Abbreviated National Names

[Relique du Madde]

ANYWAYS... on the issue of shortening names, am I the only person who finds the usage of mash-up names based on the shortening of the first names of two people who are in a relationship as being contempt worthy?

 

[Corum]

Hello everyone. I've been reading the forums for a long time now and, in the spirit of the Special Relationship registered so that I could give a bit of perspective on the use of the term "septic" to refer to our American cousins.

The long and the short of it is that you shouldn't take it to heart. Using "septic tank" as rhyming slang for Citizen of the United States doesn't imply that British people don't like you any more than using "apples and pears" as rhyming slang for stairs implies that we think that stairs are a delicious fruit with many healthful properties.

Yes it isn't very nice to be referred to as a septic tank, but it is used in the context of British people traditionally giving their friends (very) unflattering nicknames and dovetails splendidly with our love of toilet humor.

Everyone sensible in the UK is very fond of you, believe me. It's also worth pointing out that it is much nicer than the nicknames that the people of the various countries that make up the UK have for each other!

edit: Misinterpreted the mod warning above.

 

[Bullgrit]

How about the well-known nickname for Australians and New Zealanders? Are they considered offensive? I've never read or heard them used with any apparent offense intended, but they aren't even abbreviations.

I'm avoiding using the terms, in case they are considered offensive, but can someone answer this? I never thought they were anything but light-hearted nicknames, but I also thought such about the nicknames for the British and Germans, so what do I know.

Bullgrit

 

[ahayford]

I think the answer is, if you want to know if the term is offensive, the people to ask are those to whom it refers. If enough of them think it is, there isn't room for debate at that point. They get to make that call.

 

[Bullgrit]

I think the answer is, if you want to know if the term is offensive, the people to ask are those to whom it refers.

That's what I'm doing, (in an admittedly pretty limited way). We have Australians and New Zealanders on ENWorld.

Bullgrit

 

[Mark Hope]

I'm not overly fond of Brit, to be honest, but that's because I consider myself English. I don't find it offensive, though. My gf (who was born in England but all her family are from Belfast) considers herself British as opposed to English and my niece (whose mum is English and dad is Scottish) apparently thinks of herself as British as well. I'm not sure what a contraction of English would be, as Limey seems so hopelessly outdated that I couldn't take someone using it seriously.

I don't use Yank myself, but I have some friends who use it, and it almost always has an unpleasant undertone. I don't know if that's a growing trend over here, or just some of my mates being jerks.

I also remember growing up in Holland in the 70s and 80s and hearing Cloggy used to refer to the Dutch. I don't recall that having any unpleasant undertones, but I'd defer to the judgment of a Dutchman in that regard. (At least one of my Dutch friends, who wore clogs like an Englishman might wear slippers, seemed rather pleased by it, heh )

 

[Corum]

I'm avoiding using the terms, in case they are considered offensive, but can someone answer this? I never thought they were anything but light-hearted nicknames, but I also thought such about the nicknames for the British and Germans, so what do I know.

Bullgrit

Australians are Aussies, Convicts or Strayrans (This last one doesn't convert well into text but mimics the way that some Australians drop letters when pronouncing Australia in casual conversation.)

People from New Zealand are Kiwis. This one definitely isn't offensive and is really the only word for "people from New Zealand." Any name implying unnatural relations with sheep is also used.

Conversely British are Poms to Australians and Kiwis.

To the Scots the English are Sassenachs, a word that derives from Scots Gaelic and means Saxon.

The English call the Scots jocks and sweaty socks. There are others which are too rude to repeat on a forum.

As to whether or not these words are offensive, excepting Aussie, Kiwi and Jock I wouldn't use any of them outside of a context where I was good enough friends with a person to banter with them. On the other hand nobody is going to burst into tears if you use them.

 

[Bullgrit]

Completely by coincidence, I came across this in an old, (2008), post:

This is something most of us (or at least the brits, cant say for the rest of the world) learnt in high school.

Seeing this made me think of doing a search for the abbreviation of British here on ENworld. Here a just a handful of the references I found:

-- These first ones were written/spoken by a person in/from the UK.

"As a Brit, I always read it as: what's the problem with D&D."

"The work of a Brit called JK Rowling."

"I don't know how it is comparatively, but I'm a Brit and I don't notice anything strange about reading it aloud. Maybe it suits my British cadence well?"

"As a Brit, I intend to prepare for it by doing nothing."

"Eric Noah was thrown out of the Brit Awards for goosing Russel Brand"

--

"Interestingly here in Japan, I have never met a British roleplayer. Aussi, Kiwi, USian, Canadian, all them, but not Brit."

"Can you ship them to NZ, my wife's a brit and I used to live there "

"Why can't it be a French or a Brit or a Czech?"

"I think to say that the change is only due to American influence is a bit insulting to the Brits."

"One must remember that ENWorld is international (its owned by a Brit, for limey's sake!)"

Just interesting stuff.

Bullgrit