"civilian who is thought to be prospering back home with a soldier's sweetheart, wife, job, etc.," by 1979, said to date from World War II, from masc. proper name Jody, for no clear rea [..]

the person who wins your lover or spouse away while you are in the Nam. From the marching song or cadence count, "Ain't no use in goin' home / Jody's got your girl and gone / s [..]

Military slang first recorded in the Assyrian army about 2,500 years B.C. "Jody" was the draft-dodging wimp who was dating your girlfriend, eating your mama's home cooking and petting your dog while you were in Vietnam. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich were "Jodies."

Probably either a variant of Judy or a diminutive of Joseph. It was popularized by the young hero in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' novel The Yearling (1938) and the subsequent film adaptation (19 [..]