A caller is curious about a slang term she hears from her friends in the military. The word is Jody, and it means someone who steals a soldier’s girlfriend. Grant tells the colorful story behind this bit of military slang, as well as the songs it inspired. Here’s a sample of Jody calls from the Vietnam war in Of Uncommon Birth: Dakota Sons in Vietnam by Mark St. Pierre, and War Dawgs: Kulbes’ Mongrels in Korea, 1950-1951 by Franklin D. R. Kestner and James Livingston. This is part of a complete episode.
More from this show
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...