As i recall

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Last updated on March 6th, 2018 at 12:30 am

Margo Kingston in 2002:

I’ve had enough complaints about my use of ‘Yank’ to realise the term is putting some readers off. So I’ve dropped it.

Margo Kingston today:

Indeed the Yanks vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution condemnning the attack on the Kurds, as I recall.

Posted by Tim B. on 03/16/2005 at 09:35 AM
    1. Nobody’s tried Yankistan.  It ought to be good for some rhetorical purpose or other.

      Yank itself is inoffensive everywhere, as far as I know.

      Posted by rhhardin on 03/16 at 09:54 AM • permalink

 

    1. Indeed the Yanks vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution condemnning the attack on the Kurds, as I recall.

      Which resolution was that?  I may not have Margo’s gift of total recall, but as far as I remember no western nation wanted to touch the issue.

      Posted by rexie on 03/16 at 10:02 AM • permalink

 

    1. Most of us Yanks don’t care if you use the term, actually. The problem with Margo is that she gets paid for her stupid opinion.

      Posted by Easycure on 03/16 at 10:04 AM • permalink

 

    1. Or as we usedta say on dadocks… “I got sumpin’ you can can yank, right heah…”

      Posted by richard mcenroe on 03/16 at 10:39 AM • permalink

 

    1. People from Boston don’t like the word “Yanks”.  Or “New York” for that matter.

      Posted by wronwright on 03/16 at 10:39 AM • permalink

 

    1. Well, being called a Yankee might raise some hackles in the Deep South, but even there people understand what’s meant when the term is used by a non-American.  My own reaction (as a descendant of the Confederacy now living in Ohio) is:  “You say it like it’s a bad thing.”

      Posted by RebeccaH on 03/16 at 10:41 AM • permalink

 

    1. Yanks!  Don’t see anything wrong with ‘Yank’, and I are one.  ‘Course it’s the context and HOW you say it.  The Brits and the Canucks use it freely.  Just used US terms for them (most Yanks don’t know what a ‘Pommie’ is).  I can remember a time when anyone ‘down under’ was an ANZAC or maybe an Aussie.  Think all of these are meant affectionately in plain usage.

      Posted by Gerry on 03/16 at 10:45 AM • permalink

 

    1. Indeed, most of us don’t. The only ones who give a fig are some southerners who think ‘yank’ = ‘effete new englander’ (think Howard Dean, John Kerry, etc).

      Posted by rosignol on 03/16 at 10:46 AM • permalink

 

    1. “Yankee” is a gaff in the South. But then, Texans don’t like being called “Southerners” either. Americans aren’t usually offended being called “Yank.” Ami, gringo and farang are usually OK, if the speaker knows you. Gaijin and kwailo are dodgy. Gabacho and voche are right out.

      Posted by jlewis on 03/16 at 10:51 AM • permalink

 

    1. Yank is perfectly okay for anybody but Margo. She obviously thinks Yank is a synonym for ‘jerk’.  But then….she’s just yanking our chain.

      Posted by Wass on 03/16 at 10:58 AM • permalink

 

    1. As a resident of Virginia, I can attest to the fact that you never know what those yankees will be up to next. One day they’re runnin’ some gigolo with a magic hat for President, the next day they’re handin’ over the DNC to some bounder whose facial expression resembles that of a beagle gazin’ into the middle distance, contemplatin’ yesterday’s ham bone. Yeah, they’re a right tricky lot alright.

      Posted by paco on 03/16 at 11:21 AM • permalink

 

    1. Who is offended by Yank? That’s a new one on me. Hell, I don’t even mind “seppo.”

      I’m going to guess it’s Margo’s lefty Yank readers who bitched. And only because it’s a synonym for “American”, and they’re ashamed. Or they just want to be offended by something and complain. I’m betting on the latter.

      Posted by Dave S. on 03/16 at 12:15 PM • permalink

 

    1. Septic’s and Shermans?

      Posted by Rob Read on 03/16 at 12:39 PM • permalink

 

    1. OK, I know “septic.” What’s “sherman”?

      Oh, wait – Sherman tank = Yank? Is that it?

      Posted by Dave S. on 03/16 at 01:01 PM • permalink

 

    1. “Over there, over there, send the word, send the word, over there, that the Yanks are coming …”

      For me Yanks is a good word.  It embodies courage, steadfastness, the willingness to do what is right regardless of the costs, the ability to take responsibility when no one else will.

      In other words, the polar opposite of French.

      Posted by wronwright on 03/16 at 02:08 PM • permalink

 

    1. Tim,
      You have the memory of an elephant.

      Posted by gubbaboy on 03/16 at 03:35 PM • permalink

 

    1. I don’t mind the Margoid calling me a “Yank” as long as she doesn’t mind me calling her by an appropriate name, like “Ignorant B*tch With Sh*t-for-Brains.” Works for me.

      Posted by JorgXMcKie on 03/16 at 05:36 PM • permalink

 

    1. Actually, as I think about it, that could be an appropriate term for just about all the posters at webdiary.

      Posted by JorgXMcKie on 03/16 at 05:37 PM • permalink

 

    1. The CHINESE and RUSSIANS vetoed a resolution calling the murder of up to a 180,000 Africans by ARAB militias in the Darfur region of Sudan in the last 18 months, ‘GENOCIDE’. Probably because these countries (Russia & China) supply the guns responsible, and depend on Sudanese oil…but hey, who cares???
      Margo can’t exploit this catastrophe to whack the “YANKS” with so the dead of Darfur can simply GO TO HELL! WHAT A NASTY, RUTHLESS C@NT she is!

      Posted by Brian on 03/16 at 05:52 PM • permalink

 

    1. GThe correct term is “Seppo”

      Posted by Toryhere2 on 03/16 at 06:28 PM • permalink

 

    1. “Yank” also has some sexual connotations.

      Posted by Ioxymoron on 03/16 at 06:45 PM • permalink

 

    1. I once wrote to Ms. Kingston and congratulated her on the use of the slang term ‘Yank’ to describe Americans.

      I also wondered whether, having set the trend, she would begin to use terms such as ‘Poofs’, ‘Abbos’ and ‘Slopes’ all part of common usage, to describe other groups.

      She never replied, though what’s good for the goose…….

      Posted by Nic on 03/16 at 07:04 PM • permalink

 

    1. “Yank” actually sounds very old-fashioned to me; it’s like referring to a giraffe as a camelopard, or saying that I live in the City of Saints. Quaint, not rude. Also just the slightest bit out of touch :).

      Posted by Sonetka on 03/16 at 07:38 PM • permalink

 

    1. Camelopard! I haven’t heard that word in years.

      Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 03/16 at 07:44 PM • permalink

 

    1. Commentator CB has come up with the spoonerism of the year at my site.
      Margo’s mob are not the “Not Happy” crowd, nor are they putting on the “No Thappy” show; they’re the “Hot Nappy” bunch!

      Posted by slatts on 03/16 at 08:18 PM • permalink

 

    1. For non-Aussie readers, a nappy is a diaper.

      Posted by slatts on 03/16 at 08:18 PM • permalink

 

    1. Then why don’t they call it a diaper, damn it.

      Actually I’ve learned a lot of Aussie and British slang from the blogs.  I enjoy it a great deal.  The other day I emailed a friend in gest to “go sod off, swampy”.  He laughed and asked what it meant.  To be honest, I still don’t know.  But it’s etched in my memory forever

      Posted by wronwright on 03/16 at 08:45 PM • permalink

 

    1. It means “f*ck off hippy”

      Posted by murph on 03/16 at 10:06 PM • permalink

 

    1. “swampy” because they look they’ve crawled out of a swamp

      “sod off” is an interesting one.  I believe “sod” in this context might be short for sodomise.

      Posted by murph on 03/16 at 10:09 PM • permalink

 

    1. From “The Devil’s Dictionary” by Ambrose Bierce.

      Yankee (n.) In Europe any American, in America any New Englander.  In The South this word does not exist (see Damnyank).

      Posted by Michael Lonie on 03/16 at 10:44 PM • permalink

 

    1. Here’s one of the best reference sites on the Web, for all your insulting needs: The Racial Slur Database.

      Posted by Evil Pundit on 03/17 at 12:32 AM • permalink

 

    1. Andrea – I know, it just seems to have evaporated! I first ran across it when reading Belloc’s “The Bad Child’s Book Of Beasts.” Being fairly young, I didn’t realize how old the book was, and was terribly confused by the fact that the picture sure looked like a giraffe but was being called a camelopard; I think I decided that it must be what they said in England. I wonder, why did it fall out of favour?

      Posted by Sonetka on 03/17 at 01:12 AM • permalink

 

    1. To the rest of the world, a Yankee is someone from the US.
      To people from the US, a Yankee is someone from North of the Mason Dixon line.
      To people from North of the Mason Dixon line, a Yankee is someone from New England.
      To people from New England, a Yankee is someone from Connecticut.
      To people from Connecticut, a Yankee is someone from Bridgeport.
      To people from Bridgeport, a Yankee is someone who pours Maple Syrup on his oatmeal.

      Posted by triticale on 03/17 at 02:12 PM • permalink

 

    1. I quite like the one from James Fenimore Cooper’s novels, where he has an indian referring to the white hunter as yingese or some such attempt at “English”.
      His novels have largely gone they way of the camelopard, and the wearing of fur hats with tails on them is so outre!

      Posted by blogstrop on 03/17 at 07:50 PM • permalink

 

  1. triticale: what’s wrong with maple syrup on oatmeal? And I’m from Florida, South of the South. I’m so confused…

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 03/17 at 08:29 PM • permalink