I was curious, the word “argie” used as derogatory to refer the argentines during the war…It born in 1982 or it was used earlier in UK.
Couldn’t tell you when it started, highly likely went wide spread in '82, although Britain and Argentina were rivals in football prior to that.
It isn’t derogatory. It is a shortened title of your countries name. If you notice many countries are shortened if it possible.
Brits, Ausies, Argies, Scots, Swedes, Finns, Danes. Not to be confused with the (mildly) derogatory names such as Frogs, Bosch, Eye-ties, etc.
Where you going with this? Infraction points for using my own language and it’s colloqual nuances? I hazard to guess.
Much like the word “Boyo”, or the words “Buster & Buddy” here in the states. Can be used in either context, friendly, or as a warning.“watch it buddy” Its not always the word, sometimes its the intent and inflection of use that makes it derogatory. Sort of a Jekyll & Hyde thing.
Because it fit’s in here a bit, i have a question:
Germans Nicknames:
British said: Jerry (does it come from the Toon Series ‘Tom & Jerry’ ?)
But who said Kraut and Fritz - was it mixed up between all nations and/or how did it spread it’s way from Russia - to the USA - or otherwise?
And where are the origins of those ‘nicknames’ ?
Thanks 
Jerry or Gerry.
I was given two origins for this, both many years ago. The first being that ‘Gerry’ is a diminutive for German, which seems quite plausible.
Equally plausible, and a lot funnier is the fact that a Jerry is a nickname for a chamber pot, the handled porcelain bowls used as toilets and stored under the bed.
One particular type was higher on one side than the other, which the Tommies of the Great War decided bore a similarity to an upturned German helmet, hence the helmets, and by extension those wearing them, being called Jerries.
Toilet humour has always appealed to both infants and infanteers.
Kraut
Chiefly transatlantic in use, it’s use is first recorded Stateside in the middle of the C19. It stems from the popular German dish of Sauerkraut which is made from fermented cabbage and has a sour, but very pleasant taste.
(Devotees of Python will recall the ‘RAF Banter’ sketch where enemy planes are given various icknames, notably ‘Cabbage Crate.’)
Fritz
From the common German male proper noun.
Also WWI in orgin, British Tommy slang.
Jerry came from the chamber pot and how the helment looked like one as far as I am aware.
Tom and Jerry was actually named AFTER the “Tommy” and the “Jerry”. Tom being a common name for a cat, Jerry came after.
I have been told that the Germans find “Bosch” insulting, although in literal translation it means Bush (i think).
For the French - Frogs = Frogs legs (the national “dish”)
For Brits - Roast Beef is a common name for our national dish.
Americans - Yanks, Septics, SPAMs, Yankee,
Canadians - Canucks.
Can’t think of many more to be honest.
Once when I was in Germany, there was nearly a fight in the Gasthaus, when a German used the local word for Americans. I dont remember the word exactly, but it was sounded as “zoopfin”(if I heard it right) The fight would have been over the German’s confusion of the words,definition. Yank,(ee) and Jerk. Very similar if used as a verb, but not well taken if used as a noun. once the confusion of words cleared, All were happy, and the beer flowed. :EDIT Okay I just looked it up, its spelled zupfen, and has a variety of meanings, mostly centered around the act of plucking, pulling, strumming, yanking, etc. must be a local slang word for Yankee. Erlangen, Bavaria, W.Germany.(there were 2 in those days, for the younger among us.)
In the circumstances I’s better not clarify the meaning of “septic” and “Spam”
I don’t know, where you had been, but this somehow sounds like a Bavarian dialect ^^ but it doesn’t have any sense concerning the Americans.
A very common word for the Americans here is ‘Amis’
In the seventys, there had been a film (can’t recall the name - american film) but there was a spy called ‘Ami Polizei Funk’ which means American Police Radio :mrgreen:
British are (had been one have to say!) the Thommies and Russians the Ivans.
@ Cuts: Yes, i knew that had to come from Sauerkraut and in my opinion (even my origins are in the world capital of beer ^^) it doesn’t tastes that good - only with a Schweinshaxn’ 
PS: I wonder if anybody knows ‘Steckerlfisch’ 
haxn mmmmmm.
Dribbles down chin.
Lovely. The Ratkeller near me does a cracking haxn. The meat falls off the bone.
Mmmmmmm.
Cracking Dunkle Bier too.
Ooof!
I should add that the primary derogatory reference to the German enemy by Americans in WWII was the aforementioned “Krauts.” I believe Hun (the reference being Germanic barbarians I believe) was also a British derived slang reference, as well as Bosche. A more predominately American slur might be "Herm/Hermann/Hermann the German…
I think it should be mentioned that Americans are often at a disadvantage when using nationalistic ethnic slurs pertaining to Europeans, since the society is largely one of a “melting-pot.” Many American soldiers, as well as my grandmother and mother, were of recent German, English, Scottish, or French-Canadian lineage for instance, so in a sense, they may have loved eating sour Kraut and indeed in my home town, which is named after a famous German city, there was up until about a decade ago still German grocery shops selling imported sauerkraut, cheeses and meats. sigh
There are some more subtle, lesser known American derision’s of the British: “Brits,” even though it is merely the shortened term for the British, can be seen a a bit rude.
“Limey” was popular slang for the British in the US until recently, being taken from the lime juice British sailors drank to ward off scurvy, and was/is considered a mildly rude put-down. I imagine the US senior officer class in the Army and Navy of the time, often fiercely Anglophobic, may have had some more obscure slurs such as “FEB,” or “Fog-breather/Foggy.”
Some today may be insulted as Euro___ (-sexual, -fag, -trash, -wanker, -weenie, etc.) or “Gay-or-Just-English?”.
As for Aussies, there is no real ‘put-down’ for them in the current American lexicon since they’re generally well thought of, or little thought of, though there may have been some terms more prevalent during WWII, such as “convict” or “penal colonist.”
American soldiers often referred to Italians as Guineas, Dagos or Wops, but some Italian-American soldiers would have again taken offense to this obviously…
Canadians used to be referred to, in addition to Canuck, as “51st-Staters” and the more derisive “Canuckleheads” by Americans…
Oh, I don’t wanna go on with this…
I was stationed in Bavaria, and in truth, seldom ever heard “zoopfin” used except between germans, (also known as “Rads” ) Ami was/is used as well, more commonly. Many young Germans would address us with “hey man” they must watch too much bad american tv.
Yes, Washington DC is quite a wide spread town name here provocates reply to find out the name
Bosch - what should be bad about it? Bosch was/is a big electricity company here. I think you mean the french word ‘boche’ for Germans which means something like pig.
Only name which could be insulting against by Germans against Germans is the name ‘Osram’ - it’s a bit a old expression.
Osram is the name of a company which produces electric lamps and their slogan is (you can read it also at the buildings at the Karlsplatz/Stachus at Munich) : ‘Hell wie der lichte Tag’, what means ‘Bright like the day’.
If someone is a choleric person or if he get’s ashamed very quickly and get’s a red head - you call him Osram - quite old, but still spread
I was stationed at Ramstein and many a German automatically assumed I was an American. I used to love their surprise when I replied ‘are you talking to me old chap’. Generally though I was dismayed by my American cousins who would sidle up to me and Mrs FF when we were having a conversation and say ‘Gee, I love those Irish accents’, grrrrrrrrrrr.
Still I loved Germany, but those days are gone for us RAF types…
I am not surprised at that, Most Germans figured if you are speaking English, you must be American, My inept countrymen must have been hiding in a cave someplace. There is no way to confuse the Scot, and Irish accents. Even Glaswegians arent close.(and I still cant understand them.) Big difference in Gaelic, and Gallic.
well, most Americans have a thick skin, and can take a joke, even if its on them. so let er rip, I wanna know. (dont worry, I wont drag out my anti tank gun,)
Couldn’t tell you when it started, highly likely went wide spread in '82, although Britain and Argentina were rivals in football prior to that
Hmmm, that was the one I felt. :roll:
Oh, I’m not actually from Washington, like seemingly everyone else here; I’m just a transient refugee.
Bosch - what should be bad about it? Bosch was/is a big electricity company here. I think you mean the french word ‘boche’ for Germans which means something like pig.
Of course, that’s where is was derived (French). Most Americans recognize ‘Bosch’ today as a maker of quality spark plugs, oil filters, automotive electronics, and power tools…
Probably little thought of, but don’t tell our Prime Minister that 'cos he thinks Dubya thinks he’s the Man of Steel, 'cos Dubya said so. Dubya, and our Prime Minister, also assured us that there were weapons of mass deception in Iraq, so it’s best not to place too much credence in his opinions.
To expand your lexicon, Skip is, like most things here, a word of endearment or an insult depending upon inflection and the relationship of the speaker and the auditor.
Wogs (i.e. not proper Aussies, just second or third generation Mediterraneans who’ve been here for at best a quarter of the time since European settlement - or invasion if you prefer that more active historical view) coined it as a respose to terms like wog, dago, spick, balt, reffo, Lebo, spag, etc in the 1960’s / 70’s from a kid’s television show (about the equivalent of Rin Tin Tin or Lassie, with production values about thirty years behind) about a kangaroo with a lot more intelligence than most kangaroos, which put it roughly half way between a cat and beach sand.
Intro here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCHY6n907OE
and you have no idea how potent was the symbolism of playing a gum leaf in the first scene. Could probably still do it myself, or with tissue paper over a comb which was another source of discordant bush music.
Many of the scenes in Skippy the Idiot Kangaroo actually involved bits of dead roos, usually paws, doing things. Nothing remarkable about that. I worked in a souvenir shop in Melbourne in the mid sixties that flogged crap like kangaroo paw bottle openers i.e. dead roo’s paw with chrome bottle opener screwed into the end of it, and kangaroo skin moccasins. Such a popular item that my very hands fitted Marlene Dietrich with a pair of them in 1965. She had a shocking cough and wasn’t anything to get excited about, but I was only fifteen. I’m closer to sixty now and if I’d been that age then I still wouldn’t have been any more excited.
And my point was? 
Rhyming slang.
Septic = Septic tank = Yank.
A septic tank is, and was in WWII when the term was coined here as a measure of our fraternal fondness for our American allies (who were better dressed, better paid and often better behaved than the local soldiery, thus getting the local girls and causing a lot of resentment and only a few riots that ended in deaths), an underground receptacle for sewage in unswered areas, which either is a simple tank which is pumped out by men with no teeth and no brains into foul smelling tankers with smelly brown tracks down them - which tankers still exist and cost a fortune to use- or which, like the one at my beach shack, have a sand filter system which disperses the contents into the soil, and makes the grass grow like buggery at this spring time of year so that I’ve just been reminded that I have to make a four hour round trip just to mow it. Thanks for reminding me. Not!