Why do Australians call the English poms?
“Pom” comes from pomegranate, which was used as particularly tenuous rhyming slang for “immigrant”. But most Australians call the English poms (or whinging poms) without thinking about the origin of the term.
Australians have long used “pom” as a nickname for English people, to the point where most can’t even remember why. “Whinging poms” is just part of the vernacular.
Want to know more about the true story of the Ten Pound Poms? Find fascinating further reading here.
The most common explanation is that it’s a reference to Australia’s past as a convict colony. “Pom” is supposedly a bastardised acronym, meaning “prisoner of Mother England” or “prisoner of Her Majesty”.
Unfortunately, there’s no good evidence for this. And the best evidence weighs in for a rather convoluted explanation.
Jimmy Grant?
Australians haven’t always called the English “poms”. Originally the preferred slightly derogatory term was “Jimmy Grant” – rhyming slang for “immigrant”. This got shortened to “Jimmy”, and English settlers were known as “Jimmys”.
Written references to this appear as early as 1844, when all Australians were still British citizens. The country wasn’t even known as Australia then. The colonies had been going for long enough by that stage, however, for there to be an identity divide. Some were born in the colonies and others sailed in from the other side of the world.
Language and slang evolve, though. After a while, the original “Jimmy Grant” was deemed to be similar enough to “pomegranate”. The English also had a reputation for red-faced complexions, which some cite as the reason for “pomegranate” catching on.
This, eventually, got shortened to “pom”, and that stuck. So even today, Australians call the English poms – mostly affectionately, even when it’s “whinging poms”
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