Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Limey (by guest author Camille Minichino)

Please welcome today's guest, author and good buddy Camille Minichino, she of many authorial pen names, including her latest, Elizabeth Logan. Her (that is, Elizabeth's) newest book is MURPHY'S SLAW in her Alaskan Diner Series. For more about Camille and her work, check out her website at http://www.minichino.com/

__________________________

Uh-oh, another rather unpleasant medical story, after last week’s collywobbles! 

 Here’s a reminder of our susceptibility to disease throughout history: the story of scurvy, and eventually, the origin of the term limey to describe an Englishman.

 Early explorers called scurvy the "scourge of the sea." The disease was widespread during the Victorian era, causing ulcers, gum disorders, and blackened skin from internal hemorrhaging. According to historian Stephen Bown, scurvy was responsible for more deaths at sea than storms, shipwrecks, combat, and all other diseases combined.

The precise cause had been a mystery until Royal Navy surgeon James Lind stepped in.

In May of 1747, the Scottish doctor began groundbreaking clinical testing and showed that diet, specifically vitamin deficiency, was involved. He saw to adding lemon or lime juice to the sailors’ diet. Lind is credited with the successful treatment and cure.

 By the 1800s, the term limey was used for British sailors, then English immigrants. It eventually made its way to the U. S., where its use was extended to describe any Englishman.

As an example of its non-derogatory use, an 1824 Chicago Tribune article used the term to describe Professor William A Craigie, an editor of the OED.

Still, it might be wise to refrain from using the term unless you’re sure whom you are addressing.

"ACK! Scurvy! We need citrus and we need it now!"
Nocturne by James Abbott McNeill Whistler - Artdaily.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11704020

Dr. James Lind: "Orange you glad to see me??"
By Sir George Chalmers, c 1720-1791 - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32922810