Damn Yankees

In most of the world, the word "Yankee" is a disparaging, even insulting word used to refer to people from the United States.

In most of the United States, the word "Yankee" is a disparaging word used to refer to people from the Northeastern United States.

In most of the Northeast, the word "Yankee" is a disparaging word used to refer to people from New England. (Though in some contexts the meaning is intercepted by a sports team's name.)

In New England, the word "Yankee" is usually taken as having a neutral or positive connotation, but I have heard it used from time to time with a negative inflection and connotation to refer to the residents of the most rural parts of New England, such as Vermont and backwoods parts of Maine and New Hampshire.

In those rural parts of New England, the word "Yankee" is universally seen as an entirely positive and glowing bit of self-approbation and self-congratulation.