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Mysteries of vernacular: Yankee - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel

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Mysteries of Vernacular

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Is it a doodle dandy? A baseball team? The origins of the word yankee are unclear, though its usage in America as a pejorative is well-documented. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel track the varying levels of contempt that the word yankee has elicited from the pre-Revolution era to today.

Who first used the word Yankee when referring to the United States colonists?

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