Yankee ingenuity is an American English idiom in reference to the inventiveness, rugged expertise, self-reliance and individual enterprise associated with the Yankees, who originated in New England and developed much of the industrial revolution in the United States after 1800.
The term "Yankee ingenuity" originated from the construction of the Erie Canal across rural upstate New York.
The term was common worldwide in the wake of World War II, as American forces employed engineering solutions to military problems.
"[3] Today it refers broadly to a typically American pragmatic approach to problem solving instead of traditional methods.
[4][circular reference] An example of Yankee ingenuity would be the use of a pole saw to cut brush in the absence of a more appropriate tool.