[QUOTE=only_human;241473]Stop taking the piss -- Yanks is used just as carelessly. On this side of the pond many of us recognize quite a distinction between sides taken during the Civil War but most of us let it go without getting pedantic.

[URL]http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yank[/URL][/QUOTE]

Sounds similar to "jerk" to me (in most of the senses cited).

Re the World Wars: over sexed, over paid and over here.

:smile:

Then you use it as a pejorative?
Some of us consider it a compliment.

[QUOTE=davar55;241477]Brits from Britain, the English from England, UKers,
which do you prefer? Yanks are more thick-skinned.[/QUOTE]

Most of the English are fine with "Brits". Scots, Welsh and Irish (Northern
Protestant) may beg to differ.
As for Eire, you are definitely treading a dangerous path,
but I would be surprized if your Noraid(?) IRA contributors
were not already aware of that.

David

[QUOTE=davar55;241456]Those Brits and their sense of humour.[/QUOTE]
Actually it is too close to the truth for comfort.

"I may be in the gutter, but at least I'm looking at the stars".

(Oscar Wilde)

David

[QUOTE=davieddy;241479]Sounds similar to "jerk" to me (in most of the senses cited).

Re the World Wars: over sexed, over paid and over here.

:smile:[/QUOTE]Right. Yanks is a pejorative. Sure being on the side opposing slavery is a positive and in the gently ribbing of just-between-us back-slapping buddies it is a positive but overall it is a obnoxious label when applied unsmilingly. It is no better than the crass lickspittle North American cur who when traveling though more southerly countries, insults their food, hygiene, customs and women and water, then while speaking with a bug-eating grin says "I'm a Gringo!" as if to say "It's all just good fun between us right?"

Come to think of it, what is the derivation of "Yank"?

David

[QUOTE=davieddy;241496]Come to think of it, what is the derivation of "Yank"?

David[/QUOTE]
Well, here is what Wikipedia says: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee[/url]

It is general and inconclusive. I take many derivation stories with the full shaker of salt that any just-so story requires. Back in pre-web days I was a member of Compuserve's Foreign Language Educators FOrum (I think there was another 'E' in it). One story related there was how some educator for raw fun pushed the story of Champagne being derived from Napolean's horse "Champs," saying that it came from "Champs' bread"

[QUOTE=davieddy;241479]
Re the World Wars: over sexed, over paid and over here.

:smile:[/QUOTE]

My father (born 1903) had some fond memories of Americans
in Norfolk during WW2.

But he could never resist telling this jest about one of them
taking an English girl for a ride into the country in his flash car.

Showing off its features, he turned on the airconditioning
thereby blowing her skirt up around her waist.

"Gee!" she said. "Don't you Americans do anything by hand these days?"

David

[QUOTE=davieddy;241498]My father (born 1903) had some fond memories of Americans
in Norfolk during WW2.

But he could never resist telling this jest about one of them
taking an English girl for a ride into the country in his flash car.

Showing off its features, he turned on the airconditioning
thereby blowing her skirt up around her waist.

"Gee!" she said. "Don't you Americans do anything by hand these days?"

David[/QUOTE]In my car, I did have a date accuse me of making an aborted attempt of reaching up her skirt. What I actually had done was shift gears quickly while changing lanes in a downtown Los Angeles freeway merge. She didn't seem too upset and I felt that explaining my actions would sound weak and possibly implausible, so I refrained from commenting. Thus the evening agenda had made a huge leap forward, albeit unintentionally.

[QUOTE=only_human;241501]In my car, I did have a date accuse me of making an aborted attempt of reaching up her skirt. What I actually had done was shift gears quickly while changing lanes in a downtown Los Angeles freeway merge. She didn't seem too upset and I felt that explaining my actions would sound weak and possibly implausible, so I refrained from commenting. Thus the evening agenda had made a huge leap forward, albeit unintentionally.[/QUOTE]

I feel a whole new thread coming on.
Should it be started in the Soapbax or the Toilet?
(Clientele probably should be male, heterosexual and over 21,
but allcomers welcome). I didn't say that.

David

PS No mention of pigmentation. See darkside of moon thread.

[QUOTE=only_human;241501]In my car, I did have a date accuse me of making an aborted attempt of reaching up her skirt. What I actually had done was shift gears quickly while changing lanes in a downtown Los Angeles freeway merge. She didn't seem too upset and I felt that explaining my actions would sound weak and possibly implausible, so I refrained from commenting. Thus the evening agenda had made a huge leap forward, albeit unintentionally.[/QUOTE]

That is my experience of how relationships start.
I could never master the art of tarting myself up
and intentionally "pulling".

RISQUE hand up skirt in car story:

Parked on an incline.
Lady approaching a state of ecstasy.
Car starts to roll backwards.
Hand requires rapid redeployment to hand brake.
Previous business resumed.

When I mentioned it to her later, she was
totally oblivious of this minor drama.

I count this as some sort of accolade to my capacities as a lover:smile:.

David