Is the term 'Yanks' offensive to you Americans?

Pejorative, or not?

[TheVisitor]

Just curious - does anyone across the pond from me (I'm in England), dislike this word? I'm sure I remember that some of you used to (and I mean a long time after the Civil War!).

[justgowithit]

nah, doesn't bother me or anyone I know.

[bcolflesh]

Americans don't care when Poms call them Yanks.

[justgowithit]

umm... what's a "pom"?

I've got:

Program Objective Management System
Polar Orbiting Meteorological Satellite
PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Patrol Order Management System
Program Operations Manual System

[TheVisitor]

>>>>> Americans don't care when Poms call them Yanks.

BColflesh - does that make you a Foster's drinker? Surely the Americans don't call the Brits 'poms'?

>>>>> umm... what's a "pom"?

[worldwidewords.org...]

[bcolflesh]

Typical Limey response, accuse me of being Australian! ;)

[TheVisitor]

LOL - Limey is much better ;)

[vkaryl]

Bothered my deep-south ex in-laws; doesn't bother me. I'd rather be called "yank" than "ugly american", after all....

[roscoepico]

Yanks suck, GO SOX!;)

[Essex_boy]

The term Limey really annoys me, dunno why.

How did it come about?

[vkaryl]

Apocryphal (as in "grain of salt" time): was told at one point by a biggie in "our" Navy that it came about in the time of Admiral Lord Nelson, who was the first "modern" seaman to provide fruit (especially limes) to his navvies in order to stave off scurvy....

[mivox]

Couldn't care less, myself. I can't imagine it would really bother anyone except the truly deep-south types vkaryl mentioned... still holding a grudge about the civil war and all.

[pete_m]

Wikipedia can tell you all about pom and limey:
[en.wikipedia.org ]

It's also got the American equivalents:
[en.wikipedia.org ]
although the worst has surely got to be "seppo"...

[lawman]

"Yanks" is ok with me.

[martinibuster]

Depends on who is calling me a yank, and in what context.

Is it offensive if I call you Brits?

[jecasc]

I always thought the term Yanks or Yankees referred to Americans from the North. At least in old civil war movies you always hear the confederates talking about the Yankees.
By the way the Yankees sucked bad against the Red Socks. I think the game was baseball...

Greets from a "Kraut"

[vkaryl]

The game WAS baseball - until the 4th one.... and yes, the Yankees sucked big-time from that point on *sigh*.... So we don't get EITHER LA or NY this year, so I don't care about the Series at all....

[monkeythumpa]

I used to go to boarding school in England and every body made fun of everybody else, some had last names that rhymed with male genetalia, some were ugly, some were just stupid. They teased me for being a "Yank". It wasn't that they were calling me a "Yank" but that they were teasing me. So I beat them up. It is the principle of the thing...

[sidewinder]

The only people who drink Fosters is people who *aren't* from Australia.

It's marketed to the international market more than it is here, although they do flog their other brands more locally than the Fosters brand.

[Leosghost]

I thought the only way to insult an American was to call them a Canadian ..a "mick"

[vkaryl]

Leosghost - I though "mick" was a pejorative for "Irish"?

[bcolflesh]

I though "mick" was a pejorative for "Irish"?

Right - I believe he was thinking of "Canuck".

[vkaryl]

Now how can the nick of a perfectly respectable hockey team be considered a pejorative?

[Leosghost]

I was refering to yours truly as a "mick" before anyone else did ..
I meant that to insult a Canadian you call them an American and vice versa...
To insult us Irish ..you call us English!

[vkaryl]

*laughing* Ah. Okay. Got it....

Of course, you could just call us all "North Americans".... since we are....

[vkaryl]

Okay, here's the scoop on "limey"....

"In 1740 Admiral Vernon was the first to serve rum diluted with water and lime juice to seamen, instead of neat rum, and his sailors called the new drink 'grog'. The purpose was chiefly to increase resistance to the disease, scurvy, which resulted from vitamin C deficiency. The practise of ensuring a regular intake of vitamin C in this way also gave rise to the term 'limey', used by foreigners initally to mean a British seaman, and later extended to British men generally. (With thanks to Katherine Hull)"

From [businessballs.com...]

[saoi_jp]

I don't mind "Yank", but "Merkin" sets me off.

[en.wikipedia.org...]

[j4mes]

Is it offensive if I call you Brits?

Not a bit :)

[TheDoctor]

Is it offensive if I call you Brits?

"Britons" is passé ;)

[Freedom]

When I lived in Alabama, Southerners used Yankee as a derogatory term.

Of course, these where the same rednecks that had bumper stickers that read:

The South Will Rise Again!

General Lee surrendered but I didn't!