Where "Pommy" Comes From
The most credible account of "pommy" comes from rhyming slang, and it's genuinely well documented. D.H. Lawrence noted it in his 1923 novel "Kangaroo," explaining that "pomegranate," pronounced "pommygranate," rhymes closely enough with "immigrant" — and that new British arrivals often had round, ruddy cheeks before the Australian sun got to them.
H.J. Rumsey's 1920 book "The Pommies, or New Chums in Australia" fills in the fuller chain: new immigrants on the Melbourne wharves were first nicknamed "Jimmy Grant" (rhyming with "immigrant"), which shifted to "Pommy Grant" via the pomegranate association, before being clipped down to just "Pommy." An even earlier version of the pomegranate theory appears in "The Anzac Book" of 1916 — and crucially, the timeline rules out any link to convict transportation, since the term only emerges in the late 19th century, long after transportation had ended.
Source:
"The Poms always complain about our sun."
How Aussies Actually Use It
Usually good-natured ribbing rather than genuine hostility, especially around cricket season — "the Poms always complain about our sun" is classic, affectionate banter.
It reflects the long, competitive-but-friendly relationship between Australia and the UK, and is used constantly without much real bite behind it.
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