A northerner is a person from the northern part of a country. Which north depends on who is speaking. In England, a Northerner is often someone from the North of England — cities like Manchester, Leeds, or Newcastle — and people hear the word together with jokes about accent, weather, and food. In the United States, Northerner can mean someone from the northern states, and older speakers still feel the Civil War in it: Northerner against Southerner. The word is not rude by itself, but it can sound like you are putting someone in a box. You may write it with a small n for any person from the north, and with a capital N when you mean a clear group. Though actually, northern is the describing word (a northern town); a northerner is always a person, never a place or a direction.