[ExI] sturgis - washington post

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of
BillK via extropy-chat
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 2:35 AM



>...The British sailors started drinking lemon juice to avoid scurvy and
later switched to lime juice.
(The lime juice was much less effective, but ships were travelling faster,
so nobody noticed).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limey>
The English words 'lemon' and 'lime' originated from the 12thC French word
'limon' which referred to all citrus fruits.
That's the only French connection.


BillK
_______________________________________________



Thanks BillK.  I had always heard that limes were better because the sailors
could drink it in higher concentrations, being a bit less acidic than lemon
juice.  In any case, I am one who adheres to the notion that nations can
perfectly legitimately be nicknamed by a favorite food or an oddball choice.
Brits eat like everyone else of course, but that whole lime juice with the
sailors business just calls out for a gentle non-insulting nickname.

I see nothing at all insulting about using food to identify people.  Food is
obviously a choice, and there is nothing at all there referencing race, our
super-sensitive hot button of modern times.  So why not?  Brits can be
limeys, Swedes can be meatballs, Swiss can be chocolate bars, Germans
krauts, French can be frogs, Italians can be pastas or pizzas.  Yanks I
suppose can be hamburgers (I don't know this firsthand, but I have heard
USian travelers abroad have a hard time finding McDonalds and Burger King,
two of our staple diet favorites.)

The international team Chess Olympics are an example of an occasion where
national teams need a nickname.  The British are the easiest: everyone
always called them the limeys, and they were not bothered by that.  The
nicknames do not need to be food, but that seems most innocuous to me.

Aside not having to do with food: at the Chess Olympics, the strongest two
teams, or rather among the strongest teams in the world (nearly always in
the world top 5) are from Armenia and Azerbaijan.  Considering current
events, naturally this leads to tension.

spike