Limey

Limey is an old slang nickname, often pejorative, for the British, originally referring to their sailors. It has since been used as a derogatory term that relates to English people. The term is believed to derive from lime fruits, referring to the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy practice of supplying lime juice to British sailors to prevent scurvy. The benefits of citrus juice were well known at the time thanks to the acute observations of surgeon James Lind who studied the effects of citrus on scurvy in 1747.