![]() There was always a strong anti-British element in Australia stemming partly from its history, but largely from its large Irish population and from a burgeoning Australian nationalism which resented what it saw as Australia’s semi-colonial status. It is ironic to note that while old prejudices are dying, they seem to be dying hardest in relation to the Poms. Humphries had McKenzie downing his first beer and exclaiming he had been ‘as dry as a Pommie’s towel’.Ģ-: From Sam White Down Under, published in The New Standard (London, England) of Friday 20 th February 1981: The earliest occurrences of the phrase dry as a Pommy’s towel and variants that I have found are as follows, in chronological order:ġ-: From The National Times: Australia’s National Weekly of Business and Affairs (Sydney, New South Wales) of Sunday 4 th January 1981-as quoted in A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms (Sydney University Press in association with Oxford University Press Australia, 1990), by Gerald Alfred Wilkes (1927-2020): ![]() In the phrase (as) dry as a Pommy’s towel and variants, the allusion is to the alleged poor personal hygiene of the British-cf., below, quotations 4, 5, 6 and 7. – a British (especially an English) person. ![]() The Australian-English noun Pommy, also Pommie, and the shortened form Pom, designate: The Australian-English phrase (as) dry as a Pommy’s towel, and its variants, mean very dry.
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