Pom

The first written reference to the English being referred to as Pommies (Poms) is contained in letters written from the front lines and trenches of France in 1916. A traditional French insult for the English is “**pomme de terre avec le visage d'un cochon d’inde**” “Potato with the face of a Guinea pig” Shortened to simply “Pomme de Terre” “Potato” because the French considered the English, dirty, boring and common. The Australian Soldiers who shared the French Soldiers dislike for the English Officers, but could not speak French, adopted the first word from those derogatory phrases “Pomme” or “Pommes” Mispronounced, initially, as Pommy or Pommies (possibly due to the spelling Pomme being read as Pommie). Then shortened to Pom. Pom does not mean Prisoner of Mother England. It does not mean Pomegranate. It has nothing to do with Pom-poms. It means Potato. Substantiated by letters from 1916. And the fact the French, themselves, have long referred to the English as “Potato”. If you call someone a Pom, you are calling him a “potato”.