Only a Southerner Knows (for LoneStar and Scparamedic98)

[Lone Star]

I am told, during the Second World War, members of the US Military from south of the Mason/Dixon Line, who were stationed in England, were horrified to be called "Yankees" by the Brits!

Yankee

Origin: 1765

From the beginning, Yankee has been a fighting word. We first come across it in the names of pirates: one Captain Yankey, also known as Yankey Duch (presumably meaning "Dutch"), mentioned in 1683 and 1684, and a Captain John Williams, known as Yankey or Yanky, in 1687 and 1688.

By 1765, it had been applied specifically to inhabitants of New England, and not as a compliment. A poem published that year called Oppression, a Poem by an American, has as its hero "a Portsmouth Yankey," with the note, "our hero being a New-Englander by birth, has a right to the epithet of Yankey; name of derision, I have been informed, given by the Southern people on the Continent, to those of New-England."

The British liked Yankee, too, when they wanted a derisive epithet for the New England provincials. They set it to music in the song "Yankee Doodle," said to have been composed by a British army surgeon "in derision of the provincial troops."

Then came the American Revolution, and the word as well as the world turned upside down. What had been an insult became a boast. Yankees used that name proudly for themselves as they fought the British, and "Yankee Doodle" became the marching song of the revolution.

But if Yankee was now a term of endearment, how could southerners express their derision toward the people of the North? Simple enough. Add a prefix, and you have fighting words once again: damned Yankee or plain damyankee. They appear as early as 1812, in this threat: "Take the middle of the road or I'll hew you down, you damned Yankee rascal."

Even in the twentieth century, when Yankees has often just seemed to signify the name of a baseball team, southerners still call northerners Yankees when they are annoyed with them. And during the World Wars, when we told our allies "the Yanks are coming," we meant fighting men.

While I have no idea what is meant by being called a "cracker", I do have the awareness to know the person calling me that, intends it as an insult.

"Cracker" is a derogatory slang term usually used to mean a poor white person resident in the Southern U.S., especially in the state of Georgia, which is sometimes referred to as "the Cracker State." More than simply a regional slur, "cracker" carries the implication that the person is a racist, and is sometimes applied to any white person perceived as harboring racist sentiments, regardless of class or geographic particulars.

There are theories tracing "cracker" to the crack of a slavemaster's whip, or to "corncracker" (slang for country folk, who presumably ate a lot of corn). But the actual source is almost certainly the much older slang sense of "to crack" meaning "to boast or brag," first seen around 1460, and its derivative "cracker," meaning "braggart," which appeared around 1509. The earliest use of "cracker" used in the "poor white" sense discovered so far bears out the connection. In a letter written to the Earl of Dartmouth in 1766, an observer named Gavin Cochrane, referring to bands of outlaws operating at that time in the Southern U.S., noted: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode."

Evidently these outlaws were so successful that their exploits, along with their bragging habits, became legendary throughout the eastern United States. By the early 19th century, "cracker" had become a term applied to poor Southern whites in general.

http://www.word-detective.com/100699.html

On the subject of "Sweet Milk", I wish someone had told me about that difference, before I visited the Norfolk Navy Base, Norfolk, Virginia, back in 1965, when I was 11. Leave it at me NOT being a buttermilk fan! (Hey, more buttermilk for those who like it, right?)

I too, never cared for buttermilk, but would watch my father pour a glass of that chunky stuff, add salt and so much pepper that the top of the liquid was pretty much evenly blacked out, then sit back and drink the stuff. I figure if you gotta cover the taste like that, it probably ain't somethin you should be drinkin' in the first place!

[Arkymedic]

W00t you succeeded at makin me feel more at home Its not where I really grew up but close enough, spent most of my time growin up in Arkansas, which I do believe should be a different country spent my teenage years in Tennessee though. So i feel pretty attached to southern life. I miss it. Currently living in Illinois, you wave at someone here and they look at you funny like "Why the heck are you waving at me for weirdo!" You go anywhere south of the Mason Dixon and wave at someone, hell they'll come up and take ya out to lunch! I'd move back in a heartbeat if I could. I like down-home country people. It will actually be nice to die from something that a lot of folks around here are not familiar with, KINDNESS! :twisted:

Hey now there is absolutely nothing wrong with Arkansas. We gave Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea to NY so its a much better place now

[Jess]

lol Arky you are absolutely correct!! What part of Arkansas you in?

[Arkymedic]

lol Arky you are absolutely correct!! What part of Arkansas you in?

I'm originally from Omaha, AR up by Harrison and Branson but I live in Fort Smith right now.

[unknown]

I'm originally from Omaha, AR up by Harrison and Branson but I live in Fort Smith right now.

Omaha, Boone County very near the Missouri Arkansas border.... Nark EMS AE 40 sits north of Harrison on 65 in community of Prosperity....We air lift many patients out of North Ark to St Johns Springfield and to WRMC in Fayettville.

Fort Smith Sebastion County south of Springdale off 540 on Oklahoma border Ae 22 out of Paris, Logan County would respond to this area however its more like we deliver lots of Patients to Sparks and St Edwards......

ask me any thing about Arkansas...... I like a good challange......

[firedoc5]

I'm originally from Omaha, AR up by Harrison and Branson but I live in Fort Smith right now.

Not too far from Berryville, been there. My family is originally from the Jasper area. I forgot the county. I little farther south I know. LOVE Hot Springs.

[Arkymedic]

Not too far from Berryville, been there. My family is originally from the Jasper area. I forgot the county. I little farther south I know. LOVE Hot Springs.

Newton County we make a lot of jokes about that area he he he.

[unknown]

Not too far from Berryville, been there. My family is originally from the Jasper area. I forgot the county. I little farther south I know. LOVE Hot Springs.

Yeah Newton county-- a whole new world. I once took a road trip from Paris back to West Plains via Hwy 7 up through the center of Newton county--- can we say Motion sickness!!! Whew that was ruff.............

Any how Hot Springs Garland County South West of Little Rock NO WHERE near Newton county.......

[Luvaemt]

The south you gotta love it! Where else is it okay to just sit on the front porch all day and watch the cars drive up and down the road, and wave at them everytime they pass.... You know you are in real peace when you can sit on the porch with your neighbor for hours and the only words that they say after they get up to go back home is see ya tomorrow!!!!