from a foreigners perspective :-)

[Headroom]

Yes, they do.

Mike

You'll note that a southern gentlemen uses the third, rather than the second person plural. (We) yankees are apt to be less well-mannered.

 

[joeyl]

You can show me outrageous gas prices....I'd love to show you what real humidity is.

Mike

 

[duo8675309]

Being a northerner, what's so wrong with being called a Yank? Sure it may be slang, but does it have any negative connotation? We northerners call you people from the south "hicks" sometimes (in a joking or degrading manner), which sort of denotes sleeping with your sister/being unintelligent.
Sorry if this is offensive (it's not meant to be), but I was wondering if you southerners use the term "Yankee" in a similarly degrading way.
-Alex

Yes, but it doesn't really have a negative connotation to it other than you don't like slavery and you call it "sweetened tea" instead of "sweet tea" where as hick/redneck ususally is tied with sleeping with your sister and being your dad's brother in law. And since only hicks use it then it is more of an ironic statement than anything, because by calling you yankees we in turn are calling ourselves hicks. Thats why i don't call people yankees.

 

[mike_v_s]

You'll note that a southern gentlemen uses the third, rather than the second person plural. (We) yankees are apt to be less well-mannered.

I was born in Ann Arbor. I love it down here, but you'll never hear me refer to y'all as "Yankees".

Mike

 

[Bard2dbone]

Yes, but it doesn't really have a negative connotation to it other than you don't like slavery and you call it "sweetened tea" instead of "sweet tea" where as hick/redneck ususally is tied with sleeping with your sister and being your dad's brother in law. And since only hicks use it then it is more of an ironic statement than anything, because by calling you yankees we in turn are calling ourselves hicks. Thats why i don't call people yankees.

Oh there are definitely negative connotations to 'Yankee'. When I was born there were still people alive who remembered the Reconstruction era. My grandparents had a couple next door whose families had both had all their property confiscated. Both had been born to previously wealthy families who suddenly had nothing. Losing everything because you made a business error is one thing. Losing everything because your dad had died in the military and the winning side says someone can have all your stuff is something else entirely.

I think I was probably ten or twelve years old before I ever realized that damn yankees was two words.

When I was in the Navy, most of the northerners on the Carrier that I served on referred to southerners as 'grits', because we ate grits when they were available, but the northerners viewed them as the kind of thing they eat on Fear Factor.

 

[Headroom]

Oh there are definitely negative connotations to 'Yankee'. When I was born there were still people alive who remembered the Reconstruction era. My grandparents had a couple next door whose families had both had all their property confiscated. Both had been born to previously wealthy families who suddenly had nothing. Losing everything because you made a business error is one thing. Losing everything because your dad had died in the military and the winning side says someone can have all your stuff is something else entirely.

I think I was probably ten or twelve years old before I ever realized that damn yankees was two words.

When I was in the Navy, most of the northerners on the Carrier that I served on referred to southerners as 'grits', because we ate grits when they were available, but the northerners viewed them as the kind of thing they eat on Fear Factor.

A few years ago, I decided to pick up a jar of pig's feet at the grocery store, as I like to try new foods. I wouldn't call them delicious, but they were interesting. Perhaps they are tastier when homemade.

 

[Bard2dbone]

Probably not. Pickled pig's feet are pretty much Fear Factor food.

As a big guy with a long and strange personal history, I frequently horrify my friends and co-workers by mentioning things I ate or did in my youth.

But I wouldn't eat a second bite of a pickled pig's foot on a dare.

It's not the worst thing I ever ate*. But it IS the worst thing I ever tried when I had regular food as an option. I tried it to see what it was like and promptly decided I didn't need to continue that experiment.

*Bat. In survival school in the Navy. It tastes like you think rat would. We also ate ants and termites, which surprisingly weren't all that bad.

 

[txbasschik]

Yes, but it doesn't really have a negative connotation to it other than you don't like slavery and you call it "sweetened tea" instead of "sweet tea" where as hick/redneck ususally is tied with sleeping with your sister and being your dad's brother in law. And since only hicks use it then it is more of an ironic statement than anything, because by calling you yankees we in turn are calling ourselves hicks. Thats why i don't call people yankees.

I'm under the impression that we use "Yankee" as a derogatory term because of The Reconstruction. The South had been conquered, and it was treated like a conquered country. Taxes were raised so high that the Southern owners couldn't afford to pay them. So, lots of people got put off their land, and not gently, either, and they resented the Northern people. Also, these people treated Southerners like garbage...they acted superior.

Also, people resented the war crimes...rapes, murders of unarmed people, murders of people just trying to hang onto their homes. People resented the burning of their crops and homes, and hated those who represented the people who did these things.

And then, the South endured decades of trying to rebuild, and always being treated like we are stupid white trash racist rednecks. The poverty is still there, although it has lessened. Carpetbaggin' Yankees are still, at best, resented, and at worst, violently hated. If you're from the North, and you visit the South, be polite. Acting like Southerners are stupid will get you bad service in restaurants, at best.

Yes, some people were exactly those things...redneck, racist, white trash. Those people tend to join the gorram KKK and run around burning crosses and hanging people. But don't let any Yankee tell you there's no racism and separatism in the North. There is. The term "white flight" did not come from the South.

Southern racism has ebbed quite a bit, although it still exists. Just don't let anyone tell you that we're the only ones. We ain't.

Yankees are often perceived, in the modern, derogatory use of the word, to be less tough, too high and mighty, and always wanting to come in and change everything. (That last part has proven, in my experience, to be true.) Northerners make fun of our Southern accents, so we give them a hard time for "talkin' funny".

If they'd quit doing things like having "white trash parties" (I shik you not), maybe we'd lighten up some. And will someone please get that idiot off of Comedy Central? You know...the blonde guy whose routine consists mainly of screaming about some Georgia waitress wanting to know if he wanted sweet tea? Every time I see that danm Yankee, screaming, ugly goober, I want to stomp a mudhole in him.

But I don't, because he's on tv and I can't get to 'im, and I'm a lady.

Oh, and...our food is better. Its not stuffing, its dressing, and its made from cornbread, and the gravy is white, not brown.

Cherie

 

[Headroom]

Speaking of progressive, musicians may note that Texas has one of the most beautiful buildings in the world (both aesthetically and acoustically). Designed by the great I M Pei, its the Myerson Sympnony Center. If you’re ever in Dallas, I reccomend trying to see preformance there. It's a stuning place and you won't be sorry.

I'll quit now before I get a call from the Texas Tourism Bureau telling me to quit practicing without a license.

 

[Bard2dbone]

Speaking of progressive, musicians may note that Texas has one of the most beautiful buildings in the world (both aesthetically and acoustically). Designed by the great I M Pei, its the Myerson Sympnony Center. If you’re ever in Dallas, I reccomend trying to see preformance there. It's a stuning place and you won't be sorry.

I'll quit now before I get a call from the Texas Tourism Bureau telling me to quit practicing without a license.

I'll verify what you're saying. The 'Mort' is a wonderful hall, acoustically and visually.

(It's the 'Mort', because it is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.)

 

[mike_v_s]

Probably not. Pickled pig's feet are pretty much Fear Factor food.

We boiled and then BBQ'd the feet at a party I threw a few years back. A friend of mine lived in a apartment complex that introduced him to a number of different foods.

We invited a few of his neighbors to my house for a get together and the pig's feet were brought. I didn't touch them (except with tongs to ensure proper and even cooking), but I hear they were pretty good.

Mike

 

[Mudfuzz]

My Grandmother actually liked Pickled Pigs Feet [ehhhyua ] and my family [on that side anyway] is from SF so it isn't just a southern thing.

 

[Atoz]

...

Oh, and...our food is better. Its not stuffing, its dressing, and its made from cornbread, and the gravy is white, not brown.

Cherie

Correct on all counts! My wonderful Mother is native Texan, and she instilled this knowledge into me at a very young age. Not to mention that she visited me for Thanksgiving last week, and once again demonstrated these facts!

 

[Kael]

Yankees are often perceived, in the modern, derogatory use of the word, to be less tough, too high and mighty, and always wanting to come in and change everything...

...If they'd quit doing things like having "white trash parties" (I shik you not), maybe we'd lighten up some.

...Oh, and...our food is better. Its not stuffing, its dressing, and its made from cornbread, and the gravy is white, not brown.

Cherie

Yep, +1. Yankee implies (at least in these parts) a know-it-all carpetbagger who couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper sack. It definitely has negative connotations.

It isn't just the northeners doing the white trash parties. I played a "white trash bash" benefit show here is OKC last summer. Complete with Boones Farm, Nattie Light, two twenty foot beer bhongs hanging from the roof of the club (outdoor gig) and jello shots chucked off the roof to the crowd (where they were either caught or smacked them in the face).

You can tell what area of the country a person is from by how they fix their dressing. I've met people from up north that put pine nuts in their dressing (ick, pine nuts?). Here in Oklahoma, it is pretty common to have oysters in the dressing. The idea being that oysters used to be rare here (landlocked state) 70 or 80 years ago. People would cut up oysters and put them in the dressing for Christmas of Thanksgiving so that the whole family could say that they had eaten oysters.

Oh, and brown gravy is perfectly acceptable on holidays with turkey. Assuming, of course, you cook the giblets into it.

I swear, you yankees just don't know how to cook.

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.

E. B. White is said to have come up with this.

 

[69nites]

I swear, you yankees just don't know how to cook.

Chicago's the fattest city in the nation for a reason.... WE GOT THE BEST FOOD

well the best pizza and hot dogs anyway

 

[Kael]

Chicago's the fattest city in the nation for a reason.... WE GOT THE BEST FOOD

well the best pizza and hot dogs anyway

According to the www.CDC.gov

60% of Illinois adults are overweight or obese. (CDC BRFSS, 2004)
22% of non-Hispanic white adults, 33% of non-Hispanic black adults, and 22% of Hispanic adults in Illinois are obese. (CDC BRFSS, 2004)


61% of Oklahoma adults are overweight or obese. (CDC BRFSS, 2004) 23% of non-Hispanic white adults, 29% of non-Hispanic black adults, and 27% of Hispanic adults in Oklahoma are obese. (CDC BRFSS and OK BRFSS, 2002)

Ha, ha we're fatter than y'all. Although I'm not sure why I'm touting the fact that I'm surrounded by lard butts.


edit: Texas has us both beat

63% of Texas adults are overweight or obese. (CDC BRFSS, 2004)
23% of non-Hispanic white adults, 37% of non-Hispanic black adults, and 29% of Hispanic adults in Texas are obese. (CDC BRFSS, 2004)

 

[BassManPatsFan]

You're right in terms of states, but I'm pretty sure that Chicago is one of the fattest cities in the country. On the other hand, though, I think that texas has four or five in the top ten.
-Alex

 

[Bard2dbone]

I don't know about post-Katrina, but New Orleans had to have been the fattest city in the universe when I was there. I think I gained three pounds being there for a week.

Now I'm a pretty good cook. I'm not a chef, but I'm proud to say that my cooking has been complimented by actual chefs. With that level of food-snob pickiness in mind, New Orleans blew me away.

 

[bmc]

Bard....I don't know why, but your post reminded me of this old internet post that's been kicking around for years. It's always fun to share again.

...Recently I was honored to be selected as an Outstanding Famous Celebrity in my Community, to be a judge at a chili cook-off because no one else wanted to do it. Also the original persona called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table asking directions to the beer wagon when the call came. I was assured by the other two judges that the chili wouldn't be all that spicy, and besides they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted this as being one of those burdens you endure when you're an internet writer and therefore known and adored by all. Here are the scorecards from the event:

Chili # 1: Mike's Maniac Mobster Monster Chili
JUDGE ONE: A little too heavy on tomato. Amusing kick.

JUDGE TWO: Nice, smooth tomato flavor Very mild.

CAMERON: Holy smokes, what is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway with it. Took me two beers to put the flames out. Hope that's the worst one. These people are crazy.

Chili # 2: Arthur's Afterburner Chili
JUDGE ONE: Smoky (barbecue?) with a hint of pork. Slight Jalapeño tang.

JUDGE TWO: Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.

CAMERON: Keep this out of reach of children! I'm not sure what I am supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. Shoved my way to the front of the beer line. The barmaid looks like a professional wrestler after a bad night.

She was so irritated over my gagging sounds that the snake tattoo under her eye started to twitch. She has arms like Popeye and a face like Winston Churchill. I will NOT pick a fight with her.

Chili # 3: Fred's Famous Burn Down the Barn Chili
JUDGE ONE: Excellent firehouse chili! Great kick. Needs more beans.

JUDGE TWO: A beanless chili, a bit salty, good use of red peppers.

CAMERON: This has got to be a joke. Call the EPA, I've located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been sneezing Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now and got out of my way so I could make it to the beer wagon. Barmaid pounded me on the back; now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. She said her friends call her "Sally." Probably behind her back they call her "Forklift."

Chili # 4: Bubba's Black Magic
JUDGE ONE: Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.

JUDGE TWO: Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili.

CAMERON: I felt something scraping across my tongue but was unable to taste it. Sally was standing behind me with fresh refills so I wouldn't have to dash over to see her. When she winked at me her snake sort of coiled and uncoiled ... it's kinda cute.

Chili # 5: Linda's Legal Lip Remover
JUDGE ONE: Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground adding considerable kick. Very impressive.

JUDGE TWO: Chili using shredded beef; could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.

CAMERON: My ears are ringing and I can no longer focus my eyes. I belched and four people in front of me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed hurt when I told her that her chili had given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue by pouring beer directly on it from a pitcher. Sort of irritates me that one of the other judges asked me to stop screaming.

Chili # 6: Vera's Very Vegetarian Variety
JUDGE ONE: Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spice and peppers.

JUDGE TWO: The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic. Superb.

CAMERON: My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous flames. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except Sally. I asked if she wants to go dancing later.

Chili # 7: Susan's Screaming Sensation Chili
JUDGE ONE: A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers.

JUDGE TWO: Ho Hum, tastes as if the chef threw in canned chili peppers at the last moment. I should note that I am worried about Judge Number 3, he appears to be in a bit of distress.

CAMERON: You could put a hand grenade in my mouth and pull the pin and I wouldn't feel it. I've lost the sight in one eye and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My clothes are covered with chili which slid unnoticed out of my mouth at some point. Good, at autopsy they'll know what killed me. Go Sally, save yourself before it's too late. Tell our children I'm sorry I was not there to conceive them. I've decided to stop breathing, it's too painful and I'm not getting any oxygen anyway.

If I need air I'll just let it in through the hole in my stomach. Call the X-Files people and tell them I've found a super nova on my tongue.

Chili # 8: Helen's Mount Saint Chili
JUDGE ONE: This final entry is a good, balanced chili, neither mild nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge Number 3 fell and pulled the chili pot on top of himself.

JUDGE TWO: A perfect ending, this is a nice blend chili, safe for all, not too bold but spicy enough to declare its existence.

CAMERON: Momma?

....................................................................