British Ethnic slur??

frostytheplebe

frostytheplebe

Seventh Part of the Seal
I don't by any means intend to offend anyone by this... so PLEASE do not take it as such... but this seems to be a trend that is catching on...

I heard this in a Steve King book/movie one time, and have since, heard it used four times in the past three weeks and it seems to piss people from the UK off pretty bad...

Has anyone ever heard the term "Limey Jack-Tar" and know how/why its offensive? I know that Jack-tar was a nickname given to sailors in the royal navy... but i still dont see how thats offensive...
 
It's offensive because most people these days are a bunch of pansies eager to take offense at anything that even slightly resembles racism - it allows them to use the "help, I'm being repressed" card in an argument.

That said, a lot depends on the tone. If you're snide and sarcastic enough, you can actually offend someone by calling him a wonderful genius :p.
 
frostytheplebe said:
I don't by any means intend to offend anyone by this... so PLEASE do not take it as such... but this seems to be a trend that is catching on...

I heard this in a Steve King book/movie one time, and have since, heard it used four times in the past three weeks and it seems to piss people from the UK off pretty bad...

Has anyone ever heard the term "Limey Jack-Tar" and know how/why its offensive? I know that Jack-tar was a nickname given to sailors in the royal navy... but i still dont see how thats offensive...
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Jack-Tar was the nickname given to Royal Navy sailors, either because they wore waterproof tarpaulin based clothes (though 'tarp' is the normal slang for that), slicked their pigtails with tar to prevent it getting snagged in equipment or that they'd get covered in tar from using ropes soaked in the stuff.

Limey came about from our practice of using limes to prevent scurvy, as opposed to lemon like most others.

None of which is particularly insulting, heh. I've never heard the two terms used together, though.

I used to know an American guy on AOL who always called me a limey, because he thought it was hilarious. While it's not insulting, per se, it can get a bit irritating after a while. At the end of the day, no one should be pigeon-holed exclusively by their nation or job, or hobbies, etc. I like to think of myself as a bit unique, thanks, and continually calling me "Limey" or "Brit" etc categorises me as no different from 60 million other people. ;)
 
I heard this in a Steve King book/movie one time, and have since, heard it used four times in the past three weeks and it seems to piss people from the UK off pretty bad...
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I don't see why anyone would be offended by it myself. I can't say I was.

I wonder what someone is going to come up with next. :p Maybe someone will start calling the Royal Marines 'Lobsters' again or the Grenadiers 'Bacon Blasters'.

Hehe. Cheers!

Red Coat.
 
Red Coat said:
I don't see why anyone would be offended by it myself. I can't say I was.

I wonder what someone is going to come up with next. :p Maybe someone will start calling the Royal Marines 'Lobsters' again or the Grenadiers 'Bacon Blasters'.

Hehe. Cheers!

Red Coat.
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You mean lobster backs? That was what the US called them during the US Revolution.
 
You mean lobster backs? That was what the US called them during the US Revolution.
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I was talking about British names for them, but that's fine enough as well.

I'll do a bit of research on the names.

Cheers,

Red Coat.
 
From the sounds of it, It may not be used derogatorily within the UK, but I've often heard if used somewhat that way buy australians who were very very unhappy with being mistaken for Englishmen.

Some poor bank clerk workmate of my Wife got a "I'm no bloody Limey" when she mis-Identified the clients accent... though argualbly the tone was derogatory you could say the bloody part was the insulting bit I guess.

To some degree it may have lost relevance over the years, but you can hardly call it a term of affection.
 
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