Ameliorated words of offensive origin

[James A. Landau]

Merriam-Webster's 10th Collegiate offers the following 4 definitions for
"camp".  Note that these definitions are in HISTORICAL order:

1.  exaggerated effeminate mannerisms exhibited esp. by homosexuals
2.  a homosexual displaying camp
3.  something so outrageously artifical, affected, inappropriate, or
out-of-date as to be considered amusing
4.  something self-consciously exaggerated or theatrical

for about a generation now, in my experience, in the US, "camp" has been used
only in meanings 3 and 4.  Note that I specify "in the US".  I have
encountered British uses of "camp" to mean "homosexual".  Does anyone know if
this is current British usage?

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In the US Army soldiers being drilled have a family of chants for counting
cadence that are known as "Jody calls".  Typical:

        (sergeant) I should have stayed hom but I left
        (troops)    You're right
      (s)            Jody was there when you left
        (t)            You're right
        Refrain:
        (s)           Sound off
        (t)            One two
        (s)           Sound off
        (t)            Three four
        (s)           Take it on down
        (t)            One two three four
                       One two [one-beat pause] threefour

It is my understanding that any cadence chant with the above refrain
constitutes a "Jody call".

Who or what was "Jody"?  According to a photocopy someone gave me, allegedly
from a book entitled "The Erotic Muse", "Jody" is a contraction of "Joe the
Grinder, from a type of coital movement."  This piece of etymoligica, true or
not, is certainly not known to the average infantryman trying to keep step.

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Jew's harp---probably originally an ethnic term and probably intended as an
insult, but this connotation long forgotten.  In fact I have never heard the
term pronounced other than as "juice harp"

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dutchman  "a device for hiding or counteracting structural defects" e.g. in
theater, strips of cloth soaked in glue used to attach flats together or
otherwise hide construction details .  This sounds suspiciously like a
forgotten ethnic insult.

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hussar = a type of cavalryman, original meaning was "highway robber" (it is
related to "corsair")

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filibuster was originally a Spanish word meaning "freebooter" or "pirate",
then became "an American who raised revolts against Latin American countries"
and now is merely a deliberately long speech


            - Jim Landau