# Pogue

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{{short description|Military slang}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{about|the noun|information about the Celtic punk band|The Pogues|the surname|Pogue (surname)}}
thumb|250px|right|U.S. military support personnel, like these Army culinary specialists, may be referred to by some combat personnel as pogues.
'''Pogue''' or '''POG''' ({{IPAc-en|p|oʊ|g}} ''{{Respell|POHG}}'') is American [pejorative](/source/pejorative) [military slang](/source/military_slang) for non-combat or non-[infantry](/source/infantry) personnel.

==History==
"Pogue" may have entered the American military lexicon during the [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) through "póg," the [Irish language](/source/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.<ref name="mil">{{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](/source/Military.com) |access-date=2025-05-17}}</ref>

By [World War I](/source/World_War_I), "pogue" was used by [U.S. Marines](/source/U.S._Marines) to refer to a [male homosexual](/source/male_homosexual).{{sfn|Elting|Cragg|Deal|1984|p=234}} In [World War II](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/backronym) for "pogue."<ref name="mil" />{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=274}} Some have argued that "pogue" and "POG" are of disparate origins and meanings.<ref name="mil" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Caltrider |first=Mac |date=2022-09-22 |title=POG or Pogue? It's Time To Settle the Age-Old Debate {{!}} Coffee or Die |url=https://www.coffeeordie.com/article/pog-or-pogue |access-date=2025-10-07 |website=[Coffee or Die](/source/Coffee_or_Die) |language=en}}</ref> Though the term is usually considered condescending and derisive, opinions vary about its level of offensiveness.<ref>{{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](/source/Military.com) |access-date=2025-05-17}}</ref>

==In media==
In [Gustav Hasford](/source/Gustav_Hasford)'s 1979 semi-autobiographical novel ''[The Short-Timers](/source/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](/source/War_correspondent) and not a grunt. He calls me a poge [''sic''], an office pinky. He says that shitbirds get all the slack."<ref>{{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](/source/Bantam_Books) |page=25 |isbn=0-553-23945-7 |access-date=2025-05-17}}</ref> In [Stanley Kubrick](/source/Stanley_Kubrick)'s 1987 film ''[Full Metal Jacket](/source/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 <!-- [sic] -->Colonel."<ref>{{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](/source/Bloomsbury_Publishing) |page=120 |isbn=978-1-7936-1376-9 |access-date=2025-05-17}}</ref>

==Related terms==
{{See also|Echelon formation#Rear echelon}}
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.<ref>{{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](/source/Routledge) |page=128 |isbn=978-0-415-83940-2 |access-date=2025-05-17}}</ref> Another term is "fobbit," a mixture of "[forward operating base](/source/forward_operating_base)" and "[hobbit](/source/The_Hobbit),"<ref>{{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](/source/Foreign_Policy) |access-date=2025-05-17}}</ref> originated during the [Iraq War](/source/Iraq_War), lampooning support personnel who rarely leave the safety of the "[Shire](/source/The_Shire)."<ref>{{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](/source/The_Los_Angeles_Times) |access-date=2025-05-17}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [FNG syndrome](/source/FNG_syndrome)

== References ==
{{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](/source/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}}

== External links ==
*{{Wiktionary-inline}}

Category:Military slang and jargon
Category:Pejorative terms for people

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Pogue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogue) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogue?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.