>>In an etymological spirit today. I have read 2 possible derivations of this word.
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>>1) disparaging term for the English, by the Dutch, from "Jan Kees" or "John Cheese"
>>
>>2) Corruption of "Anglais" (French for English) that the local native Americans couldn't get their tongues round.
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>>Anyone got any others? We all know where "Limeys" comes from - British sailors eating lemons (called limes in those days) to ward off scurvy. Don't know why the Canadians are called "Cannucks" either.
>>
>>Terry
>
>I didn't know the word "Yankee" still existed except as a reference to the baseball team.
>
>When I lived in Texas, I recall there was a word "DamnYankee" (As transplanted Noo Yawka they meant me). Now that I think of it, the normal usage (as opposed to the official name) of the baseball team was the word "themdamnyankees"

Well, whether it's used or not, it still has a derivation. And the shortened form, "yanks" is still used outside the US to refer disparagingly to Americans, whether from the North or South (but people probably only meet northerners as the southerners never leave their bayous :-)

Incidentally, given your phonetic pronunciation, it reminds me that I hate it when English pop stars and aspiring pop stars (as in the programme "Pop Idol" - UK version), affect a phoney, catch-all American accent. Sting, in his song "An Englishman in New York" sings like, "You kin tell by the way I tark, I'm an Englishman in Noo Yawk", which rather contradicts itself, wouldn't you say?