Read this....


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=181824

Big deal......get a life....

lorraine

They do have a point though.

Stevo.

Which is....?

Over sensitive or what! Uk radio stations and tabloids are forever slagging off the various Aussie teams ref. their convict heritage, the number of Aussies working in UK bars, etc..

All a storm in a 'stubby holder' if you ask me - they'd be better off enjoying their wonderful environment while they still can instead of getting involved in trivialities. At the UN, will it be discussed before the latest mass killings in Africa or after yet another Ethiopian famine - puts it into perspective a little.

My point is......watch what happens here when i call the lebanese LEBS, it always gets deleted, so why doesn't pom get deleted.

Stevo.

Yes they certainly do have a point. I've had enough of all the Pommy bashing and its not only due to the cricket. Who cares about cricket - the Poms don't! We don't hear the Aussies bashing any other country like Pakistan or the West Indies.

If that petition came this way, I would sign it.

At my last job, i was called a POM by my boss, so as he was a Kiwi i called him a kiwi. He said you can't call me that, i said tough titty, and always after that we called each other Kiwi and Pom.

Stevo.

:lol: :lol:

I call myself a Pom in front of Aussies and other Poms.

I don't mind it at all,it's just a bit of fun.

Ditto.

Its no big deal, I just laugh and Join in.
Ive been here nearly 2 1/2 years and Ive never heard it said as an insult.
Had a few jokes at work about the Cricket but I just say " yeah fricking useless ain't they"

"All you poms coming over here"

We're only here cos you need us.
That always gets a laugh as well.

Don't take it to heart.

What a load of rubbish!

Next thing we'll hear is a national up roar about calling someone from pakistan a pakistani, someone from scotland, scottish of someone from italy, italian!!!

Or even worse....Yorkshire folk Tykes!!!!!!!!! :sign68: :sign68:

Thinking about it if the word pom is taken as prisoner of mother england shouldn't we be calling the australians rather than us british?

Only just clicked on the link :D
Well thats one way to create your own racial tension.
Make an issue where there isn't one <_<

I thought the ad was pretty funny when I see it on the side of a truck.

I don't mind a warm pint of Tetleys :D

Sincerely, as a genuine Aussie who's ancestors made the 3 1/2 month ship journey to Adelaide (Free settlers!) from England in 1838, I do use the words Pom and Kiwi. If I thought they were nasty terms I wouldn't use them. I can't think, at the moment, of any other slang words for people of different countries that I would use, as it does seem to me that many of those ARE negative terms. The only time the word Pom seems distasteful to me is when the word 'whingeing' is placed in front of it, which is how I'm sure many Aussies and Poms would describe the people making this petition. We Australians are pretty lazy with our language, and Pom is much easier than English, and Kiwi much easier than New Zealander. In my mind, most of the time that's all it is, although I will admit, that when it comes to the cricket, there does seem to be more harshness to it. As someone who doesn't even follow the cricket, I don't know what it's all about, but there does seem to be that harsh rivalry between Australia and England in cricket.

As someone else said, do the English papers always refer to us as 'Australians', or are there some less savoury words used in your country, when it comes to cricket reporting, etc.

Even if these people did manage to get the United Nations to quit worrying about all the terrible things going on in the world, and start worrying about the word Pom, I'm pretty sure you'd find it very difficult to police, and unfortunately for the majority of you people who accept that in Australia you will be referred to as a 'Pom', I don't think it will help the way we look at you at all.

Cheers,
Jen

Jen, even that, in the right context is not offensive to me.
Like I said before I have never personally had it said as an insult.

I think it depends how its said..... I personally get quite p*******d off with the constant POM comments IF its obvious that its hostile, though its always supposed to be a "joke"............

one good thing about being back in the UK at xmas was being able to be me...not "the Pom" for a few weeks! i hate the term wog, though i know people use it to describe themselves...

its just way of dividing everyone I think, and dehumanising at times.....people are people after all......

But it's true - Toohey's IS this pom's worst nightmare - I wouldn't clean drains wi'it!

So it's more accurate than most advertising.....

I've never really found the term POM offensive and am always surprised by the frequent useage by many Australians of the term WOG which seems to be used for most southern Europeans.

I find this more offensive.

What seems ironic is that at the Adelaide Oval we get the pre match lecture regarding the use of terms that could possibly cause offence on terms of nationality, ethnicity etc. etc, etc then a bunch of adverts on the big screen using the term POM.

Possibly double standards.

I like to call myself Denise when I am with my friends

I am a Pomme or scouser or whatever for gods sake why dont these people stay here with all the rest of the politically correct idiots!!!

Not satisfied in destroying "great" britain they seem to be spreading their disease around the globe :lol: you only get one life so lets spend it living like over sensitive children these people are just so sad!!

I get the mickey taken all the time as i am a scouser who works around manchester you take it and give it simple. :D

What next ?

Lee

The word Pom, or Pommy/Pommie, doesn't come from Prisoner of Mother England; unfortunately it's one of a number of fanciful tales told about thehistiry of words. Other such made-up word origins include; Workers On Government Service, Port Out Starboard Home, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden. All of these derivations are completely false, and the words pre-date a time when acronyms were used. Pommy probably comes from Pomegranate, used as a slang term for "Immigrant" (Jimmy Grant was also used) due to the words' similarities.
Therefore it is about as offensive as calling French people Frogs, or Germans Krauts; or the French calling the British "rosbifes"

That concludes today's Open University lecture on the origin of words! :P

I always knew that the Australians were a very liberal society who didn,t mince their words and as a result of this I have readily accepted being called a Pom. After all I have and probably still will get called a lot worse. Sticks and stones and all that.
We have a friend over here who works for the police and he reliably informed us that there is no such offence as "racially aggravated" over here.!!
Whilst I was surprised by this I also think IMO that as a result of the "say what you see" attitude adopted here, that the country has far less of a tense atmosphere when it comes to different races.
In England I found that I was forever having to watch what I said and did, in the remote chance that I may have offended some race or religion.
Over here no one gives a sh#t and as a result everyone just gets on with it!!!

Now pass me my peace pipe............................ :P

Coombsie

:love29: well said Coombsie.

Funnily enough I had an older couple arrive into work today and they referred to themselves as fellow Poms, we had a real good laugh about the politics of it all. I may add they were not in least offended by the use of the term. I guess some people, as has been mentioned previously, are more sensitive than others.

Doubtful. But like the report stated, Australia is deficient. I don't think that statement is restricted to just the law though...

I was under the impression that "POM" meant "Prisoner of the motherland"

If the prison was Australia, and the UK was the jailer. How can modern day UK immigrants be "POM’S?"

It’s all just a laugh, I know who I laugh at when I hear it...

Come on peeps, just enjoy the life... No worries! :D :lol: :D

I think I've said this before, but it bears repeating. Some terms, like Pom, may not be offensive to you, and it may be difficult for you to understand how the name may be offensive to someone else, but if they find it offensive then you should respect their wishes and not impose it on them. Having said that, these people don't seem to fighting against the use of the word Pom to describe the Anglos; they're trying to level the field by allowing other racial slang terms to be used, like wog, paki, leb, spick, chink, jap, kiwi and nigger. They do have a point.

tumkin

The word POM used by the average Australian depects a country of origin, not a race, colour or creed.

Lets not forget that...

I think so much of it depends on how it's said - as a nickname like 'Kiwi' or 'Aussie' then there is no big deal. But when it's used to belittle or slag someone off then it's not nice being on the receiving end.

We spent a season working at the WACA and I worked in the members bar during the Ashes. It was a whitewash (again!) and the amount of ribbing I got being a POM was....um.....justified! We were cr*p! It was all very good humoured. But every now and again I'd meet someone who spat the word at me with such vigour that it was hard not to see it as a insult aimed at...insulting.

A few of our Australian friends later mentioned that we would be working when "We (Australia) are playing the Pakis". The look on my face must have said it all - 'you can't say Pakis' I cried. "Why not? We're Aussies from Australia, they're Pakis from Pakistan". Good point!

So, after this essay on my opinion ;) I think it depends on whether it's meant to insult and hurt as to whether it does.

Carla

p.s. as an amusing aside (if anyone's bothered to read to the end of this... :P

When I worked at the WACA we started the day with ice buckets under the counter as well as fridges stocked full of beer. It was very busy and the fridge doors were open a lot of the time which meant the cold beers in the fridge were not to Aussie standards. The guys kept saying, "you pommies might like warm beer but we want a cold one - get one out of the ice buckets would ya?". I tried to explain that the ice had melted so they weren't any colder but they kept on so in the end I was dunking the beers in the luke warm water and putting them on the bar. "Beautiful" sighed the Aussie men, "that tastes much better - and look at all that condensation"!!!!! :lol2: Er, no, just water actually - :clap:

Thought this might spark a little debate.

For me personally i have no objection whatsoever to being called a POM...i often use the phrase myself at work...'well us Poms"...etc

All my work colleagues are australian....some of english heritage, others italian etc....but i do still find it hard when they openly say 'wog'....i've said to them that if they said that to anyone in england...they'd be locked up in the tower!!!! :lol2: :lol2:

The banter i have had to endure during the ashes...its been good fun really....my nickname at work is PG...short for pommygirl...and i have no problem with it at all!

I think the only real nasty thing that has happened to any of us because we are english is when Hannah was verbally abused at the checkout in foodland....an old guy told her to ' :sign53: 'off back home when he realised she was english.

lorraine

I rarely get offended by anything and I am a very easy going person, but as I have said before, I don't like the free and easy way the Australians use 'POME' to categorize me as an Englishmen. In particular I find it very disrespectful when the media use the term. I see no difference to 'Skippy' 'Paki' 'Kraut' or 'Frog'

It would be unacceptable in the UK to hear what I have heard on TV News here like, "Coming up after the break, The Aussies whop the Pakis at the WACA" or " The Pomes get well & truly Tonked at the MCG today"

To me it is just ignorance, driven by a completely insular and ill informed understanding of others cultural values.

This aside, the skippys are generally well behaved and remain servile and loyal subjects.

V

Freedom of speech :D

Remember those days you have to think back a very long way though........... :D ............. :D .............


Lee ;)
only joking but i do hope Australia does not go the same way as the uk i mean we nearly had world war three over the word popadom!!!!

I agree that 'Wog' seems to be much more offensive than 'Pom'. I would use the term Pom to describe an Englishperson, as to me it seems to be more an affectionate nickname, but I would never use the term 'Wog', as it seems a negative term. I don't know the origins of the term, but it probably started when Australia had a lot of Italian and Greek immigrants way back when. I think it was difficult for them when they first came, but now, Italians and Greeks are a very accepted part of our society.

The other thing to remember, is that not all Aussies are the same either, and while there would be a certain 'rougher' element that would use all these names, there are also a lot of people who wouldn't, so I'm not really sure what the 'average Aussie' is. It may depend on your circle of friends as to whether or not you hear these words, and whether or not they are offensive.

Whatever, I hope we don't very soon become overly politically correct, because isn't that one of the reasons why some of you are coming here?

Jen

Hey thats my name!!! <_< :unsure: :P

I know it is.....i didn't choose it!!!! honest! :lol2:

It would be unacceptable in the UK to hear what I have heard on TV News here like, "Coming up after the break, The Aussies whop the Pakis at the WACA" or " The Pomes get well & truly Tonked at the MCG today"

re the above.....one of the reasons i left the Uk....

lorraine

I agree that political correctness may appear to border on the ridiculous at times; however, it seems to me that what’s important in this issue is not how a term is intended but how it’s interpreted. The reality is if just one person is offended by being referred to as a Pom, then Pom is offensive no matter how unpalatable that may be to the majority.

Everyone can have and be entitled to their opinion on any issue but nobody on this planet has evolved to the degree where they have the right to dictate to any individual how they should feel in or respond to any situation. Just because someone thinks its ok doesn’t make it so. Heaven knows there are countless examples of that across the world today.

With due respect to everyone who has posted so far, adopting the “get over it” or similar attitude is also offensive. Again, nobody has the right to tell me or anyone how I should feel. That’s what living in a civil society is all about, having the right to be treated with respect, courtesy and dignity.

Many people are extremely proud of their own culture and heritage and emigrating doesn’t nullify that nor should it have to. For far too long people have accepted second best and were afraid to stand up and be counted for fear of ridicule from the “get over it” league, so it became acceptable to disrespect. Not very long ago we considered women less than equal to men. We denied them the right to vote, the right to equal working conditions and equal pay. That only changed because someone had the courage to stand up and be counted.

The use of the word Pom may seem a trivial comparison but if it offends me or anyone, it’s offensive!

Alan.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

The reality is if just one person is offended by being referred to as a Pom, then Pom is offensive no matter how unpalatable that may be to the majority.

This seems to be where the UK is going if it offends one person.....can you run a society with this attitude and still call it democracy ?

We have seen the Uk be destroyed by this PC attitude where do you stop ??

Lee

my 2 penneth worth!!!

i agree with pompeyblonde, i think its all in the context of how its said.

if its positive, fine but whingeing pom.... a bit wearing after a while i would think...

Just think the UN have more important things to worry about...personally i think these people should be ashamed of themselves for taking up valuable time with this..

lorraine

Oh I get it, a positive way like 'Hey there, you Pakis are really hard workers and I think you make a great contribution to British culture" or "You Frogs are without doubt the best chefs in Europe"

Or what about "The Sambo's are far superior at athletics than the Honkies"

No difference IMO, Pome, skippy, Kiwi, Paddy, Taff, Jock, Paki, Yiddo, etc

All disrespectful.

Get over it!

V.

i agree....like how to be better than completely useless

I don't like being refered to as an Aussie. Especially when lazy Aussie or another derogatory word is added. I am Australian. Should i take that up with the UN too.

:rolleyes: