We probably thieved off you lot at some point, but I do say ‘way too’ way too often.
“How’s ya father” on the otherhand…
No. English = English. You would never call a Scotsman, Welshman, or Irishman a Pom.
To the Aussies I know, the British and Irish Lions are Poms, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam are Poms, etc. etc.
As for the origin, the best theory is that pom is short for “pomegranate”. To long-time Aussies, Englishmen who had just arrived in Australia were easy to spot, as the newcomers from London and Birmingham took on the color of a pomegranate when exposed to the comparatively bright sun of Sydney or Melbourne. As this page explains, the fact that “pomegranate” sort of rhymes with “immigrant” may have helped pommy, and then pom, take hold.
Nver heard the ‘pomegranate’ explanation, but it’s probably the one. I remember once being told that it derived from ‘Prisoners Of Mother England’.
I was always told that it was from Prisoner of His Majesty - POHM - POM.
The sheep -steelers have never been great at spelling. Their greatest intellectual is currently on Big Brother in the UK!
Not helping yourself there fella!