[Steve]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

In seeing the term 'Yankee' used on this forum I'm wondering what the definition of a Yankee would be. Is there a definitive line that defines where the Yankees are? If you are born in a Yankee location are you a Yankee for life? How many months per year do you have to live in a Yankee location to be considered a Yankee? Is there any connection of Yankees to SnowBirds?
Thanks for your help.

Ever hear of the "Mason-Dixon Line"? Having said that, I was born in Iowa but I have spent over half of my 74 years in Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and now Florida and consider myself a Southerner by choice, which I think is the best kind!

[Bellavita]

When my husband and I went to Normandy there was an old man in a resturant sitting next to us at the other table. He asked if we were Americans we said yes. He told us that he was a boy when and remembers the invasion in France when we liberated them. He3 thanked us.

We are all Yankees.
Proud of it

Originally Posted by Velvet

In Europe a “yankee” refers to any American. Mostly with admiration.

[Vermilion Villager]

The "Yankee's" won the Civil War. (unless that not allowed to be taught in Florida anymore)

[MrFlorida]

To me, a Yankee would be anybody from the north. An endearing term without malice or prejudice.

[Get real]

Originally Posted by airstreamingypsy

Why do they call it the World Series, when it's almost always played in the Bronx? <g>

Yankee reason:
Because there is NYC, and then there is the rest of the world.

[Get real]

In Miami the correct term is Jankee.

[Causey]

In New England, "Yankee" has an almost entirely different meaning than anything I see expressed on this thread. A true Yankee would be a frugal individual that wastes nothing, and wants for nothing. An extremely capable individual, that is dependent on no one but himself and is all but self sufficient. There are very few "Yankee's" left anywhere, and if you know one, there is no more loyal friend that you could find.

[Quent]

Originally Posted by npwalters

If you need to ask you probably are one.

Spot on

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by Judy n Ron

There is the global term 'Yankee' used by other countries to refer to Americans in general. WWII soldiers were often referred to as Yanks by allies. In the domestic terminology, Yankees were generally those who were from the states that did not join the Confederacy in 1861, however those that lived North of the Mason-Dixon line were traditionally called Yankees. The Mason-Dixon Line, named for Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, the men who surveyed boundaries between Maryland and Pennsylvania, was known as the dividing line between the North and the South. It's a pretty nebulous term today. Also, we have snow birds from Canada and other states not traditionally called Yankee states.

I think when native Floridians refer to “up-northers” or “Yankees,” they sometimes mean anyone north of the Florida line. Terra incognita to those who use that term. But I have friends here who are real Yankees and refuse to say the letter R in words, except for the one in the word “idear.” I think more commonly, though, they mean people from states that were not confederate states during the Civil War and don’t realize that for some people, the war continues.
In the immortal words of Randy Newman:
https://youtu.be/hTLHxpUQ_B8

[Regorp]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

In seeing the term 'Yankee' used on this forum I'm wondering what the definition of a Yankee would be. Is there a definitive line that defines where the Yankees are? If you are born in a Yankee location are you a Yankee for life? How many months per year do you have to live in a Yankee location to be considered a Yankee? Is there any connection of Yankees to SnowBirds?
Thanks for your help.

I lived in Connecticut for 65 years and along with New York we were considered Yankees. Took offence to that as I hate The Yankees, prefer my LA teams, the Dodgers and Angels. So a "Yankee" is someone from the upper northeast, but not north of Connecticut (Red Sox country).

[Carterm101]

It all depends on where you and/or your family were born. If you were born nonetheless of the Mason/Dixon line you are a yankee.

[DonnaNi4os]

I’m a NJ transplant. Not a baseball fan but I prefer the Mets 🤣

[PJackpot]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

In seeing the term 'Yankee' used on this forum I'm wondering what the definition of a Yankee would be. Is there a definitive line that defines where the Yankees are? If you are born in a Yankee location are you a Yankee for life? How many months per year do you have to live in a Yankee location to be considered a Yankee? Is there any connection of Yankees to SnowBirds?
Thanks for your help.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is "a nickname for a native or inhabitant of New England, or, more widely, of the northern States generally".

[ElDiabloJoe]

I was born in California, and lived my entire professional life in California. However, my formative high school years were in a small farm town in a rural (then) county south of the Mason-Dixon Line. That line, for those not sure, was laid out by Misters Mason and Dixon. It is essentially the border between the states of Maryland (south of the line) and Pennsylvania (north of the line). Gettysburg is about 3 or 5 miles north of the line. I had heard that those born and raised outside the south were "yankees" regardless of where, including Texas and California.

However, working in a factory in rural Tennessee not long ago, the local born-and-bred hillbillies (literally, they live in Tellico Plains in the Smokies - the actual birthplace of hillbillies), it was made clear that Californians were not considered yankees by these folks. Mostly they considered New Englanders and mid-westerners (especially a lot of dislike for Chicago and Michigan folks).

I think the other poster nailed it, people who move to the south but insist on changing the culture or continuing with their thought/belief/opinions that do not align with those commonly held by those born and raised in the south.

The definition of South depends on where your frame work is. If you're in Virginia, you think it is there. If you are in Tennessee, they are not sure they consider Kentuckians southerners, muchless Virginians or Marylanders.

For what it is worth, Maryland was a "slave" state during the war of northern aggression, despite being below the Mason-Dixon, however they never seceded.

[gbs317]

Forgetaboutit… Florida is the sixth borough of NY anyway.