This reminds me of the little I know about the New England Puritans - don't they say something like this? I remember the movies with Harris Ford (Witness) and others whereby non-Puritans were referred to collectively as "the English."

I don't know about Puritans, but the people in Witness were Amish. The Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and call non-Amish "English" because of the language we speak, not because of a perceived difference in nationality.

And that's Harrison Ford, by the way.