The Troops Use Nicknames, Too
The Stranger just posted of a guy who got “knocked on [his] ass” refer to all the dead Iraqis as “hodgies.”
I looked this term up, not knowing what it was. Turns out it’s a generalized reference to combatants against US soldiers in Iraq. The term is an Americanization of the word “hajjis,” people who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Googling “hodgies” brings up this lovely comment on a myspace page…
what the fuck is up!?!! so what are you up to now??? i am an infantry soldier in the army now, b/c i am that hardcore! haha. who would have ever guessed i’d do something that required that i kill lots of people…those mother fuckin’ hodgies threw a party the day we rolled out of that sandbox! but as much as i fucking hate iraq, i cant wait to go back and shoot some more! (deployment date: august 2007) …
Proud moments. Since I’m not sure if I’m stealing his speech by posting it, here is his myspace page.
Interestingly, the term ‘hodgies’ is also occasionally used to describe Iraqis, in general. I find it interesting that a term to describe people making a peaceful pilgrimage is bastardized into a term for enemy combatants, and is then applied to the population as a whole.
Sheds a bit of light on the way our troops view the people they’re liberating, as well as the insecurity of not knowing who your enemy is, so everyone becomes your enemy.
Since the term is related to Islamic pilgrimage, that enemy appears to be Islam itself.
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