Limey
51661
225870999
2008-07-15T20:05:14Z
Jwillbur
617133
add to hatnote
{{wiktionary|limey}}
{{dablink|For the 1999 film, see ''[[The Limey]]''. For the French village, see [[Limey-Remenauville]].}}
'''Limey''' is an old [[USA|American]] and [[Canada|Canadian]] [[slang]] nickname for the [[British people|British]], originally referring to British [[sailors]]. The term is believed to derive from [[lime juice]]r, referring to the [[Royal Navy]] and [[Merchant Navy]] practice of supplying lime juice to British sailors to prevent [[scurvy]]. The benefits of [[citrus]] juice were well known at the time thanks to the acute observations of surgeon [[James Lind]] who noticed that the [[cabbage]] eating [[Dutch]] had fewer problems with scurvy. Limes were used over [[lemons]] due to limes being more readily available from Britain's own [[Caribbean]] colonies. The term is thought to have originated in the Caribbean in the 1880s. A false etymology is that it is a derivative of "Corr-blimey" ("God blind me!").
==See also==
*[[Alternative words for British]]
[[Category:Ethnic and religious slurs]]