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Regional meanings of the word "Yankee"

English Language & Usage Asked on February 14, 2021

I saw this in an upvoted YouTube comment:

  • To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
  • To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
  • To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
  • To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
  • And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast

Is there any truth to the last three assertions?

2 Answers

I first heard this on an NPR special radio program, July 4, 1976, the bicentennial of the US Declaration of Independence. The reporter said she had made multiple phone calls to ask what the word "yankee" meant.

The last line was replaced by two lines, however. To a Vermonter, a "yankee" is a resident of two particular counties in Vermont (I don't remember the names). And to someone in those two counties, a "yankee" was someone who like apple pie for breakfast.

Answered by GEdgar on February 14, 2021

Apparently so, according to Wikipedia:

The term Yankee and its contracted form Yank have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United States, or Americans in general. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is "a nickname for a native or inhabitant of New England, or, more widely, of the northern States generally".

Answered by user 66974 on February 14, 2021

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