How do I get people to stop calling me a yankee?

[Chase]

Many of the companies in my area call themselves "Yankee".
"Yankee this" and Yankee that." Yankee Candle Co. being a well known example.
Regardless of what MisterTinkles says, the term "Yankee" is not suppose to be a pejorative. I'll call myself a Yankee no matter how kind and sweet a Southerner may think of me.

[Pix]

Obviously, I live in the South. Everyone calls me a yankee down here. I find it to be insulting- Plus, I live in the South and that technically makes me a Southerner, even though I've only lived down here for about a month

Sorry, having been raised in the South that was too much. You love the South and have no idea what it's about! And calling yourself a Southerner after you lived there a month is as absurd as calling yourself a Mexican after you've lived in Mexico (to go to college!) for a month. It's not just where you live, it's your culture and heritage that you were raised with and marks you (even if you fight it).

Oh, and btw, one of the jokes I was raised with: "Why did the North get the Yankees and California get the gays? California got to choose first." :tongue:

[Matty71]

Since a lot of Euro countries despise Americans, but not Texans. And especially if you are from Dallas, like me, that is totally acceptable.

I lived in East Texas for a number of years.

I met a really sweet guy from Dallas online. He came to my town and picked me up. We went back to Dallas. He took me to the gay Halloween parade, and a gay bar in Dallas where I had a wonderful time drinking and dancing. I had a very good time in Dallas. Nice city.

[VileKyle]

Simple. Stop being a damn Yankee.

[Rawr]

If you live in France, you are French by nationality.

Living there doesn't make him french... that notion is silly :3

Lol, no. People from the South are not yankees, they are Southerners.

Yankee = American who doesn't live in the South

Call me ignorant, but for us English, all Americans are 'Yankees'? so I guess my opinion/advice is void. But tell them it offends you, jokingly so they don't take the joke further... or ignore it so they don't take it further? or jokingly call them back?

I dunno

[Arkansota]

Sorry, having been raised in the South that was too much. You love the South and have no idea what it's about! And calling yourself a Southerner after you lived there a month is as absurd as calling yourself a Mexican after you've lived in Mexico (to go to college!) for a month. It's not just where you live, it's your culture and heritage that you were raised with and marks you (even if you fight it).

Oh, and btw, one of the jokes I was raised with: "Why did the North get the Yankees and California get the gays? California got to choose first." :tongue:

I am sick of people like you who just feel like it's fucking peachy to publicly ridicule others.

I made a thread in response to some of these types of comments that I've been getting.

http://gayspeak.com/showthread.php?p=337537#post337537

[Bowyn Aerrow]

You are Yankee - you were not born in the south, you were born in the north, sound like a Yankee and most likely have lots of Yankee behaviors.

Being a Southerner is not a location, its a state of being which one month living in Arkansas is not enough time to give you the powers of Southerner.

Hell, even legally you are not a resident of Arkansas for at least 6 months - meaning you have to live there for 6 months to be considered an Arkansan.

Once you get rid of that foul northern accent you will be accepted a bit more.

[trialbyerror]

Then how the heck did a "yankee" screwdriver, which is a very cleverly designed and useful type of screwdriver eva get named a "yankee" screwdriver if "yankee" is something a "yankey" does not want to be associated by???

[Pix]

You're right, I shouldn't have shared how your thread made me laugh. I apologize.

First, you are NOT a Southerner, which is part of a cultural identity, not just where you happen to be at the time. You might integrate one day enough to be accepted but it will take years, and for your sake you should not try to pretend you are one in the meantime as it would probably come off as being mocking (which could become violent) or pathetic (in which case you'll be called a Yankee).

And unless you're in an urban area then it's also going to count against you if you don't have family (extended family counts). Naturally, urban areas are different as they have people from everywhere, even other countries, and therefore are more cosmopolitan and less Southern.

You have so many weird ideas about the South that are just wrong but you don't seem to want to listen, not even to those of us who grew up there, and it's complicated in that your wrong ideas are actually more distortions of the reality (a common mistake people for outsiders to make). For example, Southern hospitality is real, at least in the rural regions, but ironically a Northerner or Californian who is openly gay is more likely to enjoy it than a local openly gay as long as they're just passing through and not looking to move there. It gets complicated by other factors as well, like Texas tends to have feuds with Oklahoma and Tennessee (for really stupid reasons) so visitors from those states can get a cold reaction and vice versa though such negative reactions aren't universal. And in the case of Texas there's regional differences as well with some big differences between West and East Texas (I'd say only East Texan is "Southern"), and Austin is a surprisingly liberal city despite being the capital of an ultraconservative state.

Florida gets even weirder in trying to define (and Louisiana has exotic cultural aspects as well).

There are just so many details that you've never been exposed to, and to complicate it there are things I'd say that would likely be argued by others in the South (but I'd probably point out the likely response and my rebuttal to it before they had the chance).

And I'm confused as to where you got your ideas and fascination for the South. I've asked you more than once but you don't answer, perhaps another reason I decided to try not to see it from your point of view this time, because you obviously think your point of view is "obvious" and doesn't need to be explained. Maybe if I had some idea of your inspiration and/or why you're so fascinated with the South then I could be more helpful as I'd know what I was working with better in trying to explain it to you. But it's not up to me to figure out "where you're coming from" when you can't bother to help me to.

[Lilitu]

Don't deny your background!

You can live in Arkansas for however long, you'll always come from the North, and it's not right to completely deny that, it's just as much a part of who you are as where you currently live.

I know it's hard to juggle two different cultures, but I just think that's the right thing to do. Hiding your background just makes you a false person.