Ameliorated words of offensive origin

[Jerome Foster]

JEW'S HARP HAS BEEN PC'D TO "JAW HARP"




----- Original Message -----
From: "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 6:57 AM
Subject: Re: Ameliorated words of offensive origin


> 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 out-of-date as to be considered amusing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?
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
>
> 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.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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"
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> hussar = a type of cavalryman, original meaning was "highway robber" (it
is
> related to "corsair")
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>