I think it is meant to be offensive. I am from the NJ/NY area, and I don't like being called that. I am a Yankees fan, which is totally different! :-)

The southern women have a long tradition of intelligence and charm take the following: Susan Smith Andrea Yates Casey Anthony We wouldn't want to tarnish all that by calling them Yankees now would we? Now scoot off to bed your daddy is waiting

Stems from the Civil War. It was what Southerners called them. It being offensive is relative. Some are offended while others are not. It all depends on the meaning a person attributes to it. For me a Yankee is either a Northerner usually a New England. However the term is somewhat antiquated. The only people who really use it to identify a group are usually non-Americans. They use the term Yankee or Yank for all Americans. It can simply be an identifier or an insult depending on the context. But for Southerner to be called a Yank can be an insult stemming from the fact that non-Americans think we are all the same and the focus is usually the Northeastern area. It's like being internationally snubbed and culturally misidentified. You wouldn't call Pakistani Muslim a Hindu. American Regional Cultural differences mean nothing to most non-Americans. I had friend tell me about meeting a foreigner who said they had a relative that lived in the South. So he asked where? The guy said SoCal. He didn't really understand what Americans mean when we say South.

actually it comes from the English who called early americans Yankies. There was a bar in london that ctered to gay men or dandies. Thats where the tune I'm a Yankee Doodle Gandee came from. Look it up. It referred to All Americans as far as the English were concerned. Google It genius

im a northern folk(nyc) and in my caribbean history class this boy kept referring to me as a yankee never bothered to ask why and i dont think its offensive yet not until i find out the origin of why were called that

It comes from way before the Civil War and even before the Revolutionary War. The most likely origin is from the way the Huron Indians, who worked with the French a lot, pronounced "English", said in French "l'anglais" when referring to the English that the French were fighting against. But then the Indians pronounced it "yang-glees" which then the English later pronounced "yankees." Have you seen the movie "The Last Mohican" with Daniel Day Lewis? If you have, you can hear how the word is used and pronounced. It does flow one into the other very nicely and naturally. I don't feel it's offensive if just used in speech nicely. There is a wonderful little magazine called Yankee Magazine, all about New England living. The word used to refer to any person living in America once the British and people of the New World starting going at it and since it was just those first few colonies, it embraced most of the north and a little of the south. I think the more offensive use of the word came during the civil word, so that once a word that Americans took on proudly from the British, became a word that divides, instead of brought together.

Yes it was meant to be a negative term. The yankees is a slang name just like other slang names and it is an insult.

no, only if one wants it to be...i donot get offended when northerners call me Dixie or remark on my sourthern drawl, and they make no bones when i ask them to slow down so i can understand them..... iam proud of my southern heritage, as u should be of urs....its ur personal problem cause i have many northern friends who have no problem with what they admit they are....noses in the air and holier than thou attitude,lol...and they know it....:)justme