Whats a Limey ???

Answer 1

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 in the 19th century. The term is thought to have originated in the Caribbean in the 1880s. A false etymology is that it is a derivative of "Gor-blimey" ("god blind me!").

The term Limey evolved into a verb "to lime" which means to hang out. The British sailors "Limeys" would hang out in the urban areas when off-duty and patronize the local prostitutes. This has been immortalized in the old calypso "Jean and Dinah" by the Mighty Sparrow in 1956.

Answer 2

A 'Limey' is what the Americans call us Brits. This is because on British ships there would always be a supply of Limes, a good source of Vitamin 'C' which would keep longer than Oranges or Grapefruit yet not taste as bitter as Lemons.

Answer 3

Americans started calling British Limeys because in-the-old-days, when the the Royal Navy (and every other navy in the world) were still using wooden ships, British sailors used Lime to keep themselves free from lice and disease like Scurvies :-)

Answer 4

Limey is an alternate word for British. It comes from the historical British naval practice of supplying its sailors with lime juice to prevent the disease scurvy.

Answer 5

A Brit
An English man or woman.
Example: Prince Charles is a Royal Limey!

Answer 6

A British person. British sailors used to eat limes to keep from getting scurvy on long ocean voyages and the name 'Limey' was given to them.

Answer 7

That's an old one.

I am apparently a limey because I am British.

It goes back to ships a long time ago, and lots of limes, believe it or not.

Answer 8

This is an American and Canadian term for a British person, especially sailors. It came about in the period of the early part of last century when British sailors were forced to drink lime juice to stay healthy (limes were cheaper than lemons and there was a war on!).
Historically the British navy was always healthy because of rations of citrus fruit (or picked cabbage in the days of Horatio Nelson!)

Answer 9

term used in old times for British sailors...you already have the explanation in a previous answer...they sucked limes for fresh fruit on voyages to avoid scurvy, which is a bad skin condition you get when you don't have fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet, and since limes were easy to store and would keep a long time...there you go...

Answer 10

A Brit with little green Limes.