Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 55. The word origin today is
Yankee. Okay. Let's take a look at the note. Nowadays the word Yankee can have
several meanings. If this term is used by a foreigner, especially someone from you
know, Britain, Great Britain, Australia , New Zealand, etc. Yankee or Yank for short,
means an American. It sometimes feels derogatory. Sometimes feels like it's
almost a little bit you know, putting you down. But it's not always meant that way.
I've traveled a lot. I've known a lot of like you know, people from Australia they
call themselves Aussies or New Zealanders , Kiwis and sometimes they it's just an informal way
to refer to an American too. So it's not always, it's not always that way. But may
not always be meant that way. Okay. Let's continue here. Within the US if said by a
southerner you know, someone from the southern states it may refer to someone
from New England or the northern states. It was especially used during the Civil
War to refer to a northern soldier. Even though I think at that time it was
really derogatory. That's why sometimes Americans might think it's a little
derogatory, and that's why it might even be you know kind of unusual for somebody
from the south. If they go overseas and they refer to them as a Yank. I mean I'm
not a Yank. People from the north, they're Yanks. I'm not a Yankee they might
actually think that. Okay. Let's continue. You know so of course we know that you
know we also have the baseball team, the Yankees. So a Yankee could be a baseball
player from the Yankees as well. So that's another way that we definitely
use it today. Let's continue. Ironically the origin of the word is
believed to come from Dutch. So you would never think this. But that's where Yankee
the actual word comes from. At one time New York City, used to be a Dutch colony
called New Amsterdam. A popular Dutch name at that time was ... well it's
actually pronounced more like Yankays. So it was spelled J-A-N-K-E-E which was
pronounced like Yan Kays. Which of course eventually just became
Yankee. At t that ... yes. So the British already had the nearby colony of
Connecticut at that time and often used the term in a disparaging way to refer
to the Dutch. You know, maybe all those Yankees over there. So basically that's
how it kind of came about. It wasn't really a polite way of referring to them.
It was like you know, those Dutch those Yankees. They all have a name like Yankee.
So that's really where it came from in New Amsterdam. All right. Now eventually
New Amsterdam was switched to the British rule and renamed New York. It is a
kind of a long story about that. At first the British I think took it by force.
Then I think the Dutch actually took it back for a short time. And then they came
to an agreement to just give it back and I think the Dutch were worried about a
colony they had in South America called Suriname or something like that. And
they wanted to make sure that they weren't fighting with the British about
that. They thought that might be more valuable in the future, but really New
York is the one that ended up being more valuable. Okay and so of course you know,
this is the reason why the New York baseball team eventually got the name
Yankees. Because of course people from New York or New Amsterdam when it was
Dutch who originally referred to as a Yankee in that way. Okay. Anyway, I hope
you hope you got it. I hope it was informative. I hope it was interesting. Thank
you for your time. Bye-bye.