# What was the derogatory name for americans in each war? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839 "2014-01-27T13:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/41 "2014-01-29T01:58:34Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > For example, “Nip” was short for Nippon, which literally translates to “Japan”. > > Thanks. Yes, minor addition, Nippon is quite correct as the name for that place, that is what they call themselves. The reason for the error is the people of Shanghai read the characters for “Nippon”, but in the Shanghai accent/dialect they pronounced the letters as “Japan”, the incorrect pronunciation spread to the English speakers around the world. “China” is an insult to the people of the Prime Republic (at least, its an insult to the Han, as the Han ethnic group dominates the Qin ethnic group…\> Xin, Sino, Chin, Chine, China ). The people of India call ALL the people “over there” Qin (or Qin-LIKE ) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/42 "2014-01-29T19:28:17Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > In WWII, the Germans used these: > > British:… Inselaffen (Island monkeys) Never heard that one before. I’m British, but kind-of like it. It’s rather creative… > [@](#): > > Russians: Ivan, Russki, Hiwi, Bolschewiken (German for “bolshevik”) ISTR from Sven Hassel’s novels, that German troops on the Eastern Front sometimes called their Russian adversaries, “the neighbours” (in German, of course) – likely, at times when they felt a bit less pissed-off with them than usual. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/43 "2014-01-29T20:15:03Z")
“Ami” is still common in Germany to refer to Americans; it depends on the context how offensive it is, even though I’d say it is always at least slightly offensive. You’d pronounce so as to rhyme with “yummy”. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/44 "2014-01-29T20:32:41Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > My father, who fought in the British army in WWII told me the Germans were most often the Hun to them then, too. I told him that in most stories, movies etc. I had seen about the war, the allied forces usually referred to the Germans as Jerries, but he seemed to think that in fact that was not in very common use at the time. Possibly “Jerries” was more an American thing. On [Dad’s Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dad%27s_Army), Mainwaring uses both “the Hun” and “Jerry” (used as a sort of mass noun), but I don’t know how authentic that is. It seems that the Brits were more likely to refer to “Jerry” as a single, common name. (“Jerry is giving us hell, tonight.”) In that context, it appears to have been nothing more than a shortening of “German” and was not intended as an explicit insult. When the Yanks showed up, they picked it up as an individual name, (much as they picked up a misunderstood meaning of commando): “The J/jerries are giving us hell, tonight.” Reading day-to-day journals, the most common slur that I have encountered in U.S. usage seems to have been Kraut. ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/45 "2014-01-30T01:53:21Z")
In WW1 the Germans called the Marines Devil Dogs, being Marines they loved and adopted it forever. I’ve read several biographies of WW2 in which the Germans were called Square Heads. In the Mexican War Texas Rangers were Los Diablo Tejanos. In The _Courtship Of Miles Standish_ Longfellow celebrated the “mighty savage” Native American and maybe said Lo! a few too many times doing so, and “Lo” became the common derogatory name for N.A. people out West during the Indian Wars. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/46 "2014-01-30T03:38:09Z")
> [@slowlearner](#): > > Los Diablo Tejanos Los Diablos Tejanos (missing s in the original) ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/47 "2014-01-30T09:44:12Z")
Jar heads, dog faces, fly boys, squids. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/48 "2014-01-30T11:06:45Z")
> [@slowlearner](#): > > In The _Courtship Of Miles Standish_ Longfellow celebrated the “mighty savage” Native American and maybe said Lo! a few too many times doing so, and “Lo” became the common derogatory name for N.A. people out West during the Indian Wars. “Pedantic nitpicking department”: by my understanding, the “Lo !” tag actually came from the verse _Essay on Man_ of 1734, by the English poet Alexander Pope. The author was indeed referring to Native Americans – with some sympathy, but with regret about their non-Christian world-view: “Lo ! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind…” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/49 "2014-01-30T20:56:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Mostly the Germans looked upon us as deluded pawns, led into war by the Brits and the Jews. > > During WWI, they were right- at least the British part. Wilson was a Anglophile, the British drummed up some over-the top propaganda, the German Diplomatic service were bumblers- and \*viola \*- Yanks in The Great War. Well, that’s a pretty gross oversimplification. President Wilson really didn’t want to get involved and took a lot of heat - from Theodore Roosevelt, among others - for holding back as long as he did, even after the _Lusitania_ was sunk by a U-boat in May 1915, killing 128 Americans. The U.S. stayed out from 1914-17, until the Zimmermann Telegram came to light. > [@vontsira](#): > > …ISTR from Sven Hassel’s novels, that German troops on the Eastern Front sometimes called their Russian adversaries, “the neighbours” (in German, of course) – likely, at times when they felt a bit less pissed-off with them than usual. Similarly euphemistically, Robert E. Lee was known to refer to U.S. troops during the Civil War as “those people” (“Yankees” and “bluebellies” were more common terms among his troops). > [@slowlearner](#): > > In WW1 the Germans called the Marines Devil Dogs… Probably apocryphal: [Devil Dog - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_Dog) ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/50 "2014-01-30T21:23:28Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Jar heads, dog faces, fly boys, squids. Aren’t these names created by americans to describe other service members (or themselves)? I read that “grunt” was a name the US Army game themselves in Viet Nam. Sort of a derogatory name to describe their position in the food chain, but adopted with some fondness for themselves. They could call themselves and each other grunts. I don’t know if this has any truth to it. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_from\_CB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@Alex\_from\_CB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_from_CB)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/51 "2014-01-30T21:51:35Z")
Boston Red Sox fans would object to being called Yanks, I’m sure. But it’s not much of an insult if you refer to yourself by the word someone is using as an insult. George M Cohan in 1917 wrote… Over there, over there Send the word, send the word over there That the **Yanks** are coming, the **Yanks** are coming The drums are rum-tumming everywhere And we won’t come back till it’s over over there. Over there. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/52 "2014-01-31T00:10:12Z")
> [@Alex\_from\_CB](#): > > But it’s not much of an insult if you refer to yourself by the word someone is using as an insult. I would have to disagree. The rap group NWA referred to themselves as a very famously ugly word beginning with an “N” which I’m pretty sure most black people (including NWA members) would think it’s an insult. Or maybe I’m wrong on this one. Since i’m not a member of the black community, maybe that is a word that upsets white PC people more than blacks. Could this possibly be true? I don’t think so either. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/53 "2014-01-31T00:24:43Z")
> [@slowlearner](#): > > In WW1 the Germans called the Marines Devil Dogs, being Marines they loved and adopted it forever. There is no confirmation from German sources that American Marines were called Teufel Hunden (which would be Teufelshunde if correct) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/54 "2014-01-31T02:40:09Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > There is no confirmation from German sources that American Marines were called Teufel Hunden (which would be Teufelshunde if correct) And see post 49. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/55 "2014-01-31T08:36:29Z")
The Germans were also called _les Têtes carrées_ (the square heads). ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/56 "2014-01-31T09:00:57Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > In WWII, the Germans used these: > American: Ami, Yankee > British: Tommy, Inselaffen (Island monkeys) > French: Franzmann > Russians: Ivan, Russki, Hiwi, Bolschewiken (German for “bolshevik”) > Italians: Itaker (-ak is a derogatory ending, as in Polak) > Poles: Polak > Canadians - Kanaken > > The Japanese used these: > Butter-kusai (stinks like butter) referred to all foreigners > Kichiku Beihei “dirty American devil” > [@Dissonance](#): > > Impressive list, but to quibble Hiwi wasn’t a term used by the Germans to refer to their Russian enemies and wasn’t really derogatory. Hiwi is an abbreviation of Hilfswilliger, “voluntary assistant” and was used to refer to former Russian POWs serving as auxiliary troops in the German military. Considering that the Germans were murdering Soviet POWs by starvation, take the “voluntary” part of the abbreviation with a grain of salt. Also, the only usage of “Kanaken” that I am aware of is as a derogatory term for Turks. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/57 "2015-07-29T00:30:18Z")
resurrected since it was cited in another thread. Using an appellation for an individual to stand for the mass of the nation–“jerry”–was of course done in the Vietnam War–“Charlie.” (“Viet Cong”–\>V.C.–\>military alphabet "Victor Charlie.) I can’t offhand think of any other proper noun use like those two in English. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/58 "2015-07-29T01:19:29Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I can’t offhand think of any other proper noun use like those two in English. Habeeb or Habib, except instead of being a name for members of a specific nation it’s used more as a generic Muslim-ish person. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/59 "2015-07-29T01:27:48Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > And \<\<_les goddams_\>\> dates from the Hundred Years’ War. A note on this one. The French weren’t using this nickname to swear at the English. The nickname referred to the way the English swore. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/60 "2015-07-29T02:30:11Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I dunno…have you tried it on a Confederate re-enactor? > [@DrDeth](#): > > Or anyone born south of the Mason-dixon line? It has been said that: In Europe, a Yankee is someone from the US. In the South, a Yankee is someone from the North. In the North, a Yankee is someone from New England. In New England, a Yankee is someone from Vermont. In Vermont, a Yankee is someone who eats apple pie for breakfast. With a knife. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839.md?page=4)