"Poor": The phrase of a small nation

One of the oddest quirks I picked up from working with Native Alaskans were their silly phrases that all make sense, they make a lot of sense, but are still kinda silly. As silly as saying "L O L", probably. One of the more notable phrases is simply "poor" which can be used thusly:

• "Fishing sucked today"... "poor"
• "Your mom is a hooker"... "poor!"
• "My cat died"... "aww, poor".. "Yeh, my dog ate it"... "POOR!"

It's pretty catchy! You can even use it when as a reference to a visualization like a baby fur seal rolling off a cliff, or when somebody gets creamed by a bus in front of you.

Skyefoil hates the word, I don' t blame her and I typically only say it to get at her a bit during times I think I'm funny. I have whipped this bad boy out a few times on IRC which caused quite a bit of confusion as well.. so now I am blogging about it.

Any real online dictionary references that relate to this use?