Letter to the Editor: Origin of the Yankees

Syracuse Post-Standard
March 8, 2012

To the Editor:

I was amused to see Douglass Selover’s Feb. 5 letter complaining about the use of the term “in Dutch” as being a British slur against people from the Netherlands.

The reason I was amused is because there is another British slur against the Dutch that was based on the fact that they seemed to be, like those from modern-day Wisconsin, a people who loved their cheese. The Brits called the Dutch by the derisive term of “Jan Cheese,” based on the then common Dutch name of Jan (pronounced “Jon”).

Over the years, not only did the Dutch wear this originally derisive term with pride (like our Wisconsin Cheeseheads), but the pronunciation changed from “Jan Cheese” to “Yan Cheese,” and finally to the term that we wore proudly when we went to help out the Brits during World War II: “Yankees.”

So it’s worth noting that just because a term started out as an ethnic slur doesn’t mean that it has to remain one.

And one of these days, remind me to tell you the story of “Scotch Tape.”

Keith Gatling
Syracuse