05/04/12, 07:41 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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MO cows, pogey or pogie is an old Scottish term from the 1500's era and the pogey was the state workhouse (usually a large factory). The state workhouse was where beggars, widows and orphaned children with no income and no homes took shelter and all worked at manual labour in exchange for minimal shelter and food until such time as gainful employment could be found for them with an employer elsewhere. Also, debtors who had no employment and couldn't pay off their debts could be made to work at the workhouse in order to pay off their debts through the workhouse to their creditors.
Now in Canada being on pogey is a slang term and means somebody is collecting temporary unemployment insurance benefits or temporary social assistance benefits until they become gainfully employed again. Being on pogey is always a temporary thing with a specific time limit - nobody gets to stay on pogey for very long and for some trades people it is a seasonal thing that happens every year, usually during the winter months when they can't practise their outdoor trades due to winter conditions.
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Last edited by naturelover; 05/04/12 at 07:51 PM.
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