@mhoye Fair, and yet I seem to recall that John Dickie argues in Delizia ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2086192.Delizia_ ) that the British being referred to as Les Rosbifs ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2913151.stm ) was not originally an insult but simply a recognition of their excellence in that domain.