From: John Cowan (cowan@mercury.ccil.org)
Date: Sat May 17 2003 - 23:13:25 EDT
Marion Gunn scripsit:
> How come the designation 'Yankee' rates cheers in one context (sport, for
> example), sneers in another, and how can foreigners such as I tell which?
"Yankee" is a relative term. First of all, there's a baseball team called
the New York Yankees, and whether "Yankee" is a term of praise or contempt
in a sports context is a matter of whether you are a Yankees fan or not.
Beyond that, "Yankee" may be defined as follows:
1. Outside the U.S., anyone from the U.S. (see also "Yank") 2. In
the Southern U.S., any Northerner (see also "damnyankee"). 3. In the
North, any New Englander (someone from the states of Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine). 4. In
New England, any Vermonter. 5. In Vermont, any Vermonter who eats
pie for breakfast, typically but not necessarily apple pie. 6. Among
apple-pie-for-breakfast-eating Vermonters, those who eat their pie with
a knife.
--
Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.
--Arthur C. Clarke, "The Nine Billion Names of God"
John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
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