What are the origins of "Jody"

Joe D.


Idiot

Joe D. Grinder. From a song.

I don't know but it's definitely been around a long time. I worked in the plants during the summer when I was a freshman in college and the plant baws were definitely talking about Jody 23 years ago. I remember them explaining it to me.

I dont where Jody started, but I know where Jody finished

My nephew worked in the oilfield for a couple of years and he just found out his girlfriend is hitting from the other side. In his case it's Judy. Damn son.

And what would the name be for the woman in the "found his wife in the arms of another woman" quote? Maybe Pat?

Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone - Johnnie Taylor (1972)

quote:

---

I don't know but it's definitely been around a long time. I worked in the plants during the summer when I was a freshman in college and the plant baws were definitely talking about Jody 23 years ago. I remember them explaining it to me.

---

It's been around a lot longer than that. I believe it was a WWII saying

In the United States, what are now known as cadences were called jody calls or jody (also jodie) from a recurring character, a civilian named "Jody", whose luxurious lifestyle is contrasted with military deprivations in a number of traditional calls. The mythical Jody refers to a civilian who remains at home instead of joining the military service. Jody is often presumed to be medically unfit for service, a 4F in WWII parlance. Jody also lacks the desirable attributes of military men. He is neither brave nor squared-away. Jody calls often make points with ironic humor. Jody will take advantage of a service member's girlfriend in the service member's absence. Jody stays at home, drives the soldier's car, and gets the soldier's sweetheart (often called "Susie") while the soldier is in boot camp or in country.

The name derives from a stock character in African-American oral traditions, "Joe the Grinder."[7] The character's name has been transcribed as "Joady," "Jody," "Jodie," "Joe D.", or even "Joe the ____" (in dialect, "Joe de ____") with Joe then identified by occupation. He was a stock anti-hero who maliciously took advantage of another man's absence. Enlisted African-American soldiers incorporated this character into cadence songs during the Second World War.[8]

Lineberry emphasizes conflicting uses of the calls: they are useful to command, in that they serve as instruments to psychologically detach the soldier from home-life, and to inculcate a useful degree of aggression. They are useful to the soldier, who can vent dissatisfaction without taking individual responsibility for the expression.[7] While jodies, strictly speaking, are folklore (they are not taught institutionally, and do not appear, for example, in FM 3-21.5, Drill and Ceremonies Field Manual), some are tolerated and even encouraged by leadership, while others are subversive.[7]

Common themes in jodies include:

Homesickness.
Everyday complaints about military life.
Boasts (of one's own unit) and insults (of one's competitor, which may be another unit, another service branch, or the enemy.)
Humorous and topical references.
Lineberry offers an alternative, psychologically and functionally oriented taxonomy. There are negative themes (disrespect expressed for deities, women, homosexuals, the enemy and economically deprived comrades; graphic expression of violence perpetrated on women and the enemy, glorification of substance abuse) but also positive (unit pride, encouragement of comrades) and perhaps in-between, expressions of contempt for death and indifference to mortality.[7]

One example used in the U.S. Army:[citation needed]

My honey heard me comin' on my left right on left
I saw Jody runnin' on his left right on left
I chased after Jody and I ran him down
Poor ol' boy doesn't feel good now
M.P.s came a runnin' on their left right on left
The medics came a runnin' on their left right on left
He felt a little better with a few I.V.s
Son I told you not to mess with them ELEVEN Bs (the designation for infantry in the Army)
One from the U.S. Marine Corps:

Jody, Jody six feet four
Jody never had his arse kicked before.
I'm gonna take a three-day pass
And really slap a beating on Jody's arse!
In the first and last scenes of the 1949 movie Battleground, the cadence sung is as follows, with the call initiated by the platoon sergeant (played by James Whitmore) and the response from the rest of the platoon:

You had a good home but you left / You're right
You had a good home but you left / You're right
Jody was there when you left / You're right
Your baby was there when you left / You're right
Sound off! / 1,2
Sound off! / 3,4
Cadence count! / 1,2,3,4,1,2...3,4!


They signed you up for the length of the war /

I've never had it so good before
The best you'll get in a biv-ou-ac /
Is a whiff of cologne from a passing WAC
Sound off! / 1,2
Sound off! / 3,4
Cadence count! / 1,2,3,4,1,2...3,4!

There ain't no use in going back /

Jody's livin' it up in the shack
Jody's got somethin' you ain't got /
It's been so long I almost forgot
Sound off! / 1,2
Sound off! / 3,4
Cadence count! / 1,2,3,4,1,2...3,4!
Your baby was lonely, as lonely could be /

Til Jody provided the company
Ain't it great to have a pal /

Who works so hard just to keep up morale
Sound off! / 1,2
Sound off! / 3,4
Cadence count! / 1,2,3,4,1,2...3,4!


You ain't got nothin' to worry about /

He'll keep her happy until I get out
An' you won't get home til the end of the war /
In nineteen hundred and seventy four
Sound off! / 1,2
Sound off! / 3,4
Cadence count! / 1,2,3,4,1,2...3,4!