JODY
When I was
but wee lad I was called Jody. That’s
right…my parents wanted a girl. At the
age of six I saw the movie “Old Yeller” where the little girl in the movie was
named Jody. That was it, from then on I
was Joe…I was very adamantly Joe.
Only one
person consistently called me Jody; my cousin Neils.
Now cousin
Neils never even knew me accept in family conversation. My family lived in California, his in
Pennsylvania. Apparently my Aunt was not
advised of my name change so if I was mentioned at all, it was by the name
Jody.
When my
family moved back to the east coast, Cousin Neils called me Jody. He claimed he could just not get used to
calling me Joe, but I think he did it because it aggravated me. Cousin Neils has always called me Jody.
In my first
book, “Maybe It’s Just Me” I wrote about this and in effect called Neils out on
this name thing. I pointed out that
every time I saw him, which was several times a decade at best, he asked to be
called by a new name. It went from Neils
to Niles, to Nelson, to Nels, to Niel and finally I have settled on Nils. I never thought Nils would see this book and
yet he did. He got the point and decided to call me Joe.
We keep up
with each other loosely on Facebook and he now only refers to me as Joe. Sixty years of being annoyed by his calling
me Jody and now I somehow miss it.
What’s up with that?
Nils
recently underwent a rather serious risky operation. It was thankfully successful.
Nils, if you
still want to call me Jody I will accept it from you and only you.
Please!
awww. i was wondering about his own name so thought it funny he morphed his several times. :)
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard the name Jody it was the name of a boy in my 1st grade class...
ReplyDeleteWell there you go.
ReplyDeleteHave a terrific day. ☺
Wasn't that kid on the 60s sitcom "Family Affair" named Jody? I remember thinking he and his sister Buffy were twerps.
ReplyDeleteMy brother is Niles.
ReplyDeleteIf you really want to get under his skin, call him Four Eyes.
Stick to Joe; Niles won't care. I know a number of female Jody's, and all of them are strange. Although one is the CEO of a HUGE international company. And I only know her because I've known her husband for ages. He who now is the general house factotum.
ReplyDeleteJody isn't all that bad, although Joe is much more manly. But come to think of it I know a woman named Jo. And let's be honest, you've probably been called a lot of names worse than either of those, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteS
That what families are for. They know more than they should about your past so they can rub your nose in it, but when they're in trouble you want to be right there to lend a hand or at least a shoulder.
ReplyDeleteIt is families job to keep us annoyed. I hated Patsy(common term for someone easily fooled) and only after 40 years did I get a break.
ReplyDeleteWe used to sing songs about Jody when I was in Basic Training in the Army. He always got your girl when you were away (grin).
ReplyDeletemy late uncle called me Geordy Bob right from the start, we never did figure out why but he soon learned not to do so to my face. Evidently he changed to only using it in reference to me after he called me by that name and I projectile vomited on him. 3 times running.
ReplyDeleteI am told he continued to call me that in absentia until the day he died but always used my proper name face to face and no one told me until after he passed.
I just called my workplace insurance rep, a woman named Jo, this morning. Whenever I hear Jody, I think of that red-eyed pig in The Amityville Horror.
ReplyDeleteJody is a boys name too, there's an alternative spelling, Jodie, but I'm not sure which is which.
ReplyDelete