asian

We chinese hate being called "chinks". If you yanks and limeys ever call us that again, I'd get my 1.3bil comrades to drown you in pee.

jahoulih

I asked the maid, in dulcet tone,<BR>To order me a buttered scone.<BR>The silly thing has been and gone<BR>And ordered me a buttered scone.

scarlett

For a Southerner to say that they don't like being called a Yankee, is really mostly good humor, since there are sooo many Northerners living in the South and Southerners living up here now.<BR>I said it jokingly~what would you expect Scarlett to think of being called a Yankee! She married one, that doesn't mean she IS one!

Joan

What's so laughable is that you see liberals who say they "embrace multiculturism" but then brand you if you are from the "wrong region" i.e. the South. I have encountered that in the Northeast. The reaction I get when I tell people where I am from is that I live in "the sticks". Well personally I love living in "the sticks" and I like to remind them that many of their fellow Northerners are taking over "the sticks".

Sheila

It's definitely a "Scawn". It's an affectation to call it a "scowne". But I love the poem.<BR><BR>I'd have to check the entymology, but I think the "proper" word is "Scots", and "Scotch" was a Victorian English debasement<BR><BR>There's a wonderful pastiche of "over there", that I just can't fine the words of just now.

interesting

<BR>"Yankee": <BR>A sometimes disparaging name for any citizen of the USA. Inside the USA it refers specifically to an inhabitant of New England and the northern states. During the US Civil War, the southern troops referred to the Federal soldiers as Yankees. The word is said to have come from the Dutch nickname Jan Kees ("John Cheese"), used derisively by Dutch settlers of English colonists in the New York area. In some contexts "real Yankees" are still New Englanders who can trace their ancestors back to British colonists.<BR>

Tex

When my Granddad in Louisiana calls someone a 'damn Yankee' he's not thinking happy thoughts! ar ar

Jimbo

The term "Limey" just makes most people laugh. Now, if you called me a "Pom" I might get a bit bristled...!

Sam

Sheila, entomology is the study of insects. Etymology is word origins.

Keith

I've heard Americans refer to themselves as "Yanks", but never heard someone in the UK call themselves a "limey." Personally, I'd be a bit pissed off, but mainly because I think it refers really to the English rather than the Scots.<BR><BR>I also thought that the use of the term "yankee" was more to do with the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy" than the Civil War (yes I know that's where the term originated!) Most people here don't see any difference between the North and the South - just as most Americans don't see any difference between Scotland and England.<BR><BR>By the way, I'm Scots or Scottish - never Scotch, unless you're offering to buy me one.

Sheila

Bzzzz<BR><BR>(duh!)

kate

I wouldn't be in the least offended to be called a Limey, but to be honest, it seems a rather quaint old fashioned term to me.<BR><BR>I think most English use the term Yank merely as an short reference for Americans. We don't have the political hang-ups that some Americans may have about the term. Of course you can put an negative stress on any word if you so choose. I'm sure Shelby, you would have been just as offended if the old geezer had said "bleedin Americans" in a similar manner.<BR><BR>I think we get more offended by the Aussie term "pom", mainly because it's often teamed up with "whingeing".<BR><BR>Ironic really, as the name actually comes from the first settlers of Australia, who are now Australians' ancestors. Convicts transported to the colony from England had to wear gear stamped "Prisoner Of Mother England & thus became known as pommies. Nowadays the term is applied to English people. Occasionally they get called Pommy Bastard or Whingeing Pom (hence the offence), but mostly it's good-natured fun. <BR><BR>To be honest, I think Brits are mostly pretty tough skinned and are not easily offended by nicknames. A lot of our humour is based on taking the pi** out of each other, after all.

Dick

I think the Scotch/Scottish and the scawn/scohn thing are both regional. My mother's side of the family came to this country from Glasgow when she was a young girl (she just turned 80). My grandfather served in the Black Watch in WWI and would still drag out his battle kilt from time to time and wear it around town here in Massachusetts, where it caused a bit of a stir (he died in 1954, largely as a result of his lungs never fully recovering from being gassed at Ypres).<BR><BR>I have never heard anyone in the family ever refer to themselves as anything but "Scotch" (as in "I'm not Scotch for nothin' - my grandmother's favorite phrase when she insisted on saving some odd bit of string or tinfoil), but I also know bona fide Scots who insist on "Scot" or "Scottish". We also learned to say "scawn" and my Aunt Margaret (almost 85 now) makes the best ones on earth.<BR><BR>I also remember reading somewhere that the scone pronunciation was related to class. Lower-class Scots (which we clearly were) say "scawn"; the better classes say "scohn"; and the real upper-crust say "scoon".<BR><BR>On the original question, I'd always assumed that Limey was a sort-of OK term depending on the context, but that "frog" was clearly derogatory. And you Limeys can call me Yank anytime you want - no offense taken.

uncle sam

There are "Yankees" and then there are "Damn Yankees". Scarlett will know this, but for the rest of you:<BR><BR>1. A Yankee is someone from the North, usually the NE US, that comes to the South and visits....and returns home after leaving a bunch of their $$$. They are tolerable!<BR><BR>2. A Damn Uankee is a Yankee that comes to the South and stays and then continues to tell you how they did things up North and how much better they do those things in the North than you do in the South. The usual response to them is to say, "I95 goes North all the way to Maine...so take it!" They are not tolerable!<BR><BR>BTW, in the South we have two seasons. The first is Summer when we have it all to ourselves and the late Fall, Winter and Early Spring when we get invaded by Yankees. That season is known as Yankee Skinnin Season because we raise the hotel rates, the fees for the golf courses triple and we Southerners avoid both of them and let the Yankees leave their $$$.<BR><BR>US

susan

too bad people like joan had to bring their whining to what was an interesting thread. can't you try to keep your liberal bashing for the political boards?<BR><BR>some people here in the usa could use a little piss taken out of them!

uncle sam

Susan<BR><BR>And what part of Joan's post was untrue?<BR><BR>Looked like fact to me!<BR><BR>US

oh puhleez

US,<BR><BR>Joan's post wasn't fact. It was inflammatory hyperbole that's going to turn a humorous thread into another American centered playground pi$$ing contest.<BR><BR>

annie

<BR>My Irish Cousins refer to all Americans as "Yanks"<BR>It is term of endearment as far as my family is concerned.<BR>When we plan on visiting Ireland, the question of their neighbors is:<BR>"So when are yer' Yanks plannin' their visit?"

uncle sam

Oh puhleez,<BR><BR>Well let's exactly what part of the post is untrue!<BR><BR>"What's so laughable is that you see liberals who say they "embrace multiculturism" but then brand you if you are from the "wrong region" i.e. the South."<BR><BR>That is a fact...example, "oh you didn't marry your sister", "oh you do have shoes", "oh you didn't live in a trailer park", "oh you did finish HS"...typical steretypical crap all the time! <BR><BR>"I have encountered that in the Northeast. The reaction I get when I tell people where I am from is that I live in "the sticks"."<BR><BR>That is a fact<BR><BR>"Well personally I love living in "the sticks"<BR><BR>That is a fact...very nice, friendly decent people live there!<BR><BR>"and I like to remind them that many of their fellow Northerners are taking over "the sticks".<BR><BR>That is a fact....we cannot build roads or houses or schools fast enough in the South to provide for the Yankees deserting the NE like rats off a sinking ship.<BR><BR>Why?<BR><BR>Better weather, lower cost of living, no unions, and friendlier people.<BR><BR>US

Al

I think it’s kinda like when black people use a certain word but pretends that no one else is allowed to. Being born and raised in Texas (“a whole ‘nother country,”) actually I do take umbrage at being called a “Yank”. I don’t make a scene about it, but if I’m spending time in England, which I do occasionally on business, I let it be subtly known that I may be many things, but I sure as hell am not any class of Yankee. Of course I’m sometimes accused of overreacting, but to me it would be the same as calling an Italian visitor a “wap,” a Mexican friend a “spic”, etc. I mean, why not just call someone like me an “American” or, better yet, a “Texan?”<BR><BR>It may not bother some people but it does bother others. For some reason though it is like, being an American, I am above being offended (or I should be), while others are allowed to be offended if someone calls them by a slang term. Come to think of it this may actually be the root of my irritation. Thanks. I feel better now.<BR>