limey

短編集The Shell Collectionの中の短編July Fourthを読んでいます。
There were the standard provocations: tequila, reminders of the Marshall Plan, rudely phrased questions about the queen's gender and the president's bedside fancies. It mounted to a challenge, as these things do, and a contest was born. Limeys vs. Yanks. Old World vs. New.
"Limeys" は初めて見る言葉ですが、Limeys : Yanks = Old World : New の比例式となっているので "Limeys" は "Brits" もしくはEnglish Peopleを意味していると推定できますが、辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (chiefly derogatory) A British person.: Well done especially to the Limeys, whose robot sub cut the Russian submersible free from the wires that had trapped it.
・Collins Dictionary: 1.a British person 2.a British sailor or ship: Word Origin: abbreviated from C19 lime-juicer, because British sailors were required to drink lime juice as a protection against scurvy
英国の船乗りがライムジュースを壊血病対策に飲んでいたので "Limeys" ですか。
そういえばフランス人の事を "frog" (derogatory) と言いますが、フランス人は蛙をよく食べる（食べた）のでしょうか？