Morphodite is a comic pronunciation, considered offensive, of the word hermaphrodite. It was used most notably in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, when 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."
The word is used as an insult in the Stephen King short story, "The Body", and hence in the 1986 film adaptation Stand By Me, with Teddy saying "Gordie, go get the provisions you Morphodite!" The term was also used on a 2006 episode of Spike TV's "Disorderly Conduct" in a string of insults hurled at a police officer arresting a very, very drunk man. This scene was also later shown in the 2008 "The Smoking Gun Presents: The World's Dumbest Criminals 6"
The word also appears in Thomas McGuane's novel "Nothing But Blue Skies," in which the protagonist is called a "spastic morphodite" by his recently-fired ranch manager's wife.
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).
On 18th June1996, Rick Sims side project band, The Lee Harvey Oswald Band, released the album "Blastronaut" featuring the song "Morphodite" on Touch & Go records. The song became an underground hit with the chorus: "I'm not your morphodite; I'm not your silly ho" sung by Zowie Fenderblast, their transvestite vocalist.
