Does anyone in the US really use this phrase to describe the English? If someone was going to insult an English person today would they use this phrase or would they use something else? Is it a phrase best reserved for period drama?
Wow. America has become so ultra-sensitive to any sort of descriptive epithet that this word would indeed date the speaker as having had his/her formative years prior to the PC Revolution of the 90's. It's not a word in common play at all outside of perhaps military circles where it's not pejorative, but instead indicates the comrade feeling we (in the military) have for U.K. service/men and women.
The term comes from British ships stocking up on citrus fruits to prevent scurvy. But like most scornful cultural labels, it has fallen out of favor. So yes, it is best reserved for period pieces.
I thought it was a bit of a dated term. It is useful to have that confirmed. Thank you. The context is internal dialogue so political correctness is not relevant - the contrast between the unfiltered thoughts and spoken politically correct dialogue is one of the points of the piece.
British, Brits (mildly corny or late 1980s connotations), Pomms (mild pejorative from Aussies), English (despite what the Scots might say they really don't mind being referred to as English) can all work.
Most people in Scotland, and I count myself also, prefer not to be referred to as English. We are Scottish and proud of it, while the English are proud to be British. I have many English friends and they all consider themselves, British, so I know what I'm talking about.
Usually they just put on an accent. It will invariably be either upper-class or cockney street urchin. This is very strange as I am both working-class and from the North.
Limey isn't a derogatory term; it's comparable to the English calling Americans Yanks. Nor is it out of fashion. There was a 1999 movie titled, "The Limey". It was also the title of an episode of "Castle," a TV series on ABC that started in 2009; that episode aired in 2012. There must be lots of derogatory names for Brits, but the only one that comes to mind is tea wop.
You may wish to use Tommy or Chinless Wonder. Not the most angry sounding, but are still ethnic slurs.
Perhaps the best insults don't come in one word. If I were to say to a brit "bloody queens" that might go over as an insult. Shakespeare had some great insults, but they were a whole line of dialog.
With reference to 'Pomms', I've heard it's a derivative of POME, an acronym for Prisoner Of (His/Her) Majesties Empire. Which obviously dates from when we would ship out all our ne'er-do-wells to the Southern Hemisphere in a colonial 'sweeping under the carpet' exercise.
Words that might be used in anger, towards a British person. Universal angry terms usually work: "jackass", "asshole", "dickhead" and other such angry/derogatory terms would apply. Specifically British angry/insults could include: "Stupid Prat", "Bloody Bastard", "Silly Git" and I'm not so sure these days, but in years past calling a Brit "Frenchie" could be mean spirited or playful, depending on context.
I'm sure he means derogatory terms an American would use to describe a Brit. Not sure that jackass is specific enough.
Yeah, I can't think of a derogatory term that an American would use to describe a Brit. Sadly, most of the derogatory terms would be linked to race or ethnicity. Americans have a tendency to think of the U.S. as the greatest place on earth, but when thinking of other "acceptable" locales, Canada and the U.K. (also Oz) are the ones that come up. They might be able to come up with some term for an Aussie, with its unique fauna, but given that Canada and to a large extent, the U.K. have pretty similar geography and population make-up (after all, we share a great deal of pop-culture), I don't think that a Brit would be seen as different enough for some kind of homeland-based slur. He might add "British" to some other term (maybe bitch or bastard, if you go for alliteration), but beyond that, I don't think British roots would come into play.
