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Ken,
United Kingdom won't offend anyone (except particularly hard-line Scottish/English/Welsh/Irish nationalists, and I don't think we've got any of those round here). It's an "all-inclusive" term.
So, yes, UK is fine. Unless anyone else has any objections?
David
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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... I mean, it's flattering for an Englishman to be mistaken for a Scot, but if it happens the other way round it's an unforgivable insult!
Seriously, though: Ken was speculating about the origin of the word 'Yankee', and thought it might pre-date World War I. It's actually much older than that!
I wouldn't dare to use a British source to explain the origin of such a specifically American word, so I consulted the American-authored Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology. The Dictionary dates the earliest recorded use of the word to 1683, in the phrase 'Yankey Duch'. By the mid-1700s it was used as a general term for inhabitants of the New England settlements, originally in an abusive way, but eventually as a name proudly adopted by the settlers themselves. The exact origin and original meaning are unclear, but it was almost certainly absorbed from the Dutch language. A suggested explanation is that it is a corruption of 'Jan Kees', a dialect variation of 'Jan Kaas', which literally means 'John Cheese'. Just as 'Uncle Sam' personified of the USA, and 'John Bull' personified the British, 'Jan Kaas' personified the Dutch. And, of course, there was a sizeable Dutch community in New England - New York was originally New Amsterdam!
There is no convincing evidence to support any of the fanciful suggestions that the word was adopted from a Native American source.
By the late 1700s, British writers were using the word to describe all American colonists, and it (or, more usually, the shortened form 'Yank') is still used with that meaning today. Only the rebellious colonials attach significance to the Mason-Dixon Line!
'Yank' was first recorded as a word in its own right in 1778.
Damn' Yankees!
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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