Talk:Yank

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Rfv-sense: (US) Someone living, or who was born, above the Mason-Dixon line. Seems overly specific, but I'm not sure.

That would be a southern US usage. The southern border of Pennsylvania was the Mason-Dixon line. Maryland and Delaware were slave states, though part of the the Union in the Civil War. The Mason-Dixon line is extended figuratively along the Ohio River. West Virginia, Missouri, and Kansas are "gray areas". Yankee is more common in the South than Yank, I think, for this meaning, which is declining, I think. DCDuring TALK 23:38, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

And rfv-sense: (pejorative) Someone from the USA with bad manners while visiting another country. Doubtful. (Note that we already have the sense (elsewhere) Anyone from the United States.)—msh210℠ 22:57, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

I suggest we say "sometimes perjorative", and omit the behaviour abroad. This sounds like someone's personal prejudice, and certainly reads more into the word than exists in its general usage outside the USA. (Same for uncapitalised yank unless we find citations for specialised London usage.) Dbfirs 19:00, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

This is RfV. There is not much to discuss until the senses are cited. Can we find 3 uses in the sense mentioned? But it can't just be someone who is called a "Yank" and has bad manners. I'm still unclear as to how this is supposed to work. Would it be necessary to find usage where someone who is not actually from the US is called a "Yank" pejoratively ? DCDuring TALK 20:51, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

That "bad manners" part is a stereotype of Americans in general, and can apply to any slang referring to Americans. I think we should remove the sense; it's like adding "likely to go to war" or "likely to be fat" as definitions.--♠TBC♠ 19:50, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Sense #1 cited, please take a look. On reflection, I'm not completely happy with the cites — all are Civil War–era, with the first one being a vet's recollection 35 years later, and the other two being much more recent historical fiction — but they do at least demonstrate that it's a sense that a reader might come across.

Sense #3 RFV failed, removed.

—Ruakh_TALK 00:16, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

After further review: why didn't we just say this was short for "Yankee", at least in sense 1. In any event, it looks good to me. When I hear the word "Yank" in my head it always has a non-US accent, sometimes just a barely distinguishable Canadian one. DCDuring TALK 00:43, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Sense #1 RFV passed; striking. —Ruakh_TALK 22:57, 28 November 2009 (UTC)