good night Bife, before you go to bed, don't forget to learn your lesson
Several European slang terms for the English are apparently derived from the association of the English (and the British more generally) with eating roast beef.
The original explanation of the French term rosbif is that it referred to the English tradition of cooking roast beef,[19] and especially to the song The Roast Beef of Old England.[20] Interestingly, it is reputed that Rosbeauf is from the Middle Ages when the King of France sent his Court Chefs to England to learn how to 'roast the beef', as the English were the experts. Hence, 'les rosbif'.
In Portugal, the term bife (literally meaning steak, but sounding like beef) is used as a slang term to refer to the English.[21] There is a feminine form, bifa, mainly used to refer to English female tourists[citation needed].
