2006-09-01 19:18:49 · 17 answers · asked by viewAskew 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
After the Second World War, New Zealanders began to describe English immigrants as Poms, or Pommies.....The word was not an acronym of the term Prisoners of Mother England, nor a version of the French word for potatoes (pommes de terre), which English soldiers ate during the war; it was rhyming slang originally used in Australia. The word ‘immigrant’ produced ‘pomegranate’, which was shortened to ‘Pom’ or ‘Pommy’.
2006-09-01 19:25:22 · answer #1 · answered by VelvetRose 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I think that VelvetRose has given the most likely answer, though the really big immigration to Australia came just after the War, when the British Government were offering a one-way passage for £10!
My own theory (which I haven't seen elsewhere) is that it comes from the way the English talk - our accent does sound a little 'pompous' to our antipodean friends and the sound 'pom, pom, pom' would be an excellent take off of the way that, especially, officers in the British Army spoke during the War.
Theories, such as the acronym one, really hold little water - 'POME' sounds about as convicing to me as 'Port Out Starboard Home' as the derivation of 'posh'.
It used to be a derogatory term but I think one could now class it as 'jocular but a little condescending' - unless it is used with particular venom in the phrase 'pommy bastard'. Ozzies are usually very good mates and are past masters at taking anything down a peg that they think is too stuck up.
2006-09-02 00:50:47 · answer #2 · answered by Owlwings 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
My best friend is an aussie and shes always said it means Prisoner Of her Majesty. Her dad was a 'ten pound POM' and we had the discussion about the origin of POM over dinner in Sydney when I went over there. Every aussie at the table said it means 'Prisoner of her Majesty'.
Because aussies see it as they have escaped and we are still prisoners.
2006-09-01 20:01:07 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's Aussies that call Brits, usually Englishmen, Poms like some call Americans 'Yanks'. It doesn't mean anything.
2006-09-01 19:21:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Stems from the acroynm, "POME" which them gets called Pommy, or Pommee....Either way POME is Prisoner Of Mother England, from the days of transporting prisoners, so the English are still referred to as POME, had we been transported we would still be a POME
2006-09-01 19:27:51 · answer #5 · answered by Steven N 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Pohmmy or Pom actually goes back to when we sent over prisoners from UK to Oz. It stands for Prisoners Of Her Majesty... Hope that helps x
2006-09-01 19:37:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It doesn't really mean anything to us other than a way for foreign people to describe us. Much the same as we say Aussies & Yanks.
2006-09-01 19:25:10 · answer #7 · answered by monkeyface 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It means Prisoner Of her Majesty... So basically the aussies are the Poms. When australia was discovered we sent all the scum of britain there, and they evolved into Aussies
2006-09-01 22:36:25 · answer #8 · answered by BlackHawk 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Despite what anyone may tell you - no-one knows for sure. But here is some history and ideas of where it may have come from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pommy#Pommy
2006-09-01 19:22:20 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
aussies call us English pommies,limeys because there bitter that we dumped the trash from England there which grew into Australia.good they can call us what they like there still not coming home.lol
2006-09-01 19:39:40 · answer #10 · answered by BLACKY 4 · 4⤊ 2⤋