Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Letter to the Editor

Yankees is just as bad as Redskins 

Washington Post, September 20

Regarding the Sept. 17 letters “The responsibility of the fans”:

I find it strange, as momentum builds to change the name of the Washington Redskins, that no one has proposed changing the most offensive name in American sports: The New York Yankees.

Why the Yankees, you ask? It’s quite simple. The term “yankee” was created by the British to mock the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. It was an insult. And the history of its use — unlike Redskins — is not in dispute.

As if the term (which I will from here on refer to as the “Y-word”) wasn’t offensive enough based on its use during the Revolution, it was used again, during another war, to insult largely white Northerners. That’s right: The Confederate States of America used the Y-word as an insult as well. In fact, the Y-word is still used today in the South, to refer — usually in a disparaging manner — to Northerners.

Given the fact that the Y-word has an indisputable negative connotation throughout its history, and the fact that it’s still used as an insult today, why isn’t there a push to change it? And, ultimately, is any perceived insult about skin color, or skin thickness?

Jason Fornwalt, Hagerstown, Md.
(Submitted by Buhner's Ghost)

8 comments:

Snake Wiltse said...

What was wrong with Highlanders anyway?

KD said...

Let's change to the New York Faggots since our team is as tightly bound together as a bundle of sticks.

Mike said...

Mr. Fornwalt's reasons for abolishing the name "Yankees" are precisely the reasons I would use in my argument to keep it.

JM said...

Racist assholes certainly do come up with some stunning logic flows to defend their positions.

How about we change Washington's name to the Washington Fornwalts de Douchebags?

Works for me.

Anonymous said...

I live in the South. And am constantly referred to as 'Yankee' or 'carpet bagger' because I hail from the north.

It never offends me.

Leinstery said...

I find it more offensive that the Yankees are being compared to Redskins. Redskins are inferior to real people. So we're moving on.

Although changing the name to the New York Faggots would be a hoot, I think they should stick to their back yard. New York Jews has a nice ring to it, but Jews tend to be Mets fans. So we would definitely be the New York Ricans. And we could tear down the New Yankees Stadium and build a newer, shittier one on the shores of orchard beach.

Leinstery said...

An addition to my previous comment. I said "they" in the second sentence of the second paragraph and then "we" in the next two sentences. My mistake can't have that type of shitty grammar in my comments. And being a grammar nazi got me thinking about the New York Nazis. New facial hair rules require toothbrush mustaches for all players, and instead of the bleacher creatures doing the roll call everyone just does a bunch of heil hitlers. It would be a fucking riot. Most fun you could have at a ballpark. It would probably inject new life into baseball.

Swinging Kei said...

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=yankee