Today's Broadcast

Topic: Pompons and pompoms

We were tickled by the idea that such a thing as National Cheerleading Week exists—let's hear it for the cheerleaders!—and since that celebration of spirit kicks off today, we will answer a question about the fluffy ball flourished by cheerleaders.

Our correspondent recalled that back in her high school days, the yearbook staff was cautioned to watch the spelling of pompon, P-O-M-as-in-Mary P-O-N as-in-Nancy. She and her peers were advised that the pom-pom spelled P-O-M as in Mary hyphen, P-O-M-as-in-Mary was considered to indicate a poor education. This latter pom-pom, they were reminded, names an anti-aircraft gun, not a handheld fluffy ball. Now, decades later, she notices this other spelling everywhere and wonders if she is being cynical to insist on the proper spelling.

We wouldn't describe it as cynical, since cynicism implies a sneering disbelief in sincerity or integrity, and that's not what cheerleading is all about. But we're not enthusiastic about the idea that pompon has one and only one proper spelling.

Agreed, pompon with an N is the older spelling; it entered English in the mid-1700s, based on the French pompe, meaning "tuft of ribbons." But the alternative (and now well-established) two-M spelling appeared a century later, before the imitative artillery pompom was coined.

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