.) PITY.

when you first arrived on these threads i thought/HOPED that you were somewhat smarter than the other "yanks" here (less N-S of course.). SADLY i have had to change my hopes & opinion of your IQ.

free dixie,sw

[do the dhue]

I can not believe I am watching my brothers and sisters attack each other personally.

Have any of you read this?

Please enjoy our forum, but also please remember to use common courtesy when posting and refrain from posting personal attacks, profanity, vulgarity, threats, racial or religious bigotry, or any other materials offensive or otherwise inappropriate for a conservative family audience.

I'll have you all know that I have lived on both sides of the Mason Dixon line. I have been called redneck more often then I have been called a damn Yankee. None of this matters to me because I know who I am and I am dang proud of who I am and where I came from. I came from the United States of America and I am a proud American. If Pittsburgh was attacked, I would defend them just the same as I would Atlanta.

There is no one who is innocent of the childish name calling. As I said, people from the North have called me a Redneck and people from the South have called me a dang Yankee. I guess that makes me a dang good American. There is nothing wrong with having pride in regards to your home, but there is something wrong with personal attacks on FR. Take it somewhere else. It has no place here. We are all brothers and Sisters like it or not.

Y'all can attack me, I don't care, but I would like to see y'all suck it up and be a good Americans and apologize.

And before I go, I'll tell y'all this: I have seen how Yankees act. Sometimes they only think their world exists and no one else should matter. I have seen Southerners act the same. Until the South succeeds again, we are all brothers and we should act like it. Especially on FR. As you can see by our rules, childish name calling is not acceptable on this site. Let us focus our name callin' on our enemies and let us refrain from beating each other up.

We have a lot more to worry about and we can use each others help.

May God Bless y'all!

[do the dhue]

As a conservative site, Free Republic is pro-God,

One more thing:

Is this how our Lord would like for us to act?