General Chat

Hooray, it worked,
Goodnight.

Hello again, Talking of gardens. Mine is a jungle - literally. I live on the edge of the World Heritage Wet Tropics Rainforest in Queensland. Plants grow so easily it's ridiculous. We have a native plant nursery a few klms from us who have been trying (unsuccessfully) to propagate Bunya Pine trees. We were out in our jungle the other day and found 6 plants which have self seeded from our Bunya Pine which must be as tall as 4 stories. A truly magnificent tree.

We had a dog at one time who loved to play ball with a mango. Once her teeth had split the skin on the mango the ball game ceased whilst she ate the mango. Then she would bring the seed to play ball with.

One afternoon TOH was down the back near the creed and called me down to look at something. Went down and there was this perfect little mango tree growing out of the ground with the seed on top of the earth and the root going down into the ground. That's how easy it is to grow things here. So I don't need much in the way of expertise - nature does it all for me.

Linda, I have palms self seeding in a pot where the parent plant is. We cull them out, put them in small pots and place around the base of the pot where the parent is. When they get big enough we either sell them or plant them out somewhere else on the property.

I look out my window and see several different types of palms in the ground. First up there's the ordinary palm which are commonly called date palms; further out are the coconut palms; them along the fence there's about 9 fox tail palms. Along the driveway are many palms which have been recently plants to form a definition of the driveway.

I'm sure I'm totally spoilt with my tropical garden of wild gardenia, hibiscus, tree orchids, staghorns, etc. because I know that many people go to such a lot of trouble to grow these plants and I don't have to do a thing.

Cheers,
Pam

Hello Pam, welcome back :0))

Unfortunately, all the poms have gone to bed and most of the Aussies and Kiwis (well one Kiwi) are about their daily business, as I shall be very shortly.

As you will see from the posts, the group can range from intelligent topics to total insanity within a few posts, all innocent fun:

I'll try to be back later, about 4 or 5 pm WA time.

regards

Allan

Firstly....I am not a 'Pom'...whatever that means....I always thought it was an apple lol.


Secondly....even if I was a 'Pom'....'I' haven't gone to bed....soooooooooo that sentence is totally untrue Pamela.......He ( meaning our Allan ) might be right about the rest of it though :-)))))

Hi all:-)

Welcome to Pamela, I'm in Victoria - I'm the sanest one here, all the rest are mad:-))

Susan, you've probably gone to your bed now, you're a pom my love - its ok though:-)) most of us are... lol

I hope everyone is well, Ive got a house full of family members with sore throats, runny noses and the coughs - its not fun!

Carole xx

But I don't want to be an apple Carole ( Welcome to Pamela:-)))))

Where did the name Pom come from?...I know where 'Limey' comes from...but why 'Pom'.....Too lazy to google lol

And as you can see....I haven't gone to bed lol


You can also keep those germs to yourself...They are not wanted in this house.

Hi Susan, I googled for you:-)

The term pommy, often shortened to pom, is commonly used by speakers of English from Australia, New Zealand, and sometimes South Africa as well as speakers of Afrikaans. Although it was originally a derogatory term, it was ruled no longer offensive in 2006 by the Australian Advertising Standards Board and in 2010 by the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority. [1] Despite these changing views, some Britons still consider the expression offensive or racist: for example, the community group British People Against Racial Discrimination was among those who complained to the Advertising Standards Board about five advertisements poking fun at "Poms," prompting the 2006 decision. [1]

The origin of this term is not confirmed and there are several persistent false etymologies. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) strongly supports the theory that pommy originated as a contraction of "pomegranate".[2] The OED also suggests that the reason for this is that pomegranate is extinct Australian rhyming slang for immigrant; it cites an article from 14 November 1912, in a once-prominent Australian weekly magazine The Bulletin: "The other day a Pummy Grant (assisted immigrant) was handed a bridle and told to catch a horse." A popular alternative explanation for the theory that pommy is a contraction of "pomegranate", relates to the purported frequency of sunburn among British people in Australia, turning their fair skin the colour of pomegranates.[3] However, there is no hard evidence for the theory regarding sunburn.

A false etymology (or "backronym") popularly believed in Australia and New Zealand is that 'Pom' originated as an acronym for "prisoner of (his/her) majesty", "prisoner of mother England". Although many of the first British settlers in Australia were convicts sentenced to transportation to Australia, there is no evidence for this. Some proponents of this theory claim that upon arrival in the country they would be given a uniform with "POHM" or "POME" emblazoned on the back, which apparently stood for Prisoners Of Maidenhead Prison but there are no images or examples of these uniforms

Susan, that will surely put you to sleep:-)

Goes off to blow runny nose, Ahchoo!!!!

Carole xx

Hello to Carole and Susanwith numbers

Carole, sorry to hear about the walking wounded, but appropriate for the thread at the moment :0))

Susan with numbers: after your proposal of marriage on another thread, tomatoes are known as pommes d'amour in France.

Allan (in a world of his own) :0))

Good morning everyone.

I don't read any other threads, but Allan are you really getting married to Susan? What does Mrs Allan think about this.


I was thinking about my appointment as Foreign Secretary. I hope you realise that I won't go anywhere dangerous, or anywhere which requires me to take Malaria tablets, or anywhere I have to have nasty injections for. Or anywhere too hot, or anywhere too cold, or anywhere which does not have a five star hotel on hand. Apart from that, I am at your service.

Pam, your garden sounds ideal to me,something which looks after itself apart from hacking it back now and then. I don't think a palm garden would be very practical here though, it is far too cold in winter. I like the cottage garden look,where lots of plants seed themselves and jumble in together so that there is no soil to be seen. OH gets his spades in a twist about that though as he likes digging. That is why the allotment has been a god send, he can dig it to his hearts content and leave my borders alone

Carole, I hope your family get better quickly, it is very wearing having to be a caring mum for more than a couple of days, well for me it is anyway!

Alas Linda, Susan withnumbers is very fickle :0((

Only last week she told me I was too old for her!

I was going to marry her: wasn't that bigamy :0))

Pam, I, too, should have commented on your garden. It sounds idyllic but then again I have found Queensland to be a beautiful State even though I haven't seen much of it.

Allan

Tomatoes are pommes d'amour? Pomme is French for apple, and pommes de terre (of the ground) are potatoes.
Sorry susanwithnumbers, you are a Pom, but I am sure of the nicest possible kind.As is Linda. I suppose Suemaid and Allan were too, but they have been nationalised. Or something like that. I believe Carole's definitions of Pom or pommie are correct. Prisoner of Mother England just does not wash. Some prisoners wore clothes with a broad arrow design woven into the fabric, but most convicts wore ordinary clothes, both in the earliest period before 1800 and later.

Hi Colin

Yep tomatoes are known as Love Apples in France.

And I've been neutralised...err naturalised! I do have dual citizenship, but regard myself as more Aussie than Pommie!

Another couple of years and I will have spent more of my life in Oz than in the UK

Allan

I just googled pommes d'amour and it gives it as an apple covered in caramel, in other words a toffee apple.

I think that is just about Allan's style, I can see him going courting offering Susan a toffee apple rather than a bunch of flowers. I still think Mrs Allan, might have something to say about that though. On the other hand in these enlightened days,she would get half his pension, so maybe not.

If the convicts wore ordinary clothes Colin, maybe that is why OH's convict disappears without trace after 1849. if they made them wear prison uniforms, maybe we could spot him

I am off to start the many tasks i have lined up for today,so see you later

love apple
n.
A tomato.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Probably translation of French pomme d'amour (from the former belief in the tomato's aphrodisiacal powers) : pomme, apple + de, of + amour, love.]

No no no - I googled and I found a site that said "pommes d'amour" are tomatoes!!!! I also found one saying they are toffee apples - but nothing about potatoes:-)) So it's up for debate:-))

Pam - your garden sounds like paradise. I remember a few years ago we had a very warm wet summer and everything in the garden went mad so I can imagine what it must be like where you are. Tell us more:-))

Allan - I wouldn't listen to Susanwithnumbers - she's a flirt and very flighty. You can't believe a word she says. And......your lovely OH will kill you.

Carole - I sympathise with your household of sick people - especially as most of them are male. Better you than me:-))

Sue xx

Good evening Sue,

I studied French for five years, although ironically, the only time I've ever used it was in Bulgaria many years ago to argue about a beach towel :0))

No debate, Colin is correct: pommes de terre...potatoes
pommes d'amour ..tomatoes

Official French :0))

Allan

Well I'm off to watch the local news. I'll try to come back later.

Take care all ;0))

Allan

Hello all, I'm not sure if anyone is still there but...... here goes.

The term POME in Australia originally appears on the prison garb worn by convicts sent to Australia as settlers. Way back in the 1700/1800's. The letters stood for Prisoner of Mother England. When emigration began back in the 1950's people from England came over there to Australia on $10 fares (assisted passage) and the Aussies then called them $10 poms.

These days we use the term more as one of friendship except when it comes to beating the Poms at cricket, football or whatever. I'm not into those sports so it doesn't effect me. So, whilst Google via Carolee does give quite extensive explanation of the meaning of POM originally, the term has now evolved into something else.

My foot is just the same CC......

Pam, we just tend to post as and when we pass the computer and someone will answer eventually. It was easier earlier in the year before the daylight savings, but we cope.
I don't know if you have worked out that by clicking on last reply (twice) it shows you the latest replies first without having to go to the last page of this long thread. All you haver to do is read the page from the bottom up.

I am not here, OH went outside and was muttering about pruning,so I had better go and see what he is up to before he scalps everything