Why do Australians call the English Poms?

Answer 1

A long time ago when people in England were bad or murdered someone or something like that they would be banished from England and sent off to Australia. This is how most Australians started out. Pom stands for Prisoner of her Majesty. It is what the people in Autralia would call English people.

Answer 2

The expression POMMY or POMMIE, shortened to POM, has been around for a long time and is also used by New Zealanders.

It has two acceptable origins -

1. Prisoner of Mother England (POME) referring to the convict heritage on which Australia was founded.

2. Refers to the rosy cheeks of English immigrants which was likened to the colour of a Pomegranate. This was originally a rhyming slang where immigrants were called Pommy Grants (pomegranates) rather than Johnny Grants.

Alternatively, it is well known in Australia and New Zealand that the correct name for England is Pomgolia, therefore it stands to reason that anybody hailing from Pomgolia, must be a Pommy.

This is tremendously convenient for we Australians, since it fits in very comfortably with so many Australianisms, most of which cannot be detailed in this forum.

Answer 3

The Oxford English Dictionary strongly supports the theory that pommy originated as a contraction of "pomegranate". They also suggests that the reason for this is that pomegranate is extinct Australian rhyming slang for immigrant; it cites an article from 14 November 1912, in a once-prominent Australian weekly magazine The Bulletin: "The other day a Pummy Grant (assisted immigrant) was handed a bridle and told to catch a horse."

The explanation that I grew up with was 'POME' - Prisoner Of Mother England - as emblazoned on the clothes of the convicts as they arrived in Australia. Can anyone show evidence to contradict this, apart from the 'pomegranate' explanation above?

Answer 4

No idea