Am I overstating the devastating, insulting sarcasm in the front page headline in today’s Sydney Daily Telegraph? I don’t think so:
Our message to the hypocritical, sanctimonious, whinging Poms
who can’t accept that they were beaten fair and square:
WE’RE 2 UP, BABY
Jamie and I find ourselves sitting in front of our television transfixed at 5:00 a.m. every morning these days as we watch the Aussie cricket team playing against the English. This year the five game series is being played in England. The two bitter rivals have been playing each other for The Ashes trophy for 150 years or so. Unfortunately, the sport has become particularly painful for the British recently because the Aussie team is the best in the world.
Let me explain what happened in the last game using comparable baseball terminology so that the headline and the game make sense for American readers:
At a key moment late in the game, just when it looked like England was mounting a heroic comeback and might win its first game in the series, an English batter absentmindedly wandered off base and got picked off. The umpire correctly called him out. Nevertheless, the English team and 50,000 fans were outraged and accused the Aussies of cheating.
Hence, this hilarious headline and subhead in today’s Sydney Daily Telegraph.
But let’s explain a bit of Aussie slang in that headline:
“Whinging” is an Aussie word that means “complaining” or “whining.”
“Pom” is a derogatory term Aussies use to refer to an Englishman. The etymology of the word is in a bit of dispute. One theory says it’s a reference to the sun turning an Englishman’s skin pomegranate red. Another theory says it came from the French (“pomme” means apple) and is a reference to an English accent sounding like the speaker is eating an apple.
Either way, “whinging bloody Pom” are three words that are almost always heard together in Australia. And the English didn’t do much to disprove the validity of that insult in yesterday’s game.
By the way, our friend Tim Blair is the editor of the Daily Telegraph. I don’t know if this headline and subhead are his work, but it certainly sounds as if it could be.
In Cricket mad Adelaide, South Australia in the 1950s, whenever a game of backyard 🏏 was suggested , as a young and obviously bright girl, I would bat first up , then head inside….. no fielding, thank you !!! 🏏My family have never let me forget.
Well, given the length of the game (so I’ve heard, never having actually watched a game), you could eat lunch, help your mom prepare dinner, take a nap, and still be early for your fielding duties when you went back outside.
You’ve understated it, JP. England and Australia are playing what’s called an international test match. Each game is played 8 hours a day for five days. There are five of these games in the series. So it takes more than a month. They stop the game several times each day for tea, lunch, and who knows what else. So far Australia is up two games to none. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi.
Bloody whinging Poms!!!! Sore losers 🤣🤣
Glad to see you back writing again. Missed your wit. Better to be a bloody Yank than a bloody Pom.
I’ve never heard anyone called a “whinging bloody Yank.” It seems to get reserved exclusively for the Brits.
Great post Jim, especially on the 4th of July! If I remember correctly, the phrase “whinging poms” was first used by our continental army, when the Brits complained about us shooting from behind rocks and trees and refusing to do battle standing in straight lines as was their ingenious strategy! (Footnote…1776!)
Happy Independence Day! I miss y’all.
Where you been??? Think you can just leave me hanging for weeks?? Thought a dingo dog ate your hand!
Weeks? It’s been months, Ranger. Not much to write about when we’re just living our boring lives in Texas.
5:00 AM?!?!?!
Being an Australian for 76 years I can assure you all that the term “POM” comes from the fruit of the pommegranate tree. And yes because of the colour they turn when they hit by our Aussie (ozzie) sun. Unfortunatley my generation is the last of our slang due to very little Australian media content in our country, Just recently had a laugh at an american journalist who did a web page on our strine (slang) and boy, did he flog a dead horse on that one. Fair dinkum, the most unenjoyble time I had was listen to the poms boo the aussie batsman every ball that was faced for hours on end. I suppose the Poms didnt play ‘fair dinkum’ when they colonised the world and it still goes on today in sports, By the way my favourite song is Johnny Hortons “Battle of New Orleans” at least the Americans righted history. (when are we gunna become a republic, the sooner the better)
Pete, East Gippsland Australia
Always good to see a new Aussie (new to JimandJamie.com, that is) leave a comment. Hope you come back and read more. Try clicking on the Random Article button at the top right of the homepage and enjoy hundreds of other articles.