answersLogoWhite

0

Why are Americans called yanks?

Updated: 8/22/2023
User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

Best Answer

1. The name of the country is United States of America. Logically, citizens of the US can be called "Americans" when referring to their nationality. There is no other country with "America" in it's name.

2. If you're referring to what continent citizens in the continental USA are from, then you would call them North Americans. Few people identify themselves with what continent they are from except Australians and some Europeans (Despite that Australia is both a country and a continent); they usually identify themselves by their country first. Therefore, few US Citizens are going to refer to themselves as "North American".

-I'll also note that within the US, people often identify themselves according to their state more so than "American" (ie. a person from Texas is a Texan).

3. The term "American" does not have one exclusive definition. It can refer to both the people in the USA and to people from the American continents. Context will clarify which. Neither is inaccurate or a slight to the other.

4. The terms "Americans" or "American colonists" were used by the British way back when the USA was only a colony of Britain. After the USA was formed, people living in this new country continued to be referred to as Americans. So American people did not choose to call themselves that. If anyone presumed that people in the territory of what is now the USA were the only "Americans," then it was the British. The term is not exclusively used by US citizens either. Many other countries refer to US Citizens as "Americans" also.

5. What other alternative is there, that both evokes the culture of the people in the USA and rolls easily off the tongue? Yankee? Not to mention, the term "American" has a long history in being associated with US citizens and their culture, and to ignore that is arrogant. Basically, you'd be asking a whole nation to re-write its identity.

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

"Yank" is short for "Yankee" which dates back to the American Revolution and even earlier to describe Americans.

British called Americans yankeedoodles for beliving we would become our own country.They thought we were crazy.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago

Originally the defining status of colonists from various countries was that they came to the Americas. When the region known as British America was subdivided by the Revolutionary War into the US and Canada, the thirteen colonies kept the name Americans rather than try to define some other name for their nationality.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

9y ago

It depends if you want to know what they are called to their faces or behind their backs. Among the derogatory names are:

  • Ame-koh
  • American't
  • Amerikos
  • Buddy Blaster
  • Colonial
  • Flash
  • Great Satan
  • Hamburger
  • Imperialist
  • Kano
  • Pindos
  • Uncle Scam
  • Yank
  • Yankee
This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

7y ago

Because this is the United States of America.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

9y ago

Americans.

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Why are Americans called yanks?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp