Seriously, if people get upset by the word POM, It's probably better not to leave the house.
They have absolutely no idea what racism is actually like

Sensitive little flowers eh. I have been called a pom a few times in the 4 years I have been here. Not once with malice and I gave as good as I got back in return, again in jest. I fear that some folk are just shit magnets.

The problem about political correctness is it's not how it's meant, but how it's perceived. The difficulty is that some are more sensitive than others so unless we watch every bloody word then someone somewhere is going to be offended at some point

Personally I don't care. If someone calls me a Pom it's cos I am. So what

The ultra sensitive people are usually the most caustic and least accepting.

Get over yersens

Interesting concept "convict scum". For a more enlightened view I suggest that you read the excellent "Floating Brothel" - don't be put off the name, it's not about sex. This excellent and beautifully researched book gives us all an insight to the frightened lonely little girls, young girls, and young women who were deported from Mother England for the heinous crimes of stealing a slice of bread to ward off starvation, catching the wandering eye of m'lord, getting pregnant to the son of the house and being "turned out", stealing one of m'lord's rabbits, throwing a stone at a carriage, setting a fishing line in a creek etc to be send to a fledgling colony that was dying for the lack of the moderating influence of women and the construct of the family unit, without which a community cannot survive.

Scum? I don't think so. The real scum was executed by being hung from the gallows at various crossroads scattered around various villages and towns (good bit of Sunday sport), or allowed to starve in the most appalling circumstances England could devise.They never even got the chance to have another life.

This is the country that sent 5 and 6 year olds to work in the coal mines because it was cheaper than buying a pit pony, and most were dead by the age of 12 from exhaustion, starvation, injury, pneumonia, or tuberculosis.

Convict Scum? These wonderful people came from England to make this country what it is today. Any real Aussie would be proud to have a such a pioneer in their family, many doing family trees hoping to have this most prized jewel affixed to the top branch - most Aussies now have lots of mixed blood, albeit it, mostly from the UK, and none of it convict, and they are fine with it.

If the term Pom or Pommie is used - it is generally with affection for those whom we like and want to have as part of this great country. If it is used with an epithet it's because you have criticised this country which gave safe haven and a new life to thousands of people including you.

Seriously who would want to live in a country with class structure so rigid that no matter how well you do, or how nice or good you are, you will never be as good as the impoverished snotty titled eccentric who lives in a great pile whose inbred offspring conspire to keep you and your next 20 generations in your proper place?

Give me the "sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of rugged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains" anytime. Apologies to Dorothea MacKellar - Australian Poet and Pom.

Just like I use the term 'convict scum' then?

I don't need any history lessons from you so don't patronise me.

I know exactly what I mean

Oh......and you completely missed the point of my original post......so I assume you are Australian.

I rest my case

You had me . . . then you lost me . . .

Sorry I'm English but been here for 40 years. Came when I was 9, so consider my self an aussie - but I gather that a crime

So did you have to had in your sense of irony to become one?

I don't exactly get your meaning? Is there something missing from your sentence? My sense of irony if that is what you are referring to was a gift from my father - an english professor or perhaps my sense of the ridiculous came from my grandmother who was Australian and went to live in the UK after she met my granddad (English) who was here on R and R in Sydney. Bit of a mixed breed really

If you had a sense of irony then you may see the point of my post

I like the cut of your jib.....

There's good and bad in all walks of life and rarely is it anything to do with a nation, it's about upbringing and values and being right with people. As northernbird said, some people are naturally shit magnets

Name calling is childish and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.

Using affectionate names as a form of endearment is about being accepted.

I'm a Pom who lives in Aus and I'm proud of it

So what is wrong with my 'term of affection'?

Excellent post as many people don't realise there were very few "true" convicts who made this country what it is today. Most were petty crimes and unfortunate circumstances.

This must have been a harsh country to begin with and when you think how much it's grown and developed, you have to be in awe of the pioneers who came here