Is being a Yankee based on birthplace, lifestyle, or attitude?

Question

I was born in Michigan, raised in New York and Virginia, an now live and work in the South. I have no intention of going any more north than Virginia ever again. I was raised in a rural environment even in New York (yup there be cows up there) and that is what I like.

I was raised to be polite and respectful even to people I do not like. Children and family are to be treasured and put before work, money, and material things.

Some folks here call me a Yankee even when I have the same beliefs, values, and core ideals that they do.

So what is it? Birthplace, lifestyle, or attitude?

OK so lets clarify a few things:
1) Grits and pork rinds are GOOD
2) Can't find a good sub sandwich down here...
3) I say y'all and y'ouse equally.
4) Don't like Hillary or Ted Kennedy
5) Don't like Billy Graham or Tammy Faye either
6) It just RACIN'!
7) Jr. is the man, Jeff is from Cali-porn-ya
8) Dogs are good at preventing burglars, but 9 rounds of double-oh buck are MUCH better.
9) How you vote is your business, I really don't want to hear about it in public.
10) Test drive the car BEFORE you buy it (applies to marriage too)
11) The girls I like open their OWN car doors (and shoot good too!)
12) If you have to hit your kids in public, they are already raised wrong. (my Dad's voice was MORE than enough to get my direct attention)

Help at all?

Oh yeah, to people in New Jersey, you are a hillbilly if you come form Maryland, works both ways....

I consider myself Southern by the way. In elementary school, I was clearly taught that the War of Northern agression was only moments from being won by the Confederates. At same time, I truly believe that Lincoln did the right thing (even if the REAL reasons aren't talked about).

It is also clear to me from the answers that only people originally from the South know why I am asking....

Answer 1

OK, you are perhaps a naturalized Southerner. This is equivalent to someone from India or China being a naturalized American. (Sometimes the immigrants are more patriotic to the cause than the natives, and sometimes not.) I am born in VA but lived most of my life in NC but have lived all over the USA since my early 20s as active duty USAF. Most true Yankees would never think of living in the South, except maybe south Florida. They think it's just too backward, ignorant, and racist. And heaven forbid any of the children or grandchildren starting to talk with a southern accent! There continues to be a lot of anti-Southern prejudice in the USA among the Yankees, as well as anti-Yankee prejudice among Southerners. But this is slowly disappearing, as the Southern culture is disappearing as well. The 1950s South is a far cry from today, for better or for worse.

Answer 2

It's the suit, dude... white with dark pin stripes is out this season. Oh yeah, you need a new cap, too, one that says John Deere.

I lived through the same kind of prejudice here in Arkansas. Southern hospitality is just a lot of talk and has a short lived tolerance for outsiders. The South is still fighting the civil war in a lot of ways. It gets better as you become sensitive to the basic jealousy that the South harbors for the rest of the nation. There's a general lack of wealth and services in most of the South and Southerners recognize that they lag behind the rest of the nation in things like education and health care, too. There's an underlying embarrassment and a little frustration which seems almost as if it's built into the ordinary Southerner... and being popularly known as the home of "rednecks, in-breads and Bible freaks" doesn't help. The chip on the shoulder is getting smaller, but it isn't quite gone yet.. give it another hundred years and ask around again.

{}{}{} r u randy? {}{}{}

Answer 3

I had the same thing happen in Memphis TN.
To a Southerner, anybody from a Union state during the Civil War is a Yankee.
To a Northerner, a Yankee is somebody from the Northeast.
In the Northeast, a Yankee is somebody from New England.
In New England, a Yankee is somebody from northern New England .
In northern New England, A yankee is someody from Vermont.
And in Vermont a Yankee is, or at least used to be, a person who eats apple pie for breakfast.

I am so glad to be out of Memphis and will never go back there.
I have been told that some southerners are civilized, but not in Memphis.

Answer 4

I think it's a combination of the three really. I've had this conversation many times as a Texan meeting people from the north. These days it's just an old saying we "good ol' boys" use, as it was instilled in us from generations past. It's basically just something to "yank your chain" and piss you off, or as a conversation starter. In the past, though, it was used as a serious social statement, especially during and after the Civil War. Basically if you were born anywhere north of Virginia or so, you were a yankee, and not welcomed warmly anywhere in the south. Also it may have been used on someone born in the south, but had the beliefs of someone from the north.

Answer 5

Great, you are proud of sharing the same "beliefs, values, and core ideals" as the South?

People of the South talk about "Southern hospitality" and the how "friendly" the South is. The south has had a long standing culture of slavery and racism. Enslaving your fellow man has to be about the rudest and most unfriendly act committed by people! How friendly is that?

In 1860, there were 6.4 million free people and 3.7 million slaves living in the south. That is one slave for every 1.7 free people! Unless southern mentalities regarding their fellow man have changed 180 degrees (unlikely), the south is has inferior "beliefs, values, and core ideals". No escaping that fact...

Answer 6

You were born & raised a "Yankee", but you are now an "adopted" Southerner, because you share our values.
So, mainly birthplace is the first determining factor, BUT lifestyle & attitude can get you accepted/adopted!

PS I am a Southerner by birth, married to a born Yankee/adopted Southerner!

Answer 7

originally Yankee meant from New York area but now it has a broader meaning... being from(born or raised) any where up north can concevably be called yankee, but mostly it is just a joke.no one really means to offend someone when they call you a yankee.besides at least you had the good sense to stay here once you found out how good the south can be!!!

Answer 8

I think it's all of the above. I'm a Californian living in New York, but don't get labeled the same as my native New York boyfriend when down South. Elements of the Civil War are still strong!

Answer 9

Actually, I think it might be the way you talk, since you've moved to the South, but grew up in the north, or it could have to do with the Civil War--birthplace.

Answer 10

You could be Yankee by birth,
But Southern raised.
Attitude makes a big difference to me.