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Limey is an old American and Canadian slang nickname for the British, originally referring to British sailors. The term is believed to derive from lime juicer, 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!").
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- This page was last modified on 3 August 2008, at 10:17.
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