English Words in Action, Group Y +

1. The boy yanked (snatched, pulled suddenly) the jump rope out of the girl's hand and threw it in the bushes.
2. The dentist yanked (pulled out, extracted) the abscessed tooth out of his mouth.
3. Give the door a good yank (pull, jerk) to close it.

1. The whaling ship's crew consisted of Yankees (New Englanders) and Kanakas.
2. The guy from Georgia claimed that he could out run any Yankee (Northerner) in the race.
3. The Yanks (U.S. service person) distinguished themselves during the battle.

Historical background

The origin of Yankee has been the subject of much debate, but the most likely source is the Dutch name Janke, meaning "little Jan" or "little John", a nickname that dates back to the 1680s.

Perhaps because it was used as the name of pirates, the name Yankee came to be used as a term of contempt. It was used this way in the 1750's by General James Wolfe, the British general who secured British domination of North America by defeating the French at Quebec.

The name may have been applied to New Englanders as an extension of an original use referring to Dutch settlers living along the Hudson River. Whatever the reason, Yankee is first recorded in 1765 as a name for an inhabitant of New England.

The first recorded use of the term by the British to refer to Americans in general appears in the 1780's, in a letter by Lord Horatio Nelson. Around the same time it began to be abbreviated to Yank.

During the American Revolution, American soldiers adopted this term of derision as a term of national pride. The derisive use nevertheless remained alive and even intensified in the South during the Civil War, when it referred not to all Americans but to those loyal to the Union North.

During the "War Between the States", Southerners nicknamed their Northern enemies Yankees or damn Yankees; so, the term became a negative epithet again, and in some parts of the U.S. South, it still might be.

When someone from other countries refer to a person or people from the U.S., Yankee has been a synonym for "U.S. citizen" because immediately after the American Revolution, the friendliness or unfriendliness of its use varied depending on the historical circumstances.

Most of the time, the term carries less emotion except, of course, for certain baseball fans.

1. The little dog yapped (barked shrilly) on all evening until its owners returned.
2. Our neighbor is always yapping (talking incessantly, jabbering) about some new diet.
3. What is the opposition party yapping (raving, complaining) about now?
4. The puppy made a series of yaps (shrill barks) and ran out the door.