POMF =3

About

“POMF,” derived from a scanlated pornographic manga, is an onomatopoeia of the sound someone makes as they fall onto a bed. It has manifested itself in usage variations (verbal, nominal, onomatopoeic, etc.) and in image variations (often translations of the original scene in various languages):

=3 can be used to denote POMF, a reference to the symbolia used in the original manga.

Origin

POMF stems from particular page in The Light of Tsukimi Manor 2 (月見草のあかり) by Inuboshi (犬星), first published in the September 2010 volume of COMIC MEGAMILK (コミックメガミルク). The pornographic lolicon manga depicts a girl, Akari, being tricked into having sex with her older brothers.

The original Japanese page and the scanlated English page (translation by Hayana Kotono on November 7, 2010) are as follows:

Thus, the sound effect “POMF,” the symbolia “=3,” and the phrase, “Wah! What are we gonna do on the bed?” were quickly parodied.

Spread

POMF started becoming popular in loli threads on 4chan, but later spread to unrelated threads on /a/ as well. It has also been seen occasionally on 4chan’s other boards (such as /v/ or /jp/).

Archived references to POMF appear as early as January 25, 2011, although it had been in usage long before that.

• 4chan thread 1 (15 Feb 2011)
• 4chan thread 2 (15 Feb 2011)
• POMF archives on Green Oval

Interest Over Time