Re: Is 'Yanks' felt to be insulting or derogatory?

On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:28:48 +0200, J. J. Lodder posted:

Oleg Lego <rat@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:44:39 +0200, J. J. Lodder posted:

the Omrud <usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx had it ...

In another discussion in another forum (be.history)
someone claimed that using '(the) Yanks'
to indicate Americans in general
is deliberately insulting,
(like the use of 'Jap' perhaps?)
or derogatory
(like the British usage of Frogs or Krauts)

BTW, to avoid misunderstandings:
in Europe 'Yankee' is used indiscriminately for all USonians.
The fact that some USonians would not consider themselves
to be Yankees is unknown or ignored.

Once again, not for all values of "Europe". "Yank" is still current
in the UK, but "Yankee" died out decades ago.

But when Yankee is used in the UK
it does refer to all Americans, afaik,
not just the Northern ones.

So those Chileans and Bolivians don't mind being called "Yanks"
either? I know us Canadians will correct you if you call us that, but
we won't be insulted.

It seemed obvious to me that 'northern' in the above
refers to the northern states of the USA,
since Americans there obviously refers to USonians.

Then why, pray tell, did you capitalize "Northern"?

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is Yanks felt to be insulting or derogatory?
    ... (like the British usage of Frogs or Krauts) ... in Europe 'Yankee' is used indiscriminately for all USonians. ... it does refer to all Americans, afaik, ... Most Brits know that Canadians aren't Yanks and in my experience, ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Is Yanks felt to be insulting or derogatory?
    ... is deliberately insulting, ... in Europe 'Yankee' is used indiscriminately for all USonians. ... it does refer to all Americans, afaik, ... So those Chileans and Bolivians don't mind being called "Yanks" ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Is Yanks felt to be insulting or derogatory?
    ... in Europe 'Yankee' is used indiscriminately for all USonians. ... it does refer to all Americans, afaik, ... as a derogatory term for the insurgent rabble in their colonies. ... Most Brits know that Canadians aren't Yanks and in my experience, UK usage of Yank or Yankee is only directed at what you've called "USonians". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Is Yanks felt to be insulting or derogatory?
    ... someone claimed that using 'Yanks' ... to indicate Americans in general ... "Yankee" offensive in any way. ... offensiveness, not the word. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Tosca dress
    ... anyone advise me if it's considered racist/offensive to refer to ... Americans as "Yanks"? ... The context I usually think of outside of America is "Yankee ... When my friend and I arrived at New Orleans airport and had the bad luck to choose the world's most incompetent taxi driver, and then he got lost and we had to give him directions, he called us "Expletive-forgotten Yanks", presumably because he thought we were from the North East. ...
    (rec.music.opera)