The Term "Yank"

[markem]

Originally Posted by icehog3

But iRiSh is talking about the term "Yank" as used to describe all Americans, as used outside the U.S., not the distinction made between people on the North side of the Mason-Dixon line within the U.S..

I call many of my friends from Great Britain "Brits" and they tend to refer to Americans as Yanks. Back in the day when I lived in Seattle and did a lot of rock climbing at Squamish in BC, almost everyone there who wasn't an American would call you "Yank", if they recognized you were an American. I've heard it used in insults (all you yanks are wankers) but never heard the term itself used in a way that was derogatory.

To put it another way, yank isn't bad in the same way that mudblood is in Potterville.