Quick question for southerners

If I'm from California, am I considered a "Yankee"? Shouldn't "Yankee" only refer to the North?

altouh Socal is not Norcal it was at least on the Union side unlike texas who like to say they are the west. With all due respect to Elpso , they are Surenos

A Yankee is someone from North of the Mason-Dixon line.

is a person from Washington State a Yankee? Or is a person from Oklahoma a southerner, seeing as how Oklahoma used to be called "Indian Territory"

They did not partake in the confederacy, which was a defining experience for the South.

During the days of the Democratic "Solid South" Oklahoma was always a competitive state for Republicans.

Grits consumption is also a factor.

despite growing up in Alabama, I'm considered a "Yank" when out of the country.

I don't think the Mason-Dixon line runs that far west.

Bake

first published in its entirety in 1909:

Yankee, n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown (see DAMYANK).

That's what we call Californians in Alabama.

and I don't call people yankee so I wouldn't know. I call myself Sue, if I don't like you, will tell you my real name if I do like you, if I really really like you, you can call me Mel. :)

Would you like to be called something? If so, I'd call you a Californian.

In its most restricted form, for New Englanders, especially rural northern New England, and quintessentially Maine. There's nothing hostile about that usage. In its broadest form, anyone from north of the Mason-Dixon line and west to the Great Lakes. Someone from Louisiana would probably consider someone from Minnesota a Yankee, but in Virginia or NC it's used more to mean those directly north of us. Yet I do refer to my grandmother from NC as "marrying a Yankee" since my grandfather was from Michigan. This is matter-of-fact and can be teasing or affectionate.

When used in anger, with "damn," it refers to a specific kind of behavior, often behind the wheel but sometimes in person. Abrasive, rude, aggressive, insensitive-- all of which are much more associated with NY/NJ/PA/CT/MA than with the Midwest or northern New England.

I have never once heard any Southerner refer to any Westerner as a Yankee.

CYD