GRODY

adjective Also written groady (Youth Culture) In the slang of US teenagers: vile, revolting, grotty. Especially in the phrase grody to the max (i.e. maximum: see max), unspeakably awful, 'the pits'. Etymology: This is generally thought to be a clipped form of grotesque, like the more familiar grotty, but it could perhaps be a diminutive of gross, which has been a favourite term of disgust among American youngsters in recent decades (compare scuzzy for 'disgusting': see scuzz). History and Usage: Grody has been in spoken use since the late sixties but became fashionable through the spread of Valspeak in the early eighties (especially in the phrase grody to the max). It was widely popularized by a Moon Unit Zappa record of 1983, in which Moon Unit is heard to say: Like my mother makes me do all the dishes. It's like so gross like all the stuff sticks to the plates...It's like grody, grody to the max. By 1985 a new noun had appeared: the grodies were the bag people, the homeless tramps who slept rough in the streets. Grody is not yet used in British English except in conscious imitation of American Valspeak. Omigod, Mom, like that's totally beige...I mean grody to the max, just gruesome. Gimme a royal break. New York Times 12 Dec. 1982 (Connecticut Weekly), p. 4