It all depends on where you and/or your family were born. If you were born nonetheless of the Mason/Dixon line you are a yankee.

I’m a NJ transplant. Not a baseball fan but I prefer the Mets 🤣

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is "a nickname for a native or inhabitant of New England, or, more widely, of the northern States generally".

I was born in California, and lived my entire professional life in California. However, my formative high school years were in a small farm town in a rural (then) county south of the Mason-Dixon Line. That line, for those not sure, was laid out by Misters Mason and Dixon. It is essentially the border between the states of Maryland (south of the line) and Pennsylvania (north of the line). Gettysburg is about 3 or 5 miles north of the line. I had heard that those born and raised outside the south were "yankees" regardless of where, including Texas and California.

However, working in a factory in rural Tennessee not long ago, the local born-and-bred hillbillies (literally, they live in Tellico Plains in the Smokies - the actual birthplace of hillbillies), it was made clear that Californians were not considered yankees by these folks. Mostly they considered New Englanders and mid-westerners (especially a lot of dislike for Chicago and Michigan folks).

I think the other poster nailed it, people who move to the south but insist on changing the culture or continuing with their thought/belief/opinions that do not align with those commonly held by those born and raised in the south.

The definition of South depends on where your frame work is. If you're in Virginia, you think it is there. If you are in Tennessee, they are not sure they consider Kentuckians southerners, muchless Virginians or Marylanders.

For what it is worth, Maryland was a "slave" state during the war of northern aggression, despite being below the Mason-Dixon, however they never seceded.

Forgetaboutit… Florida is the sixth borough of NY anyway.

North of MD, West to MN
 

Yankees are a Puritan culture in the northeast US from New England west thru Minnesota. Much different culture from FL which is the Deep South.

See Colin Woodard’s book American Nations

History can still be taught in Florida, thanks to DeSantis. It’s the rest of the “woke” US that can’t teach it. :bigbow:

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once wrote of “hard-core” pornography: “I know it when I see it.”

What is a Yankee? You'll know one when you see one.

Part of my work life was in international Falls, MN, on the Minnesota-Ontario border. There was a fair amount of intermingling with Canadians. It was not unusual, in a conversation, to hear a reference to “You Yanks”. Nothing malicious or insulting about it.

As a lifelong Floridian, I was taught that “Yankees” meant anyone north of Virginia for the northeast & anyone north of Kentucky for the Midwest. I was also taught Snowbirds were an essential part of our economy & should be valued & treated with respect.
Oh, & Granny always said, “Every old person drives like they’re the only one on the road, they can’t see & can’t hear, so just smile & stay out of their way!” Good advice, I think.

a yankee is someone who would send the alligator the way of his ancestors

I was 16 years old before I realized damn yankee is 2 words

I'm a Yankee from Boston.

:duck:

My understanding is that the origin of the word is New England native Americans having difficulty pronouncing the word “English “. They called the first settlers here in Massachusetts Yankees.

I always figured it was anyone who rooted for that terrible baseball team from NY.

Fargo, ND has got to be

Yankees
 

It's 2023, Yankees are a baseball team and that is all! Yes, they are snowbirds, the spring train in Tampa.

What is a yankee?
 

A definition I remember from when i was a kid was- anyone who lives in the US, to people who do not. Anyone living north of the Mason-Dixon line to an American. To someone above the line, it's a New englander. To a New Englander, it's someone from VT. To a Vermonter, it's anyone who eats apple pie for breakfast.

People like you, are my phobia.... referring to the other thread.

The Mason Dixon line is between Pa. and Maryland. Said to be the dividing line between the Yankee Northern States and the Southern States.
Folks from either side are generally said to identified by their regional accent and level of social skill.

While thoroughly discussed and already stated (loc of Mason-Dixon Line) in earlier posts, I will note that Maryland and Virginia - while technically below the Mason-Dixon Line, are generally regarded as Mid-Atlantic states. They make up two-thirds of the DelMarVa peninsula.

Someone from New England is often referred to as a Yankee

Anyone north of Maryland!

A Yankee is from New England and the ONLY states that are part of New England are:::::
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
People from these states are true Yankees. People from other states are not.

think other states civil war veterans would have disagreed with you since they paid with their blood, limbs and lives

yankee
 

My parents moved from Ohio to Virginia in 1985. They had a underground house built there and they had a hard time finding anyone who construct it. They said they dont work for Yankees.