pommie
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From pom + -ie (“diminutive suffix”). Australian from 1912.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
pommie (plural pommies)
- (colloquial, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, sometimes pejorative) An English immigrant; a pom.
- 1953, Nevil Shute, In the Wet, published 2010, unnumbered page:
- “It′ll be a long time before I do that,” the pilot said grimly. “She′s my Queen as well as yours, you know. I′m not a bloody Pommie.” […] “Too right, it′s difficult,” the Australian said. And then he added, “All Pommies aren′t bloody. I used that as a kind of figure of speech.”
- 2005, Craig Zerf, Plob, page 234:
- A Pommie. They were sending him to England to work with a Pommie. After all that he had done for this country they were shipping him off to a cold, rain-infested, windy little isle to work a case with a Pommie.
- 2011, Ali Lewis, Everybody Jam, unnumbered page:
- There are a lot of Pommies in Australia; travelling round, looking for work, and Dad reckoned you could pay them peanuts. […] If Sissy couldn′t go back to school, I thought she should help out more, then we wouldn′t have to hire a Pommie house girl.
Adjective edit
pommie (not comparable)
- (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, sometimes derogatory) English; British.
- See citations at pommy.