Between the "North" and the "South" on the Eastern seaboard there is a central area that is in some ways renounced by both "regions". There's some remainder of the Civil War/Mason Dixon line there, but it doesn't follow that delineation today.
For example, in New York someone who grew up in rural Maryland would likely be viewed culturally as a "Southerner". But so would someone from Western Pennsylvania. So would someone from West Virginia, despite West Virginia and Pennsylvania being part of the Union. People in the Deep South would view residents of these areas as "Yankees".
In both cases what is meant is that "Your cultural experience is different enough from ours that you're not 'us', you're 'them'." where 'them' is Southern or Northern, wherever you're not. The thing is, there's a big chunk of the mid-Atlantic seaboard that is unique, not traditionally Southern or Northern.
"Redneck" is usually pejorative for a working class, white, Southerner. When rednecks say "redneck" it usually isn't an insult, but when others use the word it usually is. Calling somewhere a "Redneck bar" is fine, but calling someone in that bar a "redneck" is usually not.
"Yankee" is just a term for Northerner. I'm sure you could say it as an insult, and I'm sure some people think "yankee" is an insult, but if someone calls me a yankee I'd happily agree with them.
>"Redneck" is usually pejorative for a working class, white, Southerner. When rednecks say "redneck" it usually isn't an insult, but when others use the word it usually is. Calling somewhere a "Redneck bar" is fine, but calling someone in that bar a "redneck" is usually not.
Here in NZ, "redneck" seems to be morphing away from the "hick" or working class definitions to more of a "racist bigot" connotation that could be applied more widely.
Between the "North" and the "South" on the Eastern seaboard there is a central area that is in some ways renounced by both "regions". There's some remainder of the Civil War/Mason Dixon line there, but it doesn't follow that delineation today.
For example, in New York someone who grew up in rural Maryland would likely be viewed culturally as a "Southerner". But so would someone from Western Pennsylvania. So would someone from West Virginia, despite West Virginia and Pennsylvania being part of the Union. People in the Deep South would view residents of these areas as "Yankees".
In both cases what is meant is that "Your cultural experience is different enough from ours that you're not 'us', you're 'them'." where 'them' is Southern or Northern, wherever you're not. The thing is, there's a big chunk of the mid-Atlantic seaboard that is unique, not traditionally Southern or Northern.
"Redneck" is usually pejorative for a working class, white, Southerner. When rednecks say "redneck" it usually isn't an insult, but when others use the word it usually is. Calling somewhere a "Redneck bar" is fine, but calling someone in that bar a "redneck" is usually not.
"Yankee" is just a term for Northerner. I'm sure you could say it as an insult, and I'm sure some people think "yankee" is an insult, but if someone calls me a yankee I'd happily agree with them.