where does term yankee come from?
153192
i think it came from the civil war .\nthe union soliders where known Billy Yank \nand the conferate as Johnny Reb (im a little reble)
502832
(U.S. & UK Commonwealth) an Italian (sometimes any Southern European), especially an immigrant; probably originated in the U.S., but later spread to other countries. Probably derives from the Neapolitan slang term guappo! (pretty/handsome one), often used by the first immigrants from Italy to address or call to each other. Popular etymology gives the origin as "WithOut Passport", although some believe the acronym derived from "WithOut Papers" or "Without Official Papers", suggesting illegal immigration. This folk etymology sometimes combines the term with "guinea" to form "Giny Wop," with Giny being an acronym for Going Into New York, hence "Going Into New York Without Official Papers".
5626
Most of the names come from hundreds of years ago when the countries had different names, or the english speaking people named the country after a group within the country, or got the country's name from a third language - for example, before any westerner had ever been to Japan, they had been to China, where the Chinese pronounce the characters for Japan as "Yappun" - as the word drifted from one language to another, and since a lot of foreign sounds don't fit other languages there is drift - the Y was eventually replaced with a J, and the spelling was based on the sound of the pronunciation - i.e. Japan. The Japanese word for the United States is "Beikoku" "rice country". These things are done because of a combination of convenience and the lack of direct communications hundreds of years ago. People were hearing about these far off countries via third and fourth parties - the Portugese sailors tell the spanish who tell the dutch who tell the brittish.  Ever played the "telephone game"? It's like that.
869856
United Statesian is an English translation for a term people in Latin America like to use when referring to Americans.  They made it up.  At some point, they got the bright idea that Americans shouldn't be calling themselves Americans because the continent is called America.\nThey think that we use the term America exclusively, leaving them out.  For some (stupid) reason, they think we don't know that the continent is called America.  In their minds, they are Americans, too, so they took it upon themselves to rename us.\n\nI had this explained to me over and over by Mexicans when I was travelling there and they asked me where I was from.  They also like to call us North Americans.  \n\nThey get real irritated when you point out to them that Mexico is also called United States of Mexico, and is located in North America, so they are United Statesians and North Americans, by their own wording.  Then they get this dumb look on their face when you show them a map and tell them that the continent called America and the nation called America are two different things.
24109
The origin of the term is disputed. One theory customarily held by persons not from New England claims that it originated from the Dutch in old New Amsterdam (today known as New York City) in the Mid-Atlantic States. It then was adopted by the British as a pejorative for (Northern) colonists. The origin might have been the phrase Jan Kees ("John Cornelius") (two very common Dutch names), which the English-speaking people picked up as "yankees", a word they used to refer to the Dutch.
54610
Yankees.\n\nMy great grandfather used to hang around with Rocky Marciano (boxer).  They'd go to games "back in the day".  My dad had the opportunity to try out back in the 50's, went into the US Army and did 2 tours in Japan instead.
270248
Doughboys in WW2 they were called Yanks...
245269
Johnny Reb was slang for a Confederate Soldier, a Rebel from the South\nBilly Yank was the slang for a Union soldier, from the North.
66228
Comes from Scottish.  They invented the game, called it "Goff".  Golf is the Americanized version of that word.  Not an acronym for anything, that's absurd.
59836
Our word comes from:\nMiddle English - knif\nOld English - cnf\nOld Norse - knfr\n\nWhilst the French now use the word 'couteau', not long ago the word 'canife' was more common. Not surprising perhaps when the part of modern France called Normandie was the place of the North-men (Norse).
16645
In London I've also heard some Australians and New Zealanders use the shortened form 'Brits' among other English-speakers (probably copying American usage).\n\nI suppose it's the American response to being called 'Yanks', which I hear isn't always a civil term for Americans.\n\n\nIdiom (and slang) which develop according to the rule of "whatever's easier to say wins" leads English-speakers to use 'Brit' over 'British'.\n\nIn pronunciation, 'Brits' is shorter, quicker and easier to say than 'British'.  The 't' and 'sh' in 'British' can make the word sound too posh for informal circles.\n\nAlso, 'British' is really an adjective used as a noun so it can sometimes sound odd or formal for that reason as in some sentences you have to elongate it into a composite noun, e.g. 'British people' instead of 'the British'.  \n\n'Brits' (although slang) is a pure noun in all its uses so it does not require another noun after it.\n\n \nCompare:\nThe British are coming (=> aren't we posh!)\nThe Brits are coming (=> more informal)\n\nIt's not quite correct to say that the British/Brits don't use the term.  There is the Brit Awards, Brits Abroad, and Britpop to consider.\n\n\nAn aside: some searching on the net for 'brit' will lead you to the Jewish faith, where a 'brit' is a circumcision (in Biblical Hebrew 'brit' means covenant) - tho more Americans/Yanks are circumcised than British People/Brits).
210364
How about the Patriots? They're from New England, where America began and the name is more 'American'. 'Redskins' is an insult to Native Americans. The Cowboys hail from a state that gave us G.W.Bush. The Patriots come from Massachusetts which gave us John Adams,  John Quincy Adams,  Calvin Coolidge, and John F. Kennedy.
65355
Origin: Dutch \nMeaning: Surname form of Richard.  \nGender: Male
584120
Amerigo Vespucci is the person from whom the word comes from.
577251
Seppo  \n \n Derogertory word used by the English and Australians for all American nationals. Derived from Rhyming slang (Septic Tank = Yank)
751171
Spelling it "tickety-boo" I found:\n\n"But some find a link with the British Army in India, suggesting it comes from the Hindi phrase tikai babu, which is translated as “it’s all right, sir”."
566980
Definition: Said to derive from "fraises," the French word for strawberry because the Fraser arms display three silver strawberry flowers on a field of blue. \n\nSurname Origin: Norman, Scottish \n\nAlternate Surname Spellings: FRAZER, FRAZIER, FRASIER\n\n\nlinks that have info on there genealogy\n\nhttp://www.ellisisland.org/search/matchMore.asp?LNM=FRAZIER&PLNM=FRAZIER&first_kind=1&kind=exact&offset=0&dwpdone=1\n\nhttp://genforum.genealogy.com/frazier/