On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 00:31:27 +0200, Stephen wrote:

> On 20/07/2013 12:09 AM, clipka wrote:
>> Am 19.07.2013 23:55, schrieb Stephen:
>>> On 19/07/2013 11:48 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>>>>> According to Wikipedia, it also measures beer, cornmeal, Portland
>>>>> cement, sugar, flour, lime and cranberries.
>>>>
>>>> I should perhaps clarify that it's "lime" as in calcium hydroxide,
>>>> not as in the fruit. (How would THAT work?? Then again,
>>>> cranberries...)
>>>
>>> Do you have any idea why Americans call us Limeys?
>>
>> Because (or so claims Wikipedia) your forefathers, when going to sea,
>> added lemon or lime juice to their grog to prevent scurvy.
>>
>> Germans used Sauerkraut for the same purpose (or so I've heard tell),
>> hence the Americans calling us Krauts.
>>
>> Not sure what the Americans used themselves; I must presume they were
>> just too plain stupid to do anything about it :-P
>>
>>
> 
> They used lemons which are a better source of vitamin C.

Not initially, though.  They used "rob", which was a mix of sauerkraut 
and a concentrated fruit juice mixture, which was boiled.  Well, I guess 
the fruit juice concentrate could have been (or had as a component) 
lemon, so fair play on that. :)

> There was some skulduggery going on at the time between us and the rest
> of the world. And no one would sell the Brits lemons. So we used limes
> from one of the islands in the Caribbean. Hence Limeys.

First recorded use of "Lime juicer" (which became "limey") to refer to a 
Brit was 1859.

Jim

Post a reply to this message