Owzat !!

On September 27, 2006, the Australian cricketing authority Cricket Australia ruled that it was OK for cricket fans to refer to the English as 'Poms' after a wide-ranging review on potentially racist terms.
Cricket Australia said home team fans who used the insult would not be ejected from grounds - nor would English supporters who called Australians "convicts".

The issue arose after reports that South African players were racially abused by Australian fans in matches in December and January.

Asked if Australian fans might be expelled for yelling "Pommy bastard" during the Ashes tour, which begins in November, Cricket Australia said the insult could not be compared with racial vilification on the basis of a player's skin colour.

"We are not going to be chucking people out for saying 'Pommy bastard", Peter Young, a spokesman for Cricket Australia, said. "In Australia, bastard is used as a form of endearment."

The debate recalls the Bodyline series of 1932-33, when the English captain, Douglas Jardine, reportedly complained to his opposite number, Bill Woodfull, that an Australian player had called him a bastard.

Scanning the Australian dressing room, Woodfull asked his team: "Which one of you bastards called this bastard a bastard?"

English" Terms of "Endearment"

AUSTRALIA: POMMY

THERE are several theories explaining the origin of Pommy.

Some insist that it is short for pomegranate. This is because rhyming slang for immigrants was Jimmy Grants which over time shifted to Pommy Grant - very appropriate as many maintain the pasty skin of the newly-arrived English resembled the colour of the fruit.

A more popular idea is that Pom is an acronym for Prisoner of Her Majesty or a shortened version of Prisoner of Mother England.

However, there is little evidence to support this and the pomegranate story is more likely to be true.

AMERICA: LIMEY

THIS dates back to the 19th century when scurvy was rife in the Royal Navy. The Scottish surgeon James Lind came up with the idea of treating the disease by using citrus fruits.

Limes were cheaper than lemons so ships embarking on long journeys stocked up the fruit and a nickname was born.

ARGENTINA: PIRATES

ARGENTINES resent the English for plenty of reasons. When we weren't pillaging their galleons and usurping their empire, we were attempting to invade Buenos Aires or waging war in the Falkland Islands.

This dislike has spilled on to the football pitch and the English are commonly referred to as the Pirates by South American soccer fans.

NEW ZEALAND: HOMEY

FIRST used after the Second World War when Kiwis used it to gently mock expats who were pining for home.

CHINA: GWAI LO

IN Cantonese this literally translates as White Ghost and it is not meant affectionately.

It refers to all white foreigners - but it is especially aimed at Brits - following the years of British imperialism.

PORTUGAL: CAMONES

THE boom in package holidays in the 1960s could be at the root of this gentle nickname.

It is thought to be ridiculing local guides who directed tourists to points of interest by using the phrase 'come on'.

Alternatively, it could be mimicking the often-heard cry of the Union Jack-shorts wearing, boozed-up lad abroad.

INDIA: ANGREZ

LITERALLY means English person and comes from the French Anglais. The term "Britisher" is still used in India as well.

SPAIN: LOS GUIRIS

AN insulting name for the type of British tourist who arrives in Spain, not for the culture and history, but for a sun-soaked booze-up. It's Spanish slang for "tourist"

SOUTH AFRICA: ROOINEK

ANOTHER disparaging term. This one means "red neck" and refers to typically pale English skin.

Its origins date back to the Boer War in the 1880s when many of the British soldiers suffered severe sunburn because of the South African heat.

FRANCE: LES ROSBIFS

IT'S used as an insult now, but it wasn't originally a term of abuse.

It started in the 18th century as a simple reference to popular English cuisine.

By the mid-1800s it had become more derogatory and was used to refer to the British people themselves. The French decision to illegally maintain a ban on British beef in 1999 following the BSE crisis breathed new life into the slur.

It is now seen as abusive as the British calling the French "frogs".

HOLLAND: LINKSRIJERS

A DIG at us for driving on the left of the road, this nickname translates simply as "left hand drivers."

Until 1794 the Dutch also traveled on the left. But Napoleon changed all that ruling that all citizens of the Netherlands should get about on the right.

TURKEY: CON KIKIRIK

ANOTHER one that is less than complimentary. Con is taken from the English name John and Kikirik translates as beanpole.

The term refers to all Westerners.

EAST AFRICA: MZUNGU

A SWAHILI word simply meaning "white man" or "white foreigner".

A more insulting term is Kazungu - "little white person".

GERMANY: INSELAFFE

UNSURPRISINGLY, our oldest rival has the least flattering nickname. This translates as Island Ape and refers to the so-called primitive behaviour of the English people.

However, during the First World War, "Tommy" was favoured after Rudyard Kipling's paean to private Tommy Atkins.