The term Jerry is often used to refer negatively to the German race.
I've come across this sort of thing a lot since I started visiting US-based forums and I'd like to put my two-penneth in, if I may:
I'm an Englishman living in Germany. My Girlfriend is German. Trust me: they don't care anymore. They're just sore because they came second...
Her brother calls me 'Tommi' and says we (English) go on about the War so much because it's the only thing we were ever good at. I tell him that the only good German is the one selling his body on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg...we hit each other then drink more beer...good fun...
Jerry-rig, Jerry-can etc - that's not perjorative anymore - both terms have been long accepted into the lexicon of English...
Afro-Engineering - well, I hadn't come across that one before... but having been to Africa a good few times I would say to me that means "inventive, resourceful, ambitious, miraculous..."
Vehicles you or I would consign to the scrap-heap are kept on the road using the most amazing engineering skills using only the most basic of tools and resources...
Just as an observation and I don't necessarily mean anything by this...in my travels I work with a lot of US servicemen (and women) and I think you all worry too much about what people think...
We take great delight in telling our US Army counterparts that George III was the best King you ever had...they tell us that our habit of drinking tea is stupid because tea tastes awful...we tell them that's because in the US you make it with sea-water from Boston Harbour...and so it goes on...
oh and we always refer to them as 'The Colonial Militia'...
I think the latest one is that we're only in Iraq because of you - you (they) point out that the British have always needed the US in
every war we've ever faught and will ever fight in the future...
We say: fine - as long as you pay...we'll be here...
That may sound sacriligeous to some, but trust me, we all laugh about it a lot...it makes being here a lot easier...
Tell it like you see it - if someone doesn't like it, they'll bust you in the mouth, then buy you a beer and then we can all get on with the real business of talking about cars again...
Which is why we're here after all...
