posted Jan 10, 2008

He wants to become a true pom. Well he can start by not referring to himself as a pom!

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posted Jan 10, 2008

I have nothing but massive respect for smith (as a leeds fan) but i have to agree that if he wants to be as close to british as possible.. he cannot call himself a pom!!!!

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posted Jan 10, 2008

It's great to see Tony Smith as the new England manager. However, when I travelled to Oz, many people out there commented that a 'pome' stands for 'Prisoner of Mother England', therefore the first Australians [after the Aborigenies of course] were the original 'pomes'. So should Tony Smith now be saying that 'he is now not a Pome' ?

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posted Jan 10, 2008

Good luck to him..............and if anyone wants to call me a pom......feel free, I don't find it insulting........I couldn't give a rats ar*e.......

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posted Jan 11, 2008

Not a problem, I wish him many happy years in the UK. This POM thing confuses me though, surely the term POMIE referes to prisoner of her majesty in exile...isn't that the aussies themselves.

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posted Jan 11, 2008

Most likely derivation of POM is from "pomegranate", an Aussie rhyming slang for "immigrant". This is certainly the meaning preferred in the Oxford Dictionaries. The other "backronyms" are largely discredited.

Wikipedia, as always, has lots of info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_words_for_British#Pommy

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posted Jan 12, 2008

POMS actually stands for "Prisoners of the mother state"

Glad to help

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posted Jan 12, 2008

I was told it originally stood for, 'Prisoner of His Majesty's Institute'[P.O.H.M.I., the 'H' being subsequently dropped at sometime.], which were the lettering/acronym that were either sewn or written on the clothes/uniforms of transported convicts, who had been sentenced to the 'Botany Bay Penal Colonies,' in the Antipodes during late 18th & to the mid 19th centuries.

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posted Jan 15, 2008

Is this a rugby league site, or and extract from Stephen Fry's QI? All these explanations for 'Poms' are just theoretical. Personally, I think the abbreviation for 'pomegranate' is the most likely, but only as a reference to the pink sunburnt skins that new arrivals to Aus' must have had, in the same way that the Frogs call us 'les Rosbifs'(they like their beef very rare!)

Anyway, back to the subject: yes, it would be ideal to have a Brit as national coach, but other sports have now realised that the most important thing is to get what you think is the best man for the job, and there's a good chance that Smith may be that. Good luck to him.

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posted Feb 5, 2008

Great coach and as long as he keeps playing Burgess then we'll be fine

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