text: what does the term "yankee" mean, anyways?   the term yankee has a variety of meanings. generally, it refers to citizens of the united states, particularly northerners, especially those americans from the northeastern united states.  origins of the term are disputed. one theory customarily held by persons not from new england claims that it originated from the dutch in old new amsterdam (today known as new york city) in the mid-atlantic states. it then was adopted by the british as a pejorative for (northern) colonists. the origin might have been the phrase jan kees ("john cornelius") (two very common dutch names), which the english-speaking people picked up as "yankees", a word they used to refer to the dutch.  the dutch theory is somewhat confused. the settlers of new amsterdam and the settlers of massachusetts bay were totally unconnected and did not come into contact until both communities were sufficiently dense to carry on trade up and down the east coast. there is no reason why the british should call english settlers in a different location by a dutch name when new amsterdam was under dutch jurisdiction and always had been. moreover, new york has never been "yankee" except in the world wars of modern times.  the prevalent theory in new england holds that it originated among a group of indigenous peoples of the americas on the east coast of the united states. they were unable to pronounce the word "english", rendering it as "yengis" or "yengeese". this later was anglicized to "yankees".  this theory is widely held, as descendants of those same native americans are alive in massachusetts, mainly as the wampanoags and are vociferous about their origin and are fairly well publicized. they still know the basic core of their former language and are able to say that in it there is no "l" sound. their ancestors would not have pronounced it, rendering english to "yengis".  in another theory, indians who first learned of the english from the french may have borrowed the french language name "anglais" and rendered it as something that approximated "yankee" in their own phonetic system. one area in which french, french-allied indians, and british-descended americans would have come into contact was the area of frontier warfare conducted during the french and indian war (1754–1763). this is more or less consistent with the areas in which other derivations of the word would postulate its first use. if this is the origin of the term yankee, it may originally have had a pejorative, anti-american connotation similar to that of gringo, becoming adopted as a matter of pride by british-descended americans who had fought on the frontier during the french and indian war.  there are several other folk and humorous etymologies for the word.  one influence on the use of the term throughout the years has been the song yankee doodle, which was popular at the time of the american revolutionary war (1775–1783). though the british intended to insult the colonials with the song, following the battle of concord, it was adopted by americans as a proud retort and today is the state song of connecticut.  an early use of the term outside the united states was in the creation of sam slick, the "yankee clockmaker", in a column in a newspaper in halifax, nova scotia, in 1835. the character was a plain-talking american who served to mock both american and british north american customs of that era. the stories were published in a book titled the clockmaker, in 1836. the book was popular in british north america, the united states, and the united kingdom.