Talk:Pogue

2007-02-8 Automated pywikipediabot message

--CopyToWiktionaryBot 22:03, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Origins

Reference for the supposed sexual origin of the term? The folk etymology I have heard for this term is either from the seemingly improbable acronym P.O.G. ("people other than grunts"), or from the more likely Irish phrase 'pogue mo hone' ("kiss my arse").

"POG" is a contrivance and a backronym, albeit one completely misspelled and horrifyingly misapplied. I'm in the military and good grief I am tired of people insisting that the word "pogue" is simply the pronunciation of the acronym. First of all, this implies that the military invented the word "pogue," and that it was further an official-enough term to give it its own acroynm. My suspicion is that the word "pogue" is related to "pogueybait", naval slang for candy or other junk food. The sense of "pogue" being a derogatory term for Irish immigrants would make sense for both uses of the root word. Pogue would have been eventually adopted as a catch-all for lazy/cowardly servicemembers, and independently "baiting" a "pogue" would best be used with candy or the like. This "POG" nonsense infuriates me. Every time some stupid fucking jarhead says it's an acronym for person other than grunt I want to cave their head in. End of Rant.Robotempire 11:17, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Seems to me the Philippine origin makes more sense than the Irish one given the "pogueybait" variation. Anyhow, I noticed that the 3rd and last paragraphs are repetitive, redundant, and repetitive. FWIW. --Davecampbell (talk) 21:17, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

'REMF also can mean Regional Engineering Manager (Field) or Ray Elliott (Manager, Field). The term has the same meanings as above.' Not finding any Ghits on these terms, I am deleting the line. Looks like cutesy vandalism.Mzmadmike (talk) 18:12, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

Modern Usage

From the article:

Due to having lost contact with its linguistic source, the modern military vernacular has turned "pogue" into a retronym/backronym. "Pogue" is now sometimes incorrectly described as the pronunciation of the acronym POG, or Person Other than Grunt, or Posted On Garrison.[2]

I write as a former US Marine (2003-2006) and ask that if modern usage uses "POG" as "Personnel Other than Grunt" (the only way I've heard it ever used), and the original "linguistic source" has been lost, is "POG" therefore not the accepted and "correct" usage even though it has a different origin - a sort of repurposing that trumps archaic and discontinued meaning? As another example, consider the word nigger's original (questionable in some cases) neutrality for a dark-skinned person compared to its modern racist meaning. No matter what the origins may have been, the modern usage is the only one of consideration in most circles. 24.40.86.151 (talk) 16:31, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Make Fobbit redirect here?

I was surprised that fobbit had neither an article nor an automatic redirect. REMF, for "rear echelon motherfucker", does redirect here. This article covers the term 'fobbit'. Can we have 'fobbit' also redirect to this page, for the same reasons 'REMF' does? 75.61.128.238 (talk) 03:39, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Is there no relationship to the fish called a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menhaden">Pogy</a>? It's generally considered a 'trash fish' and would not be an extraordinary conceptual leap to link it with those who live off the vices of sailors. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.254.99.188 (talk) 15:22, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

That makes little sense, as Marines used the term as well. So, the relationship is dubious at best. We will suffice it to say, the term is used in a highly disparaging manner, much akin to the term "faggot", though denoting an even lower status in such groups of people. Think worse than useless phrased in the most insulting manner imaginable.Wzrd1 (talk) 02:59, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

Fobbit section

The following section has been moved here. It is unsourced and contains inappropriate language, and considering the light pink background, may well have been plagiarized. "Fobbit" is, of course, synonymous with the assorted name for REMFs, but we need an actual authoritative source other than my own 30 years "in". LTC (Ret.) David J. Cormier (talk) 21:59, 4 April 2015 (UTC)

This term is thematically similar to the newer word Fobbit which refers to non-combat arms soldiers who never leave their Forward Operating Base. Fobbit is a combination of the acronym FOB and term Hobbit from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series. Hobbits never leave the Shire, while Fobbits never leave the FOB. However, the terms are not synonymous because a functionary at the Pentagon might be termed a pogue or REMF (Rear Echelon Mother-Fucker) but could never be termed a Fobbit.

Backronym's aren't encyclopedic.

Before every man and their dog start flooding the site with what their uncles cousin's flat mates dog's first owner said FUCK really stands for perhaps the editors of this article should refrain from backronyms, besides stating that 'many people have applied backronym's to attempt to expand on the meaning of the term,' which is pretty much all that is needed in that regards. You don't want to get into the list-mania that Wikipedia collapsed to almost a decade ago. 121.211.33.244 (talk) 01:49, 15 December 2015 (UTC)