different between pommie vs bommie

English

Alternative forms

• pommy

Etymology

From pom +? -ie (“diminutive suffix”). Australian from 1912.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?mi/

Noun

pommie (plural pommies)

1. (colloquial, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, sometimes pejorative) An English immigrant; a pom.
   • 1953, Nevil Shute, In the Wet, 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

pommie (not comparable)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, sometimes derogatory) English; British.
   • See citations at pommy.

Related terms

• pom

English

Alternative forms

• bommy (both senses)

Etymology 1

Clipping of bombora +? -ie

Noun

bommie (plural bommies)

1. (Australia) A bombora.
   • 1992, Australian Museum, Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, Reef biology: a survey of Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, South Pacific, National Gallery of Australia

     Some solitary corals, such as Cycloseris, were present at the base of the bommie.

   • 2003, John Singe, My Island Home: A Torres Strait Memoir, Univ. of Queensland Press ?ISBN, page 130

     A large bommie the shape of an onion extends from the main reef on the northern side, and here were two dark crevices favoured by coral trout.

   • 2015, M. Allan Daly, Pacific Illusion, Dog Ear Publishing ?ISBN, page 83

     The bommie was bustling: fish were coming and going, digging and biting, feeding and fighting on all points of the bommie.

Etymology 2

From bonfire, with /n/ changed to /m/ by assimilation with /f/, and the second element then clipped and replaced with +? -ie.

Noun

bommie (plural bommies)

1. (Britain) A bonfire.
   • 2004, James Riordan, Football Stories, Oxford University Press, USA ?ISBN, page 99

     We've got to find where they hid it — before Bommie Night.

   • 2012, Margaret Murphy, The Dispossessed, Hachette UK ?ISBN

     'We could go down London Road, collect a bit more for Bommie Night.' Jez suggested. Hallowe'en was still not past and they had used up all their firework stocks.

   • 2014, James Marsh, A 1940s Childhood: From Bomb Sites to Children's Hour, The History Press ?ISBN

     The blackout curtains make a super 'bommie', which is lit as soon as it's dark enough on this wonderful day.

   • 2014, Trevor Hoyle, Down the Figure 7, Hachette UK ?ISBN

     'Not that daft if it stops their bommie getting nicked.' Jack winked at Terry. 'You can't have a bonfire without any wood. We're all looking forward to it, aren't we? Roasted spuds, black peas, treacle toffee, parkin...'

Anagrams

• mombie