Historical dictionaries are not just about definitions.
Every word or phrase has a story, and the historical
lexicographer has to tease this story out from whatever documentation
can be found. That is one of the pleasures of working on the Oxford
English Dictionary.
Pom
An enduring myth is that the word pom (as in whinging pom
and other more colourful expressions) is an acronym from either
"Prisoner of His Majesty" or even "Permit of Migration", for the
original convicts or settlers who sailed from Britain to Australia.
The first recorded use of pom comes from 1912, which is quite - but not unnaturally - early for an acronym.
There is no historical documentation to support these myths (rather like the disproved theory that posh derives
from tickets for the upmarket cabins on the old P&O liners - port
out, starboard home). Instead the etymology is apparently more
circuitous.
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