Pogue
Pogue or POG (/poʊɡ/ POHG) is American pejorative military slang for non-combat or non-infantry personnel.
History
[edit | edit source]"Pogue" may have entered the American military lexicon during the Civil War through "póg," the Irish language word for "kiss." In this telling, the word "pogue" was popularized by deployed Irish-American sailors who were envious of onshore personnel who still enjoyed the affections of their sweethearts.[1]
By World War I, "pogue" was used by U.S. Marines to refer to a male homosexual.[2] In World War II, its definition shifted to Marines thought to be soft or unfit for duty.[3] By the time of the Vietnam War, "pogue" referred to rear echelon support personnel.[4] Paul Dickson's War Slang humorously defined "pogue" during Operation Desert Storm as "anyone who arrived in the Gulf after you."[5]
In the modern Marine Corps and Army, the oft-used acronym "POG"—standing for "Person Other than Grunt," with "grunt" being slang for an infantryman—may have originated as a backronym for "pogue."[1][6] Some have argued that "pogue" and "POG" are of disparate origins and meanings.[1][7] Though the term is usually considered condescending and derisive, opinions vary about its level of offensiveness.[8]
In media
[edit | edit source]In Gustav Hasford's 1979 semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, he illustrates the Marine infantryman's contempt for pogues: "Sergeant Gerheim is disgusted by the fact that I am to be a combat correspondent and not a grunt. He calls me a poge [sic], an office pinky. He says that shitbirds get all the slack."[9] In Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, an adaptation of Hasford's novel, Sergeant Joker is chastised for wearing a peace button by a character listed in the credits as "Poge Colonel."[10]
Related terms
[edit | edit source]A closely related U.S. Army term is "REMF," standing for "Rear Echelon Motherfucker,"[11][12] which gained popularity during the Vietnam War.[13] Another term is "fobbit," a mixture of "forward operating base" and "hobbit,"[14] originated during the Iraq War, lampooning support personnel who rarely leave the safety of the "Shire."[15]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Elting, Cragg & Deal 1984, p. 234.
- ^ Dickson 2000, p. 199.
- ^ Dickson 2000, p. 184.
- ^ Dickson 2000, p. 321.
- ^ Dickson 2000, p. 274.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Elting, Cragg & Deal 1984, p. 259.
- ^ Dickson 2000, p. 286.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- File:Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg The dictionary definition of pogue at Wiktionary
