 Like, come next holiday season, ask your friends this survey question, then follow up and ask if they know what the other term means or if they've ever heard of it. You might start to see a pattern. 

 to make sense. I am curious if anybody can find any literature that might give credance to how each term stuck in what regions, if that's how it works at all. My original hypothesis being tested here was borne of my experiences living in many different states and noticing a linguistic theme that few people knew what a White Elephant was in New England States, while non-New Englanders I knew didn't seem to know what a Yankee Swap was. 

 I would think so too? My thought was that Americans were called Yankees, and maybe the term originated from some sort of colonial cultural exchange. 

But that leaves the question of how the term White Elephant stuck -- elephants are not native to America. I know it's supposed to be derived from the idea of a gift that is actually a curse or burden, but one you can't get rid of. (A white elephant being a gift in another culture that is illegal to kill, and you aren't allowed to let it die. You have the burden of taking care of it now.) 

 My guess would be that Yankee Swap is a Britishism. 

Maybe it's slightly supported. I don't know. I haven't truly mathematically crunched the data as of yet.

 My guess going into this was that Yankee Swap is what it is called in the New England region of America, while White Elephant would be what it was called everywhere else. 

It seems like I can't support my suspicions entirely with the data. 

 I always like evidence that I'm in the majority 

If I could do this again, I would have also asked, "what do you think most of the people who live near you call it?". 

 Boop! Draw whatever conclusions you wish from this. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cMaTmUovjya7TjAYRv9aPTN2HuDewEHUcrujAlLyfnQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

Festive Linguistics (Responses)

If anybody wants an easy Ṁ10 for Christmas, the bounty is still active. 

Btw could you share your statistical findings here once the survey is done, would be cool to see :) 

If anybody else wants the spreadsheet, DM or @ me. 

 I'm trying to keep the findings somewhat hidden to prevent future participants from being influenced, but I'll DM you the spreadsheet. 

Please take ~60 seconds fill out this Google Form and screenshot the submission confirmation page. If you comment that screenshot below, I'll pay out Ṁ10 to you if there's still a bounty left. 

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