View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-yankee-jessica-oreck-and-rachael-teel

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.

Lesson by Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel, animation by Jessica Oreck.