# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/61 "2015-07-29T05:45:18Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > OK then, but in that case, it changed meaning completely and it went from meaning “mumbling foreigner” to “American” in Mexico; whether the Spanish soldiers in Cuba used either meaning to speak about the Americans or not, or even the word itself, I have no evidence. Nowadays you wouldn’t refer to a Frenchman as a _gringo_ any more than you’d call a leftist _gabacho_. > For those who don’t speakee Spanish, the italicized paragraph in **Colibri** ’s\* post means: > In Malaga they call gringo those foreigners having a certain accent which prevents them from pronouncing Spanish natural and easily; in Madrid they use this same word, mainly for Irishmen. > > Since Madrid is one of those places where “nobody was born there”, and since most of the people who move there hail from parts further South, it is very common to have words or pronunciations whose distribution “jumps” from somewhere in the South (like Malaga) to Madrid. > > - Bad mod! Bad mod! [Threatens Colibri with a rolled-up newspaper] Gabacho in current Mexican Spanish means (Anglo-)American; apparently influenced by the old Spanish slur for their northern neighbors. ---
**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, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/62 "2015-07-29T05:59:48Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > 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 somebody from the Northeast Kingdom. In the Northeast Kingdom, a Yankee is somebody from Essex County. In Essex County, a Yankee is somebody from Lemington. In Lemington, a Yankee is somebody from Todd Hill Road On Todd Hill Road, they just point at Fred. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/63 "2015-07-29T07:00:30Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > And \<\<_les goddams_\>\> dates from the Hundred Years’ War. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 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. I’ve heard that the French nickname “goddams” for English troops, had some overtones of awed admiration. The French – maybe tending overall to be more pious than the English – were a bit shocked at their enemies’ casually throwing around the words “God-damn”: seeing it as the English inviting the Almighty to consign their own (English) selves to eternal torment. The French felt that you could hardly get more badass, than that. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/64 "2015-07-29T07:21:11Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > 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. It carried less emotional force than “Hun”, but (whether coincidence or not) “jerry” also happened to be another slang word for a chamberpot. “Yank” also has some useful ambiguities attached, as in the WW2 joke about the “utility” approved lines of cost-saving clothes - “X wears them utility knickers, you know, one yank and they’re off”. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/65 "2015-07-29T10:26:23Z")
“Jerry” was the most common appellation for Germans (We called them Krauts too) when I was a child, running around with a toy cap pistol shooting them. and “Yank” for Americans. Both names carried a typically English disdain for Johnny Foreigner. Jerry spread to other things. We had the superbly designed (by the Germans) Jerry can. Vastly superior in every way to the British equivalent and instantly copied. In these days of outside toilets, most homes had a Jerry under the bed. This came (intentionally derisive) from the similarity to the standard German helmet. Edit - You can still buy a jerry can - virtually unchanged from the original [http://www.screwfix.com/p/steel-jerry-can-olive-green-20ltr/37696](http://www.screwfix.com/p/steel-jerry-can-olive-green-20ltr/37696) ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/66 "2015-07-29T12:20:41Z")
Missed this thread the first time around but am appropriating “Doodles” for future use. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/67 "2015-07-29T17:01:38Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > …“Yank” also has some useful ambiguities attached, as in the WW2 joke about the “utility” approved lines of cost-saving clothes - “X wears them utility knickers, you know, one yank and they’re off”. WWII British joke: “The trouble with the Yanks is they’re overpaid, oversexed and over here.” WWII American rejoinder: “The British are just sore because they’re underpaid, undersexed and under Eisenhower.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/68 "2015-07-29T19:51:55Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > The British called the French ‘Frogs’ or Crapaud (toad) from the Napoleonic wars on. We have been (more recently I think) Le Rosbif. > > I have seen it suggested that Napoleon was the original ‘bogeyman’ derived from ‘Boney’. Who started “cheese eating surrender monkeys?” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/69 "2015-07-29T20:06:09Z")
Groundskeeper Willie on “The Simpsons”. ---
**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 30, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/70 "2015-07-30T02:56:13Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 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. > > > [@marshmallow](#): > > > > 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. Can you give an example usage–and who talking to whom (the culture) where used? Eg, WWII RAF pilot to copilot: “Jerry seems a little testy today, what?” or, U.S. 1969, “We bring in Playboy bunnies for USO while Charlie waits in the dark, getting stronger.” (My dialogue is heavily Hollywood influenced.) > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > 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. The penultimate line: true, ie recognizable as a humorous assertion? I’m from NY, and don’t know many people up there. The last line, too: a recognizable motif to Vermonters? > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > In Vermont, a Yankee is somebody from the Northeast Kingdom. > In the Northeast Kingdom, a Yankee is somebody from Essex County. > In Essex County, a Yankee is somebody from Lemington. > In Lemington, a Yankee is somebody from Todd Hill Road > On Todd Hill Road, they just point at Fred. 😕 > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Who started “cheese eating surrender monkeys?” > > > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > > > Groundskeeper Willie on “The Simpsons”. Thanks. Wiki: [Cheese-eating surrender monkeys - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese-eating_surrender_monkeys) ---
**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:** [July 30, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839/71 "2015-07-30T13:55:16Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > …The penultimate line: true, ie recognizable as a humorous assertion? I’m from NY, and don’t know many people up there. The last line, too: a recognizable motif to Vermonters?.. Each of those “define ‘Yankee’” sequences is intended to be absurdly reductionist. There are plenty of non-Vermont Yankees. I have heard the “apple pie for breakfast” joke definition before from actual Vermonters, although never with the tag line “with a knife.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-derogatory-name-for-americans-in-each-war/679839.md?page=3)