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Overseas travellers currently in Australia looking for further penetrating insight into the national psyche might consider viewing <i>The Man Inside Dame Edna</i> on ABC1 tonight Thurs 12th, a doco about Barry Humphries, the creator of the legendary (Dame) Edna Everage, (Sir) Les Patterson, and Barry McKenzie.
Dame Edna has spread herself around generously over the years so many will know something of her already. Sir Les, a man of the world as cultured (and self-effacing) as many of the home grown correspondents on this site ("we've got more culture than a penicillin factory"), you may have come across (so to speak, as he would say) in many guises on your travels thus far. Bazza has been resting on his laurels (or is that Laurel?) after giving the Poms a touch up in <i>The Adventures of Barry McKenzie</i> - http://tinyurl.com/annodn which as everyone knows should have beaten <i>The Godfather</i> for Best Picture of 1972. And travellers looking for a suitable memento for their bookshelves back home could do worse than acquiring a copy of the globe-trotting Sir Les's seminal work <i>The Traveller's Tool</i>, which veritably bulges with invaluable road and carpet tested advice for the business and diplomatic traveller in particular (frinstance, its generous appendix provides ample allowance for a list of sympathetic dry cleaners). |
Farremog: Roaring with laughter! Particularly apt reference sources for the genteel souls on the Lounge who've decided anyone who uses the word, "bloody" must be ill bred & unbrungup.
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Hi all, thanks for any info on the origin of "poms" though nobody seems really certain.Though I'd much rather resemble a prisoner than a pomegranate!! Anyway we certainly did not find it offensive,there is too much going on in the world to take offence at such trivialities!!
On the subject of a meat and potato pie. A cottage pie is minced beef with a layer of mashed potato on the top, whereas a meat and potato pie is small chunks of meat, potatoes and onion (sometimes a bit of carrot) all cooked together in a gravy and put in a pastry case with a lid.Lovely! My daughter and her family are having withdrawals. We hope that when we return to Oz maybe later this year that some "pom" will have introduced them or maybe I could bring one over with me. Look out for the newspaper headlines "Pom smuggles meat and potato pie into Oz" Just joking of course!!! |
One thing I'm pretty sure of is that the supposed origin of "Pom" as stemming from the initials POME (Prisoner of Mother England) allegedly stencilled on convicts' clothing is a complete canard. I'[d be very surprised if any contemporary sketches or writings mentioned it.
I can't claim any great historical expertise here but I've never seen any support for that phrase ever being used - and if you think about it, it's inherently unlikely term for official use anyway. POHM (Prisoner of His/Her Majesty) is a little more credible but still I suspect also fictitious. Surely the arrows were more than adequate to allow identification, especially among a population that was mostly illiterate. I did hear a recently-arrived Welsh workmate react to being called (jocularly) a "Pom" by saying "Listen, boyo, where I come from those are fighting words." Clearly he equated "Pom" with "Englishman", so other UK citizens would seem to be in the clear. I should add that I have no less than six convicts (five English, one Irish) in the family tree. Some English immigrants are indeed over-sensitive about the word. My wife once used it light-heartedly to one of her staff and was stunned when the woman threatened to lodge a complaint uner Equal Employment Opportunity laws. Sheesh. One English contributor to the Lounge forum routinely refers to Australians as "tea leaves' (thieves). Me, I couldn't care less. |
Well, if "tea leaves" rhymes with "thieves", suppose you could say "pomegranate" rhymes with "immigrant". That was DH Lawrence's explanation, in his novel, "Kangaroo" anyway.
Marly, you didn't search hard enough for pies with chunky (not mince) meat and spuds within the pieshell, we have, even here in the tropics, a remarkable pie purveyor of some 30 varieties - Meldrum's Pies in Paradise! God knows why hot pies are so popular in the sweltering heat of summer, but they are. Meldrum does a wonderful flaky crust, too. |
Chunky meat pies aren't new and in fact are widely available in Australia. One of the best I ever had was in central Queensland (Richmond or Cloncurry, can't remember now) and taht was literally decades ago.
Manly, I'd be surprised if the famous Harry's Cafe de Wheels in Wooloomooloo, Sydney (yes, it does exist) couldn't oblige you, but admittedly I haven't been there for a while. You can also buy English-style cold pork pies in most delis, but I've never seen the point. But then, I've always thought that a ploughman's lunch was a pretty sad affair. |
Neil, in a fit of nostalgia I ate a Harry's pie in Sydney when visiting several months ago. I rather wish I hadn't. Didn't notice any with potato inside, but my husband ordered one topped with mashed spuds and a bright green pea sludge on top - the peas were horribly over-sweetened. I've eaten blue boilers before, but mercifully without the extra sugar.
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The National Museum would you expect have done their homework on the POMs - http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/no...alian_english/
You have to understand the alphabet though for we are a literate mob in Oz if nothing else. And yes on pies, it's often hunting out the good independent local pastrycooks who can have even better ones than some of the better chains. |
Looks like the National Museum confirms Pat's explanation (above) from D. H. Lawrence. You learn something every day...
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<<You can also buy English-style cold pork pies in most delis, but I've never seen the point>>
With Branston pickle it's one of life's true delicacies. Geordie |
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