My parents were from Alabama, my Dad told me he was eighteen before he learned that damned and yankee were two separate words.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast. - E.B. White