Limeys watchout on beach holiday

[Guest]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1540&ncid=1540&e=2&u=/afp/20040818/sc_...ironment_waves

[Capmaster]

These boulders can be up to 50 tonnes and three metres in size

So the British have big boulders, but don't like them slammed around

[yoda313]

Hello,

Limeys watchout on beach holiday

DUMB AMERICAN QUESTION:

What the HELL is a LIMEY????????????????????????????

Is it like what we call a hick? (backwards country bumpkin?)

Kevin

[tweedledee]

DUMB AMERICAN QUESTION:

What the HELL is a LIMEY????????????????????????????

Well, the Americans coined that expression after the LIMES that English sailors used to eat to ward off scurvy OR It may be that a lot of Sailors were from Liverpool and LIME ST was famous for its "ladies of pleasure"

[yoda313]

Hello,

Well, the Americans coined that expression after the LIMES that English sailors used to eat to ward off scurvy OR It may be that a lot of Sailors were from Liverpool and LIME ST was famous for its "ladies of pleasure"

Thanks for responding. I'm not sure which one it is. Maybe I'll do an encarta web search this weekend and find out for sure. Thanks again.

Kevin

[tweedledee]

I've just done a search and found this

Scurvy was a huge problem for English sailors in the 1600s and 1700s. Because of what Dr. James Lind discovered, the Royal Navy made sure that all sailors had lemon juice to drink when they were at sea for longer than one month. The sailors thought that it was the acid content of the lemon juice that cured scurvy (vitamin C is also called ascorbic acid). Doctors thought that lime juice would work better because it has more acid than lemon juice, so they substituted lime juice for lemon juice on the English Royal Navy ships. I

And that is how the English sailors became known as Limeys! Since that time the word has been used as a negative slang term to describe British Nationals, and is therefore not considered a polite word to use.

[yoda313]

Hello,

And that is how the English sailors became known as Limeys! Since that time the word has been used as a negative slang term to describe British Nationals, and is therefore not considered a polite word to use.

Thanks! Now I know. One less dumb question one American needs to ask.


Kevin
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