I've never understood them calling [ius[/i Poms. Surely [ithey're[/i the exported prisoners?

Always thought the term Pommy was short for pomegranate because when the brits went to Australia after a few days in the sun our faces looked like pomegranates

"Prisoner of Mother England" or "Prisoner of Her Majesty", but it probably derives from pomegranate, rhyming slang for "immigrant"

Poms ? The term is almost friendly when compared to the slang still used by some rlbogansrl to describe other races.

Southern or Eastern Europeans = W O G / Dago
South East Asian/Chinese = Slopes
Arabic = Hankey heads

I've lived in OZ for 44 years & still get asked if I'm a Pom,so I wouldn't take it to heart

please explain to me?

What's to explain? Seems simple enough. Brits living in Oz are immigrants, and "pomegranate" is a rhyming slang for "immigrant".

sorry, still aint getting this one - is it like "i dont like your boat" ie boat race = face? in which case what does the pomegranate stand for?

or do you mean that pomegranate rhymes with immigrant, which Im afraid it doesnt, it may have done if it was pomegrant, not pomegranate

potatoes

English people had red cheeks resembling pomegranates, hence Pom. There's also the story about them getting really red in the heat and again compared to pomegranates. Another version of the pomegranate theme is that it's rhyming slang - immigrant = pomegranate



Google works wonders!!!

Its simply because Australia isn't as PC as in this Country I wouldn't be surprised if in that country there are Pakistanis who actually arent offended by that word it depends if it was ever used in a derogatory way to them it could be the same as us saying Pakistani it may be the word they use. Different countries have different "offensive words" for example it is considered very racist to say "oriental" in reference to anyone asian in America like "Oriental Cuisine" which is very common in this country. I don't find Pom offensive i just dont get why they call us it if it means Prisoner of His/Her Majesty when that is them? haha answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 612AAkBeP2 another example of aussies for ya haha.

Its simply because Australia isn't as PC as in this Country I wouldn't be surprised if in that country there are Pakistanis who actually arent offended by that word it depends if it was ever used in a derogatory way to them it could be the same as us saying Pakistani it may be the word they use. Different countries have different "offensive words" for example it is considered very racist to say "oriental" in reference to anyone asian in America like "Oriental Cuisine" which is very common in this country. I don't find Pom offensive i just dont get why they call us it if it means Prisoner of His/Her Majesty when that is them? haha answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 612AAkBeP2 another example of aussies for ya haha.

That's the bit I've never got.

All the prisoners came from England originally

MOST of the Sheila's aren't.

There's absolutely no evidence to back up the "prisoner of mother england" theory whatsoever, or "prisoner of his/her majesty" either.

The 2 or 3 pomegranate theories seem most likely, according to most etymologists.

As for the racism angle on the "Paki" phrase, as well as the "Pom" phrase, it's generally accepted that racism is in the eye of the receiver, so to speak, so if the "Paki" or "Pom" being spoken to (or even just overhearing the reference) finds it offensive, then by definition it IS offensive.

As a simple derivative, it could be argued that "Paki" is short for "Pakistani", in the same way that "Brit" is an accepted shortening of "British". By that simple analogy, you could argue that "Paki" is not an offensive phrase, if used purely as an abbreviation. However as said above, it is not up to the speaker to decide if the phrase is offensive, but down to the listener.

From a British perspective of course, "Paki" was a mainstay phrase of the Bernard Manning / Jim Davidson school of comedy, and as such was clearly used in a derogatory way, and ought to be frowned upon, especially as the "Paki" in question could quite easily be Indian, Bangladeshi, Persian, Turkish or whatever. However different cultures and nationalities clearly have differing backgrounds, cultural references etc, and we can't simply transpose our meanings on to their usage.