WHY do brits call us americans yanks as in yanky like the old days what does it refer to?

Answer 1

I think it's from the sailboats the Americans used in the 19th Century, they were called "Yankee Clippers." The boat was fast, and came in good use for trading goods with the English and other European countries.

Answer 2

The origins of the term are disputed. One theory claims that it originated in the 1760s from an English rendering of the Dutch language "Jan-Kees" (two of the most common given names of the Dutch), a nickname used by Dutch settlers in upstate New York referring to the New Englanders who were migrating to their region. (See Martin Van Buren.) The word may also be derived from "yancey", the word many Native American tribes used to refer to Whites during the early colonial period. The first recorded use of the term by an Englishman to refer to Americans appears in the 1780s, in a letter by Admiral Lord Nelson.


Loyalist newspaper cartoon from Boston 1776 ridicules "Yankie Doodles" militia who have encircled the cityOne influence on the use of the term throughout the years has been the song Yankee Doodle, which was popular at the time of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Though the British intended to insult the colonials with the song, following the Battle of Concord, it was adopted by Americans as a proud retort and today is the state song of Connecticut.

An early use of the term outside the United States was in the creation of Sam Slick, the "Yankee Clockmaker", in a column in a newspaper in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1835. The character was a plain-talking American who served to poke fun at American and Nova Scotian customs of that era, while trying to urge the Canadians to be as clever and hard-working as the Yankees.

During the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) citizens of The Confederate States of America used it as a derogatory term for their Northern enemies - "Damn Yankees". The term also referred to the border territories.

As an ethnocultural group, large numbers of Yankees dispersed throughout New England, upstate New York, the northern Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest--and even Hawaii. They brought along their religion (Congregational, but also Methodist and Northern Baptist), their politics (Republican), their drive for education, their complex social structure that emphasized brainpower over manual skills, and favored intricate rule-based organizations, like corporations. They tended to dominate business, finance, philanthropy and higher education, but after 1880 were much less successful in politics, where the Irish Americans seemed to have the advantage.

The Yankees, who dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest were the strongest supporters of the new Republican party in the 1860s. This was especially true for the Congregationalists and Presbyterians among them and (during the war), the Methodists. A study of 65 predominantly Yankee counties showed they voted only 40% for the Whigs in 1848 and 1852, but became 61-65% Republican in presidential elections of 1856 through 1864. [Kleppner p 55]

Yankees originally lived in villages (avoiding spread-out farms), fostered local democracy through town meetings, and emphasized puritanical morality. They left agriculture as soon as possible for careers in the city. They created high schools and colleges and sent their children, building human capital that was highly rewarding in growing cities. Many were characterized by introspection of the sort that produces diaries.

Within the United States, the term Yankee can have a number of different contextually and geographically dependent meanings.

Traditionally Yankee was most often used to refer to a New Englander (in which case it may denote New England puritan and thrifty values), but today refers to anyone coming from a state north of the Potomac River [1], with a specific focus still on New England. However, within New England itself, the term is often understood to refer more specifically to old-stock New Englanders of English descent. The term WASP, in use since the 1960s, is comparable. The term "Swamp Yankee" is used in rural Rhode Island, eastern Connecticut, and southeastern Massachusetts to refer to Protestant farmers of moderate means and their descendants (as opposed to upper-class Yankees). The old Yankee twang survives mainly in the hill towns of interior New England. The most characteristic Yankee food was the pie; Yankee author Harriet Beecher Stowe in her novel Oldtown Folks celebrated the social traditions surrounding the Yankee pie.

In the American South the term is still used as a derisive term for Northerners, especially those who migrate to the South. From 1860 to the 1920s a favored term was "damnyankee" (spelled as one word). Another southern usage is "yankee dime" which means a kiss. For example, "I'll give you a yankee dime if you will do me a favor."[citation needed] Southerners, by and large, do not care to be referred to as "yank" or "yankee" when traveling abroad.

Answer 3

just a nick name like you just used brits!