- Morphodite
"Morphodite" is a comic pronunciation, considered offensive, of the word
hermaphrodite . It was used most notably in the bookTo Kill a Mockingbird byHarper Lee , when (in chapter 8) Miss Maudie refers to the snowman Jem and Scout built. To disguise the snowman's obvious and unfortunate resemblance to Mr. Avery, the children borrow Miss Maudie's hat and hedge-clippers. The attempts to feminize the caricature fall short and Miss Maudie describes their creation as "an absolute morphodite." It is used again (in chapter 14) when Scout parrots the phrase she heard, and screams at her older brother, Jem, "You damn morphodite, I'll kill you!"The word is used as an insult in the
Stephen King short story, "The Body" and was also used on a 2006 episode ofSpike TV 's "Disorderly Conduct" in a string of insults hurled at a police officer arresting a very, very drunk man.It was used again in the 1986 film Stand By Me (which is based on Stephen King's "The Body"), with Teddy saying "Gordie, go get the provisions you Morphodite!"
The science fiction writer
M. A. Foster used the word for his "The Morphodite Trilogy", consisting of "The Morphodite" (1981), "Transformer" (1983) and "Preserver" (1985).
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