damn Yankee

English

Alternative forms

• (person from northern US who moves south): damyankee, damnyankee

Noun

damn Yankee (plural damn Yankees)

1. (Southern US) A person from the northern United States (a Yankee) who moves to the South to reside there.
   • 1998, Kimberly J. Cook, Divided passions: public opinions on abortion and the death penalty, page 6:

     REBEL A Damn Yankee comes down here to live.
     KC Well, I came down here to live.
     REBEL Well, you're going back, you said.
     KC Right.
     REBEL You're just a Yankee, not a Damn Yankee. But that's the difference between them.

   • 2009, Jo Maeder, When I Married My Mother: A Daughter's Search:

     "What's the difference between a Yankee and a damn Yankee?"
     "I've already heard it many times since I moved here. A Yankee visits the South, spends his money, and leaves. A damn Yankee stays."

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see damn,‎ Yankee.
   • 2004, Robert "Dean" D. Russell, The Resurrection of Bayou Savage: Guitar Ghost Fighter, page 52:

     I was thinking, these damn ghosts are a preset pattern, because they don't even know that I'm not a damn Yankee. "I'm going to die for something I didn't even do."