>According to my Webster's 9th Collegiate dictionary,
>
>"pommy" or "pommie" or "pom" is an Oz term [origins unkn. but in
>1915] referring to Britons, esp. a British immigrant -- often
>used disparagingly.
>
>
yes and prisoners of her majesty is the most popularly accepted version of the
meaning.
>
>
>I dunno, but this seems small change compared to one student in
>my kid's school calling another a "f**king n***er."
They're both
>about 8 years old (and, strangely, both of African-American
>persuasion). Then another, tragically a white girl, picked up
>this term of abuse. It is a therapeutic school, but this stuff is
>disgusting.
no, not a small change.
(a) the discussion arose b/c a yorkshireman referred to himself as a pom and
another person on the list asked for the esoterica to be defined.
(b) it is not disgusting to enquire and discuss the origins of terms which are
part of cultural exchanges.
(c) as i understand it the whites call the african americans - niggers
(which in my dictionary says negro or a person of dark skin) as an insult come
put down. the direction here is former slave owner to slave.
the use of the term pom is strictly reverse. former colonial masters being
attacked by the outcasts from so-called sophisticated english society for there
pomposity and out dated views to us.
and if you recall how transportation started jim there is a rich story to tell.
the enclosures and corn laws forced otherwise free farmers (pre-capitalist)
into towns to survive. stealing followed to eat. the english locked them up on
the thames in ships but thatwas too much for them to look at. so they came in
search of OZ - slaughtered the aboriginals, decimated local culture, and then
in the C20 started coming here themselves to tell us how to run our country
better. that is how pom arose....b/c a lot of poor english came here on
assisted passage but still reflected the earlier transportation/colonial
culture.
i don't find it disgusting discussing this at all.
kind regards
bill
--
#### ## William F. Mitchell
####### #### Head of Economics Department
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#################### New South Wales, Australia
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