Actually, the limes were consumed on British (as in “pertaining to the UK”) warships. Hence, if we go by the etymology, the word “limey” should refer to a British person, not an English person.
Gris gris - do you really use “limey” to refer to Irish people? Does anyone else?
Oh yes, UDS, and since Ireland was subsumed in the United Kingdom at the time (and presumably there were press-ganged or otherwise Irish sailors on British ships), then maybe Limey is appropriate to Irish people. 
Hmm. I am an adherent of UDS’s sense (a) … people from Great Britain are British, people from Ireland are Irish. This may offend the diehard Orangemen who insist on being called British, but, let’s face it, I’m likely to offend diehard Orangemen in many ways whatever I do, so I’m not going to worry about it.
And I, personally, am British - in my heritage and my upbringing, I am a joint product of all three nations that comprise Great Britain (and 1/8th Irish as well). jjimm, your old editor is cordially invited to kiss my Anglo-Saxon-Celtic-Norman-Pictish-Belgic-Roman backside.
As a Brit;
These are all in common use:
English:
Pom
Limey
Sassenach
Bloody English Bastard
Scots:
Jocks
Sweaties (sweaty sock = jock)
Porridgewogs
Welsh:
Taffys/Taffs
Irish:
Micks
Paddies
Bogtrotters
There are also regional slang terms:
Scousers/Mickey Mousers = Liverpuddlians
Carrot Crunchers = west country
Cockney (and cockney wanker) = Londoner
Brummie = Birminhgam
Manc = mancunian
Geordie= Newcastle
smog monster = Middlesbrough
wegie = glaswegian
teuchter (scottish)= from rural scotland ie a yokel.
How offensive they are is all down to context. I am not aware of a “bad” term for brits as a whole. Care to enlighten me?
Close, but no cigar. The period concerned is the Eighteenth Century, before Ireland becomes a part of the United Kingdom, which happened in 1801. Prior to this, Ireland was (technically) a separate kingdom under the British crown. In the present context this is important; the Royal Navy was maintained by the British Government, under British legislation, with money raised from British taxpayers and voted by the British parliament. The Irish administration, parliament and tax revenues were not involved.
Did any Irishmen serve on British warships? Probably. They would take anyone who was willing to serve (and quite a number who weren’t).
In some cases over here, the term “Brit” itself carries negative connotations.
Anecdotally, during the Rugby World Cup, I once had a cabbie in Dublin tell me that “Scotland are playing the Brits today”. :rolleyes:
Actually, “Brit” itself, when used by British people, is usually a term of pride but, when used by anyone else, is usually derogatory.
Damn your eyes, man! Foiled again.
brit, n.:
The young of herring and similar fish.
Minute marine organisms, such as crustaceans of the genus Calanus, that are a major source of food for right whales.
Anybody calls me a young herring, I’ll slap him about with my fin.
He’s having a go at the Scandinavians, now!
I know a lot of Brits who wouldn’t get offended by said term.
Oh, I’m sure it’s just me being peculiar … but it puts my back up for some reason. Ugly little monosyllable. Brit. Nasty tinny word.
<-English, from and currently living in England.
Sometimes it’s just easier to say: “from the UK” when people ask. 
How about UKoGBaNI-ite?
Pronounced: Ook-oh-guh-BAN-ee-ite
Doesn’t roll off the tongue, though.
And it leaves out the Republic of Irelanders, too.
I must confess that I’ve never thought that collectively referrring to those two largish islands in the North Atlantic as “The British Isles” as being innacurate from the Irish perspective. Learn something new every day …
(And to stave off the inevitiable question, UKoGBaNI = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or U.K. for short.)
Tyke = Yorkshire
I know many Scots who object to being called “British”, too, out of political opposition to the existence of the British empire (or whatever it’s called these days). Some of them would be Scottish nationalists and some of them, being of recent Irish descent, would consider themselves Irish nationalists or republicans. Just to be on the safe side (and because a lot of the Scots in my social circle fall into one of these two categories) I would not refer to a Scottish person as “British” until they had done so themselves. However, the risk of causing extreme outrage by doing so is not nearly as great as it is in Ireland.
This reminds me. Visiting the USA my wife and I (both British) asked the waitress for some vinegar to sprinkle on our chips.(French Fries.) "Gee!"she exclaimed, “You guys must be Limeys.”
(You ain’t that waitress, are you?)
This reminds me. Visiting the USA my wife and I (both British) asked the waitress for some vinegar to sprinkle on our chips.(French Fries.) "Gee!"she exclaimed, “You guys must be Limeys.”
(You ain’t that waitress, are you? A R.I. could be of either sex!)
LMAO good one! heh
I did speak to soon,I call the irish" micks" and the rest “limeys” wait I dont know about scots, for now I’ll just do what some of my fellow texans who cant tell the difference between irish and scots do and call them" micks" too. 
My friend is from Northern Ireland and when he was getting his passport he was quite annoyed because you have to either put down Irish or British as your nationality. This is grand for all the people who consider themselves unambiguously part of one side of the community or the other. However it seems that a few people from Northern Ireland refer to themselves as “Northern Irish” but they are not allowed put this on their passport. I haven’t got a cite, just personal experience. I thought it was interesting but now i’ve written it i’m not sure if it has the slightest bit of relevance ohhh well.
Mogiaw