Others say the word comes from the Cherokee word eankke, which means coward. Some say a British general named James Wolfe used it first in 1758 when he was commanding some New England soldiers. No one is really sure where the word Yankee came from. Bush (from Massachusetts and Maine) are considered cultural Yankees. Kennedy (from Massachusetts), Calvin Coolidge (from Vermont), and George H. Yankee politicians are often associated with civic pride and public service. Often, there is a stereotype associated with Yankee politicians: they are white, wealthy, and attended elite colleges like Harvard University. Yankees have been important players in politics. After the war, Yankee was once again mostly used to describe New Englanders. During the Civil War, and even after the war came to an end, Yankee was a term used by Southerners to describe their rivals from the Union, or northern, side of the conflict. New England includes the states of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In the United States, the term specifically refers to residents of New England. (In Spanish, it’s spelled yanqui.) Sometimes, it's a negative description. Yankee is sometimes abbreviated as “Yank.” People from all over the world, including Great Britain, Australia, and South America, use the term to describe Americans. Some people think it's simply a silly description for people who live in a certain area of the United States. Some people hate it-the word started as an insult. Some people love it-especially baseball fans who root for the New York Yankees. “ Yankee” is a word almost everyone has heard-but most of us don't know quite what it means.
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