(This is the result of several recent conversations.)
No Yank am I, though Brits believe
this label, and it's a pet peeve.
I was not in New England born,
nor raised among the Yankee corn,
but rather brought up in the maize
and bright Midwestern city days.
Although no Southerner am I,
no Southern flag did ever fly,
nor yet am I from the North-East,
and so no Yank am I, at least.
America has Yankees, yes,
who with enduring happiness
embrace the term - they are not me;
I did not come from there, you see.
And thinking apropos thereof,
if I refered to people of
the British Isles, all of them,
as good, upstanding Englishmen,
a cry of indignation would
sound out: "You have misunderstood!
You Yanks, you overlook details
most critical. We are from Wales!
Or Irish! Scots! Not Englishmen!"
We all misunderstand, you ken.
If from New England we once came,
then Yank can be a proper name;
but if American and not -
we may object. It's a weak spot.
No Yank am I, though Brits believe
this label, and it's a pet peeve.
I was not in New England born,
nor raised among the Yankee corn,
but rather brought up in the maize
and bright Midwestern city days.
Although no Southerner am I,
no Southern flag did ever fly,
nor yet am I from the North-East,
and so no Yank am I, at least.
America has Yankees, yes,
who with enduring happiness
embrace the term - they are not me;
I did not come from there, you see.
And thinking apropos thereof,
if I refered to people of
the British Isles, all of them,
as good, upstanding Englishmen,
a cry of indignation would
sound out: "You have misunderstood!
You Yanks, you overlook details
most critical. We are from Wales!
Or Irish! Scots! Not Englishmen!"
We all misunderstand, you ken.
If from New England we once came,
then Yank can be a proper name;
but if American and not -
we may object. It's a weak spot.
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owlfish- S. Worthen
- S. Worthen
Comments
Wisconsin, with one Border defined by the and another largey by the Mississippi River has some pretty darn squiggly outlines too, if not quite as distinctive ;-)
In New Engladn (according to what I was told), the true Yankees are the Vermonters. And in Vermont, they say that if you don't eat apple pie for breakfast, then you're not a real Yankee.
Either that or something about outhouses. I heard this from my mother, so I suspect her of modifying it for my tender ears.
I cannot personally vouch for the accuracy of any of this.
Thus saith a Yankee.
(It was very disconcerting when a Southern friend of mine called me a Yankee for the first time :)
I henceforth shall address this fan
Who makes her case with charm and wit
But: British, please and never 'Brit'.