Military Slang Term “Jody”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Martha and Grant. My name is Zola.

Zola. Fabulous name.

And I’m from San Diego. And I had a question.

I’ve been a long-time listener and a fan of the show. Love the show. Love the show.

And I was wondering if you can help me with this term.

It’s a military slang term that I’ve heard.

It’s Jody, and I think it’s spelled J-O-D-Y.

And basically I have a couple of friends who are in the Army, and they’ve used this term to refer to guys back home who steal the soldiers’ girlfriends or steal the soldiers’ wives.

Whoa.

Yeah.

And for example, like they would use it, yeah, Jody’s got a girl, and he’s going to go take her out or something like that.

So I’m hoping you guys can help me find the origin of Jody and why Jody, and if it’s spelled J-O-D-Y-Y, J-O-D-Y.

Yeah.

And if it’s just one guy.

Yeah.

It is usually J-O-D-Y.

So military slang is, there’s so much of it.

It comes across my plate every day.

It’s good stuff.

And this is a great, great, well-known piece of military slang that I so totally enjoy

Because it’s just an insight into the mind of the soldier, which here’s a man.

We’ll just talk about the man.

We’ll leave the female soldiers out of it for a minute.

Here’s a man who’s halfway around the world.

He’s left his house, his wife, his kids, maybe his job, everything that he knows,

His friends, where he grew up, his family, everything.

And he’s really worried about protecting all that, right?

Absolutely.

So in his mind, you know, there’s a predator on the other side of the world who is like moving in with his wife, you know, and taking over his home.

And the name for this guy, as you say, is Jody.

It’s J-O-D-Y.

There’s a great description of Jody in an article from 1965 in the Journal of American Folklore.

And it’s that mythical figure who stays at home and, after the soldier has been inducted, steals his girl, his liquor, and runs off with his clothes and his Cadillac.

Oh, my gosh.

But David Moorer is a name you probably don’t know, but he was a slang researcher.

He did some work on this expression in the 1980s, and he published a small article about it.

And he’s made some connections here to the Jody that our soldiers use today to an older form of it called Joe the Grinder or, get this, Joe D. Grinder.

Oh.

Right, exactly.

Oh, that’s when the first time I saw that I was like, oh, that makes sense.

So the older name was Joe the Grinder or Joe D. Grinder, and it was shortened later to Jody.

So grinding as in?

Well, yeah, grinding is slang for, you know, getting it on.

So Jody’s the guy who’s getting it on with your girl while you’re off fighting battles, right?

Exactly.

All right.

And what he did a little bit of work, and he found that, here’s another name.

I think I mentioned him before on the show, Martha, but Alan Lomax, you remember him?

Mm—

Alan Lomax was the music guy.

That’s right, the ethnomusicologist who traveled around the country recording the old folk tunes.

He recorded one from a black American man in Arkansas in the late 1930s that has this guy, Joe the Grinder, in it.

And this Joe the Grinder in these lyrics is the same Joe the Grinder or Jody that the American soldiers talk about.

It’s all a complicated story.

But this character, this guy who’s preying on your wife and stealing your Cadillac while you’re away, shows up in the 1940s in prison lore, in military marching songs, and sometimes in prison.

Cadences, yeah.

Yeah, in cadences, that’s right, prison work crews, and even in some of the songs of itinerant agricultural workers.

You know, if you can think of the men working in long rows out in the field singing, you know.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

But the cadences are where most soldiers know it today.

They still use these chants.

And I found one here.

And if you’ll stick with me, I’ll read a couple lines of it.

You interested in this?

Ain’t no use in calling home.

Jody’s on your telephone.

Ain’t no use in looking back.

Jody’s got your Cadillac.

Ain’t no use in going home. Jodi’s got your girl and gone.

Ain’t no use in feeling blue. Jodi’s got your sister too.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness. Oh, my gosh.

Wow. Well, thank you so much.

I’ve always wondered what that was about, but thank you. I appreciate it.

We’ll post some more information about Jodi on the website.

I’m going to try to find that Alan Lomax song that he recorded,

And I’m pretty sure I can at least find the text from some of the military cadences.

And we’ll post those because they’re a lot of fun.

They’ve always got a dark humor that I appreciate.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Well, Zilla, thanks for a really interesting question.

Thanks, Martha.

Thanks, Grant.

You’re welcome.

I hope I helped.

You did.

Thanks.

All right.

Super duper.

Take care.

Thanks.

Bye.

You know, Grant, you had me worried there because back when I was a cub reporter in Kentucky,

I was sent to Fort Knox to follow a guy through basic training.

And boy, some of those military songs, some of those cadences.

And they were cleaning them up because I was there.

Oh, right, right.

I mean, oh, my gosh, they’re filthy.

Oh, but, you know, and I’ve given the short version of this.

I bet you have.

I’ll try to find some longer information to post online about Jodie and the things that Jodie’s been up to.

Shame on Jodie.

Jodie is a great folk character that still shows up in military.

And in an era when we think that we’re beyond myth and we’re beyond superstition and we’re

Beyond folk legends, here he is.

He still exists and he’s still talked about.

That’s right.

He’s like this mythical monster or something.

We do love questions about military language and there’s tons of it.

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