Wessi

Wessi IPA|/vɛsiː/ ("westerner") is the informal name that people in Germany call citizens of West Germany before re-unification. The counterpart for citizens of the former East Germany is Ossi. These names represent the decisive differences of the culture of the two German nations. While some people in Germany may consider these names insulting most people just regard them as part of the German culture.

There is also the name Besser-Wessi ("besser" meaning "better") which is a pun on Besserwisser ("know-it-all") and has quite a similar meaning. East Germans used it when they felt West Germans didn't give proper respect to their achievements and way of life, feeling assimilated rather than united (it should be noted that politically speaking, that is exactly what happened: West Germany absorbed five states that had been "liberated" by the dissolution of the GDR. This solution was taken in order to legally avoid the necessity of creating a new constitution as demanded by the West German Grundgesetz (Basic Law)).