Pogue
Pogue is pejorative military slang for non-combat, staff, and other rear-echelon or support units.[1] "Pogue" frequently includes those who don't have to undergo the stresses that the infantry does.
History and etymology
It has been used in the United States Navy and Marine Corps since before World War II, entering Army usage around the time of the Vietnam War.[2] In the Canadian Forces a pogue is referred to as a WOG, short for "without guns" or "without guts".
Originally, the term was a sexual insult in early twentieth century gay culture, as "pogue" was slang for a young male who submitted to sexual advances.[3]
Due to having lost contact with its linguistic source, the modern military vernacular has turned "pogue" into a retronym/backronym. "Pogue" is now sometimes described as the pronunciation of the acronym POG, or Person Other than Grunt, or Posted On Garrison.[2] It is also sometimes retronymed out to "Person On Ground with Unused Equipment" (hence the spelling). Sometimes used as "People Of Good Use Elsewhere."
Variants
- REMF, or Rear-Echelon Mother-F---er [4]
- Fobbit pejoratively denotes one who never leaves one's forward operating base, or FOB. It is an amalgamation of the word FOB and the race of hobbit from J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit - a creature that rarely leaves its home.[5]
See also
- FNG – "Fucking New Guy"
References
- ↑ "pogue definition - Dictionary - MSN Encarta". Encarta.msn.com. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Listserv 14.4". Listserv.linguistlist.org. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
- ↑ The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities, A Twentieth-Century History. John Loughery. A John Macrae Book; Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1998 (page 6).
- ↑ Urban Dictionary. "REMF" accessed April 4, 2015 at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=REMF
- ↑ Urban Dictionary. "Fobbit" accessed April 4, 2015 at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fobbit
External links
The dictionary definition of pogue at Wiktionary