that the term comes from the Dutch Janneke, a diminutive form of the given name Jan (John) which would be Anglicized by New Englanders as "Yankee" due to the Dutch pronunciation of J being the same as the English Y. Quinion and Hanks posit that it was "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times" and could have grown to include non-Dutch colonists, as well. The Oxford English Dictionary calls this theory "perhaps the most plausible". Alternatively, two Dutch given names Jan () and Kees () have long been common, and the two are sometimes combined into a single name (Jan Kees). Its Anglicized spelling Yankee could, in this way, have been used to mock Dutch colonists. The chosen name Jan Kees may have been partly inspired by a dialectal rendition of Jan Kaas ("John Cheese"), the generic nickname that Southern Dutch (particularly Flemish) used for Dutch people living in the North. The Online Etymology Dictionary gives Yankee its origin as around 1683, attributing it to English colonists insultingly referring to Dutch colonists (especially freebooters). English privateer William Dampier relates his dealings in 1681 with Dutch fellow privateer, Captain Yanky (or Yanke). Linguist Jan de Vries notes that there was mention of a pirate named Dutch Yanky in the 17th century. The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760) contains the passage, "Haul forward thy chair again, take thy berth, and proceed with thy story in a direct course, without yawing like a Dutch yanky."<ref>The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves, Tobias Smollett, chapter 3</ref> According to this theory, Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam started using the term against the English colonists of neighboring Connecticut. Historic uses Canadian usage An early use of the term outside the United States was in the creation of Sam Slick the "Yankee Clockmaker" in a newspaper column in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1835. The character was a plain-speaking American who becomes an example for Nova Scotians to follow in his industry and practicality; and his uncouth manners and vanity were the epitome of qualities that his creator detested. The character was developed by Thomas Chandler Haliburton, and it grew between 1836 and 1844 in a series of publications. Damn Yankee The damned Yankee usage dates from 1812. Confederates popularized it as a derogatory term for their Northern enemies during and after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Eventual Rhode Island