Pogue#History and etymology

"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.{{cite web |last=Grove |first=David |date=2020-02-05 |title=The Fascinating Beginning of the Term 'POG' |url=https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/02/05/fascinating-beginning-term-pog.html |website=Military.com |access-date=2025-05-17}}

By World War I, "pogue" was used by U.S. Marines to refer to a male homosexual.{{sfn|Elting|Cragg|Deal|1984|p=234}} In World War II, its definition shifted to Marines thought to be soft or unfit for duty.{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=199}} By the time of the Vietnam War, "pogue" referred to rear echelon support personnel.{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=184}} Paul Dickson's War Slang humorously defined "pogue" during Operation Desert Storm as "anyone who arrived in the Gulf after you."{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=321}}

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."{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=274}} Though the term is usually considered condescending and derisive, opinions vary about its level of offensiveness.{{cite web |last=Dodds |first=Sean |date=2019-05-02 |title=5 Reasons Why 'POG' Is Not a Slur |url=https://www.military.com/off-duty/2019/05/02/5-reasons-why-pog-not-slur.html |website=Military.com |access-date=2025-05-17}}

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."{{cite book |last=Hasford |first=Gustav |date=1979 |title=The Short-Timers |url=https://archive.org/details/shorttimers00gust/page/24/mode/2up/ |location=New York |publisher=Bantam |page=25 |isbn=0-553-23945-7 |access-date=2025-05-17}} 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."{{cite book |editor-last=Colombani |editor-first=Elsa |title=A Critical Companion to Stanley Kubrick |last=Abrahms |first=Jerold J. |date=2020 |chapter=The Philosophy of War in Dr. Strangelove |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Critical_Companion_to_Stanley_Kubrick/32QGEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA120&printsec=frontcover |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Lexington |page=120 |isbn=978-1-7936-1376-9 |access-date=2025-05-17}}

A closely related U.S. Army term is "REMF," standing for "Rear Echelon Motherfucker,"{{sfn|Elting|Cragg|Deal|1984|p=259}}{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=286}} which gained popularity during the Vietnam War.{{cite book |last=Dalzell |first=Tom |date=2014 |title=Vietnam War Slang: A Dictionary of Historical Principles |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vietnam_War_Slang/HRsWBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA128&printsec=frontcover |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=128 |isbn=978-0-415-83940-2 |access-date=2025-05-17}} Another term is "fobbit," a mixture of "forward operating base" and "hobbit,"{{cite magazine |last=Ricks |first=Thomas E. |date=2009-02-16 |title=Freaking out the FOBBITs of Afghanistan |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/02/16/freaking-out-the-fobbits-of-afghanistan/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629211151/https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/02/16/freaking-out-the-fobbits-of-afghanistan/ |archive-date=2018-06-29 |magazine=Foreign Policy |access-date=2025-05-17}} originated during the Iraq War, lampooning support personnel who rarely leave the safety of the "Shire."{{cite news |last=Basbanes |first=Nicholas |date=2012-09-17 |title=Review: David Abrams' 'Fobbit' is an impressive Iraq war satire |url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-et-jc-fobbit-david-abrams-book-20120917-story.html |work=The Los Angeles Times |access-date=2025-05-17}}

• FNG syndrome

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Elting |first1=John R. |last2=Cragg |first2=Dan |last3=Deal |first3=Ernest L. |date=1984 |title=A Dictionary of Soldier Talk |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsold00john/ |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=0-684-17862-1 |access-date=2025-05-17}}

• {{cite book |last=Dickson |first=Paul |date=2000 |title=War Slang: American Fighting Words and Phrases from the Civil War to the War in Iraq |url=https://archive.org/details/warslangamerican0000dick/ |location=New York |publisher=Bristol Park |edition=2 |isbn=978-0-88486-407-3 |access-date=2025-05-17}}

• {{Wiktionary-inline}}

Category:Military slang and jargon

Category:Pejorative terms for people