uced by using a more formal term like American or Northener, there is no shock in using or hearing the word or being the callee.
This could be compared with 'white trash', definitionally 'poor white Southener (in the US)', which is fairly impolite and would be taken as hurtful by the callee.
From the UK, I would not call someone a Yankee ( or Yank ) unless they took the appelation themselves, because I know that some Americans do find the term offensive. It is rarely used here in anything other than a derogatory fashion, but is quite mild in intention ( maybe not in receipt! ).
I woudl say that using it within the US - as a Southerner to a Northerner - it may be taken as rather more offensive. I would suggest not using it, because someone may be particularly offended by it, while others may not care.
Yankee is one of those terms that were originally used in a derogatory manner (see the song Yankee Doodle) but has since been reclaimed with pride. For reference see Chicago's nickname "The Windy City". It was originally used by New Yorkers to criticize the native Chicagoan pride, calling Chicago a town of windbags (which still continues to this day). Also see the Second City as in Chicago is a second class city compared to New York.
Yankee was used by Brits as a slur to Americans during and after the Revolutionary War. As someone else pointed out southerners use the term to describe northern Americans. Few Americans refer to themselves as Yankees today, but during the Revolution, many Americans used the name with pride to describe themselves, thus taking the sting out of the Brits' usage of the word. Ironically, it goes hand in hand with the British view of Americans as a bunch of slack-jawed yokels. "Look at them, they don't even know when we're insultin' them."
I lived in England from 1969-71, and attended Grammar School in Cheltenham, GLOS. As a US citizen and one of only two such in the school (the other was a teacher there) I was referred to and addressed as "Yank" occasionally by my peers (although never as "Yankee"), and never took it as a pejorative, nor did it ever seem to be used as such.
For a few years prior to this, I lived in Toronto, Canada, but don't recall ever hearing either term there.
As a native Californian, being called a "Yank" didn't seem odd at all (although the protypical "Yankee" is from the Northeastern states, not the Western). However, I suspect someone from the US South would probably have received it with some degree of irony -- but probably not offense, unless through tone of voice it was perceived as such.
One of the most well-known New England regional magazines is called Yankee. :-)
I recently read a great article regarding both the origins of the term as well as some of the more "fine-tuned" features/aspects of a "true" Yankee.
As everyone will agree, the most popular uses of the term are derogatory in some say, ranging from teasing distinction to outright slur. These include:
Southern US citizen regarding Northern US citizen -- This can be more refined to "Those who stayed in the Union during the US Civil War" were called Yankees by those who seceded to the Confederacy. This has carried on into modern times in the American South to mean--basically--anyone who isn't from the South. (A friend of mine from KC,KS was once called a Yankee in Dallas once, to which he replied, "You can yank on this."
Americans (ie US citizens) in general to the rest of the world (in Mexico, spelled
Janqui). This can be a slur "Janqui go home!" or, in other Anglo-descendent countries (Australia, Canada, South Africa, etc) can just mean "Oh those Yanks are at it again"
More archaic - Someone of New England heritage, such as someone from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire. A certain cultural heritage can come along with this connotation, such as clam chowder, the rhotic Aaahr (like pahhk the caaa), and a general sense of individualism, self-determination, and stubbornness.
I can't find the article, but it suggested that by the original criteria of the term, long before it became associated with the Mason-D