New Member Sign In

[peter grimes]

Yank-centric?... I think there are only a couple of us. Feels more like Team Viking around here

 

[Paul#42]

Yank-centric?... I think there are only a couple of us. Feels more like Team Viking around here

While most of the Vikings won't bother I'm not only feeling slightly Scandinavian (part of Hamburg used to be Danish long time ago...) but as a Red Sox fan I also don't like Yankees too much. However there is no season running right now so there's no need to argue over baseball topics here

 

[peter grimes]

Technically, I believe "Yank" refers to New Englanders. The Yankees baseball team, being based in New York, is a little confusing. At the same time, I really don't know why I believe Yank refers to people from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachussets, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine....

Then again, when an Aussie uses the term Yank, I think he is referring to anyone from the United States.

I'd be very interested to know the history behind the term "Yankee", actually

Do we dare trust Wikipedia to offer an accurate summary??

 

[fe3333au]

I dare you too

Surely it refers to the Northern States and it would be fighting words if used south of the Mason Dixon line

 

[tomasjj]

Technically, I believe "Yank" refers to New Englanders. The Yankees baseball team, being based in New York, is a little confusing. At the same time, I really don't know why I believe Yank refers to people from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachussets, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine....

Then again, when an Aussie uses the term Yank, I think he is referring to anyone from the United States.

I'd be very interested to know the history behind the term "Yankee", actually

Do we dare trust Wikipedia to offer an accurate summary??

I remember one american telling me that the origin of the name yank was "Jan Kees" which was a very common name in New England. It is dutch (meaning Jan Cheese), which is not strange considering their early settlement of Manhattan amonst other places.

Wikipedia will surely crush this theory, but still, I wanted to share the little story.

 

[zyxy]

Kees does not mean Cheese . It's a first name. Perhaps related to Cas(par)?

 

[AutomatedTeller]

This is a great quote from EB White, via Wikipedia:

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

 

[peter grimes]

I've never seen that before! Funny, seeing as how it all seems to be accurate.

I'm from Connecticut (but I don't use the term to only refer to Vermonters). My girlfriend is a Vermonter, so I'll have to ask her what she thinks about that last line

 

[peter grimes]

Way off topic, but interesting:

Yankee

1683, a name applied disparagingly by Du. settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut. It may be from Du. Janke, lit. "Little John," dim. of common personal name Jan; or it may be from Jan Kes familiar form of "John Cornelius," or perhaps an alt. of Jan Kees, dial. variant of Jan Kaas, lit. "John Cheese," the generic nickname the Flemings used for Dutchmen. It originally seems to have been applied insultingly to Dutch, especially freebooters, before they turned around and slapped it on the English. In Eng. a term of contempt (1750s) before its use as a general term for "native of New England" (1765); during the American Revolution it became a disparaging British word for all American native or inhabitants. Shortened form Yank in reference to "an American" first recorded 1778

 

[tomasjj]

Kees does not mean Cheese . It's a first name. Perhaps related to Cas(par)?

Ah, must have been Kaas then, perhaps?


Edit: thanks for that peter. Didnt see that post first.

 

[peter grimes]

Okay - My girlfriend, a true-blue Vermonter, said that she thought 'Yankee' referred to people who eat Apple Pie with cheddar cheese. She clearly didn't think that was a good thing.

In any case, this has been very enlightening

 

[fe3333au]

Brilliant and informative guys ... I'm hoping that there will be many more of these types of discussions

 

[Paul#42]

I guess it's about time to get some real problems to discuss here.

But as a warm-up this is quite okay. Especially the quote from EB White demonstrates the relativity of everything in an excellent way.
All judgement seems to be depending on the point of view.

 

[TheLoneMan]

TLM, signing in.

I'm 13 years old (I know, I know...) and living in Seattle, WA.

PM's are preferrable, but if for some reason I don't respond, throw me an email at taclone@gmail.com.

Hopefully I'm not too late to the game... looking forward to having some fun!

Cheers!

P.S. How do I apply for positions within the government?

 

[AutomatedTeller]

say you are interested

nothing wrong with being 13. Those of us who are older were there once ourselves. And it has made us wise enough to be able to say inane things like that!!

 

[donsig]

I'm 13 years old (I know, I know...) and living in Seattle, WA.

We're all 13 in our hearts.

 

[Paul#42]

We're all 13 in our hearts.

Well, actually I feel more like being 17

But I do not have problems with taking a 13-year-old serious - not more than with anybody else here

 

[zyxy]

Welcome TLM!

Like AT said: we don't really have a very established structure of government - despite some attempts to create one. We are trying to build on a consensus model.

 

[TheLoneMan]

Great. I've read some of the older threads and things seem to have come together smoothly and without much dissension thus far.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Just wait until we get the save!! Research: writing or pottery? builds: warrior/curragh/settler? No military, because they can't pop barbs?