This name pokie is not a word that you should be afraid to mention in front of your elders as it doesn’t mean what you would think it means, for example, a cigarette or nipples protruding through a shirt, or any other meaning for that case.
A Pokie
This term refers to a slot machine in Australia and New Zealand. Some suggestions claim that this name may have originated from ‘pok’, the poker machine and finally evolving to the name pokie, that is more of a slang word. Most pokies in Australia currently use video screens just as other gaming machines in the world, rather than the real spinning wheels used these days, and are common in clubs and pubs too.
Origin of the name pokie
Australians are so fond of abbreviating almost all words and it’s not a wonder that they shortened the term poker machine to simply ‘pokie’. However, many still wonder why the machines for this game were referred to as poker machines yet so similar to slot machines and not video poker games. This is a reason for having the name thus cannot be explained to date. The same case with advertisements, which have for the longest time referred to this game as pokies and not slots.
Some theories have since come up trying to explain this origin. During the 1900s when the Australian casinos had just started coming up, among the very first games was a poker machine, what would be commonly referred to as video poker in other parts of the world. However, slot machines started to gain popularity as soon as they were introduced as they were located near each other. This made it easier for all the machine games to be referred to as pokies. This name has since been used to refer to online gambling games such as all video poker games and online slots.
Slots vs Pokies
In New Zealand, Australia and most places on earth, there is not much difference between pokies and slots. That notwithstanding, there are some rather interesting statements after showing up in places like Atlantic City or Vegas. These questions include which is your preferred pokie to get fortunate on? Where can one get a fine pokie? Alternatively, you may not seemingly get away with asking the same questions but referring to slots instead, may seem to presume that those you are asking to know your intonation and not looking for common words.
Arguing, therefore, that pokies are not interesting terms to use than slots is difficult. Furthermore, with the number of Australians quickly spreading in most parts of the world in separate years, there would be little surprise to learn that this term is partly used.
Different languages used around the world
Humans have always desired to come up with different words for electronic gambling equipment for various reasons, unlike cards which retain that same name in all places around the world. Other than ‘pokies’ and ‘slots’, these gaming machines are also called ‘fruit machines’ in England, ‘puggys’ in Scotland by those who have really explored places. ‘One-armed bandits’ is another term used by those who love informal language.