Les goddams

During the Hundred Years' War and many other conflicts between England and France in the Middle Ages, the French came to call the English (and especially its infantry) les goddamns or les goddams after their frequent expletives. Sir Richard Burton also points out the equivalent adoption of Godames in Brazil and Gotama in Somalia. The term godons was used by Joan of Arc with the same purpose, and the forms goddam, goddem and godden also derive from that expression.

This expression has also been used by Acadians in Quebec and Louisiana, and Zachary Richard has included it in the lyrics of a song in French.

This sort of appellation based on utterance is common when persons from different cultures interact (see, for example, the nickname Che as applied to Ernesto Guevara). Nowadays, les goddams has somewhat fallen out of favour.

A similar designation is los guiris, an informal Spanish term, sometimes pejorative, sometimes facetious, for foreigners, especially for English-speaking ones, from the question "Where is...?" asked by tourists (influenced in the form by the preexisting Spanish word guiri, with a completely unrelated meaning). A comparison can even be found within the UK, when natives of the seaside resort of Skegness refer to summer tourists as "chisits" (a contraction of "'ow much is it?").

Os camones is sometimes used in Portugal when referring to English speakers, especially North Americans. Its origin is uncertain, but the "come on" used by local guides to direct the tourists touring the country is a likely possibility. Furthermore, in the late 1980s TV "come on!", spoken in an urgent tone, was a common expletive for protagonists in series such as MacGyver and Knight Rider. Portuguese TV primarily uses subtitles in these series, allowing the unilingual or younger audiences, unable to understand English, to capture such simple expression and turn them into catch phrases. For a few years, children would often use the expression when playing outdoors.

In the Russian language, the word Sharomyzhnik (шаромыжник), which denotes a beggar, appeared after the Great Napoleonic War in 1812. Parts of the French army, which were left in Russia after their defeat, used to ask locals for food starting with the words "Cher ami" (dear friend), giving birth to a new idiom in the Russian language.

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