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]

laughing AT you.

the FACT is that you are evidently nothing more or less than a VULGAR nitwit, who cares nothing for common DECENCY & who attempts to cover-up that lack of brains with obscenities.

PITY.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

Go look in a mirror you boob...

[stand watie]

laughing AT you.

PITY that you evidently aren't as smart a yank as you first appeared.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

And you’re every bit the bigoted moron that you first demonstrated yourself to be...

[stand watie]

laughing AT you.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

...Which is no small trick - what with your head planted so firmly up your own bum...

[stand watie]

laughing AT you.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

The echo you’re hearing is caused by sound waves bouncing around in the empty space within Stans cranium where a brain normally resides...

(for the record, I’m laughing at you too, stan the Damn Yankee ;’}

[rockrr]

So, when are you going to put up or shut up stan?

[rockrr]

"we have several ladies on FR (my beloved “duckie” for one), who will DEMAND that JimRob (Jim is not only a friend, but one of our houseguests when he’s in town.=”duckie” & “the grrls” will be listened to.) ban you."

You gonna have the women folk do your dirty work stan? Take your best shot you coward...

[stand watie]

when the book is translated into English (likely by mid- spring 08.) & is readily available in the USA, i will "rub your nose in it", as well a doing a "rubbing" of every DY that keeps "running their mouth" between now & then.

this book, fwiw is heavily documented (including i'm told with facsimiles of actual documents/memos/"guest book" of the death-house/etc.),peer-reviewed by well-known/respected European scholars & (UNLIKE the rantings of the DYs,) TRUTHFUL.

the book exposes the "merry band of thieves,BIGOTS, HATERS, thugs & garbage that was the "lincoln administration" as precisely that. (i'm told that one of the documents is a private letter from a MA congress-critter, who asks if CPT Wirz is a "greedy, grasping, Jew". = NOTE: DYs are FREQUENTLY other sorts of BIGOTS, in addition to being south-HATERS!)

laughing AT you.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

I choose not to fight on Thanksgiving. I’ll be back tomorrow.

[stand watie]

OK.

you might also try giving THANKS that you live in a country that HAS the southland. without the south's moderating influence, you would live in a FASCIST/imperialist/nanny-state, with creatures like the "hillery-BEAST" running ever part of your life.

may you have a BLESSED ThanksGIVING.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

The thanks I give is for the safety and prosperity of the United States of America, of which I am a proud citizen.

You see Stan, unlike you, I am not:

1. A small-minded imbecilic regionalist
2. A feckless bigot and cowardly liar
3. a Damn Yankee

Nowhere in any of my posts will you find a disparagement of "the south". I do not hate the south (here's a clue for you Einstein - no one at FreeRepublic does). I don't even hate you - although you are entirely worthy of scorn. I merely pity you - and even that in small doses.

I can't for the life of me figure out what value FreeRepublic sees in you. You should have been unceremoniously bounced outta here long ago. On any thread that has a hint of regionalism you are like a broken record. Literally troll-like, you jump out from under a bridge to confront people, "You ain't from around here, are ya boy?!"

Everything you say, everything you do, and I imagine everything you are revolves around your irrational hatred of people different than you.

You fall all over yourself in your haste to label and disparage people, and for what sin? Because of the place of their birth! You live to separate and divide folks. What a pathetic horrid little man!

When coupled with your bizarre scribbling style and your feckless nature, you present quite a picture. A more sorrowful one I've never seen.

So, yes - my thanks includes the south - a beautiful part of these wonderful United States. I do so in spite of degenerate little worms like you.

[stand watie]

actually, IF we SOUTHRONS get our FREEDOM from the DAMNyankees, you can have the sort of imperialist/nanny-state/secular nation that you yanks seem to want with "the hillery-BEAST" for EMPRESS & "stretch pelosi" for prime minister. "the cape cod orca" and/or barney frank could be a USSC justice(s).

all one has to do to KNOW why we southrons want our freedom is to look at the sort of creatures that the northeast & the LEFT coast sends to congress.

90+ percent of the northern/left coast congress-critters are (in no particular order):

baby-killers/"abortion rights" supporters,

BIG taxers,

anti-semites

pro "social experimentation",

anti-southern BIGOTS,

anti prayer in the schools/anti-religion,

pro "gun control",

LEFTISTS,

socialists,

"secular humanists" &

HATERS.

should we southrons get our own FREE republic, just think how HAPPY you'll be without us.

and finally, you can CURSE us all you want to in the main-SLIME media, but we won't care because, we'll be, as MLK, JR said:

"FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST. THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, FREE AT LAST."

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

Thanks for the dazzling display of your cowardly bigoted hatred. You are an insult to southerners.

[stand watie]

we all note that you didn't deny that i'm CORRECT about the GARBAGE that the northern & LEFT coast states send to the congress.

that you haven't "gotten the message" that everyone has noticed that your posts are SILLY, SIMPLISTIC & frankly, an expose of your empty-headedness.

laughing AT you.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

"we all note" - what you got a mouse in your pocket? Or are you blaming your insanity on the little voices in your head that tell you to say all the stupid things you utter?!

Yea, your "correctness" is fast approaching that of a broken clock. When you talk about garbage did you forget to mention Byrd and Rockefeller of West Virginia, McCaskill of Missouri, or Webb of Virginia?

No one region is free from liberals, and WV has one of the most virulent ones in KKK Byrd, so you're in no position to be lecturing anyone about garbage, klown-boy.

Thank God you don't speak for the south!

[stand watie]

do you think that i'm the only one who reads your SILLY posts??? (perhaps i soon will be your only reader, inasmuch as you seem to have NOTHING intelligent/interesting/literate to say!!!)

assuming you think that i'm NOT the only one who reads your BILGE, then "we all note" is perfectly correct.

fwiw, WV is NOT a southern state (in fact SOUTHRONS called their ancestors, "turncoats" to dixie.).

webb of VA got in on "fluke". he couldn't win the same race now & will be a "one term FLOP".

MO is a border state & was during the WBTS "split" with TWO state governments, vying for "recognition" vying to be THE state government.

now, having demolished your DUMB-bunny argument, let's talk about the LEFTIST FILTH, fools, anti-semites, BIGOTS & garbage that the north & "left coast" continues to "bless everyone" with in congress. (fwiw, if it was the only choice, i'd take webb or rockafeller over hillery, "BIG-mouth" schumer, barbra "swine-stein",barney frank, teddy kennedy & a HOST of other LEFTIST garbage.)

laughing AT you, FOOL.

free dixie,sw

[rockrr]

Incredible.

Obdurate. Pedantic. Moronic. All in one package.

Stan, for a Damn Yankee you’re quite a prize. You insist on seeing everything as an “us vs. them” mentality to the point where you have to parse reality to find a fleck of trivia to support your neurotic “truth”.

In your fevered mind KKK Byrd is a northerner?! Surely you jest!

As I said - and you’ve clearly displayed - you’re an embarrassment to all Americans - southern or otherwise...