Topic: where did they come from?

[XoGreenEyed005Xo]

All of you who have read a fan fiction thing Ennis and Jack when they were still cowboys have probably heard Ennis calling Jack Rodeo and Jack calling Ennis Cowboy. I have been wondering where exactly those names came from because I don't remember them form the movie or the short story, but everyone seems to still be using them. So if someone could give me an answer it would be well appreciated.

Please and Thankyou.
 

[ethan]

Hello XoGreenEyed005Xo,

I do remember hearing Jack being called "rodeo" and Ennis being called "cowboy" from the movie.

1. It is when Ennis and Jack were getting ready to leave the mountain.

Jack: "time to get going, cowboy"
Ennis: "this aint rodeo"

2. L.D. called Jack "Rodeo"

L.D. Newsome referring to boxes of formula. He said "Rodeo can get them"

[chameau]

Cassie calls Ennis "cowboy" at least once:

"C'mon cowboy, you're stayin' on your feet."

[tpe]

Of course, Jack is referred to as "cowboy" once by Lureen:  "What are you waiting for cowboy?  A mating call?"

[CrimsonSky]

Ennis also calls Jack "cowboy" in the Dozy Embrace scene "Come on cowboy, you're sleeping on your feet like a horse"

As for "Rodeo", LD uses it as an insult, implying that Jack is inferior somehow, so I love that fanfic authors have reclaimed the word, so to speak, and use it as an affecionate nickname for Jack

[aintfoolin]

 Alma inferred to this also by asking Ennis Ennis if Jack was some one he "cowboyed" with. Ennis replys that Jack " rodeos mostly"

[welshwitch]

It seems to me also that these are what they are or wanted to be - Ennis thought of himself as a cowboy and Alma asks, when Jack's postcard comes, "is he someone you cowboyed with?"  I think "cowboy" is more romantic, Western, macho, than temporary ranchhand, which is what Ennis was.

Same with "Rodeo" - LD uses it as an insult, someone who's an entertainer, but in fact it's what Jack wanted to be, what his father was a success at ( as he wasn't at ranching) and I guess it had a sort of non-conformist show-biz sort of glamor about it to Jack - being a tractor salesman doesn't sound half as interesting.

[aintfoolin]

Pardon my language here but LD simply sucked. He was an arrogant pest in Jack's life. Much insight is givin into LD's mindset, insulting Jack by calling him "Rodeo" and flinging the car keys at him,  attempting to make Jack look small in his own wife's eyes. but his own daughter was a rodeo champ in her own right. I feel it goes to the heart of his idea of what a real MAN is more than the rodeo stuff. Jack did win a few times  and Lureen saw it. but to LD if you were'nt a rich rodeo champion, your somehow less of a man. A bunch of crap IMO. Jack was the perfect gentleman in all respects regarding his daugter, but when pushed too far, as in the Thanksgiving scene, he is not some one who will totally surrender his rights to be a man by cowering to the likes of LD. Who else would put up with this? Jack simply rose to the challenge. We saw it again in Jack trying to deal with Ennis about Mexico in the confrontation scene but for different reasons, but he exercised his right to dfend himself. Cowboy? yes! Rodeo bullrider? yes. A Real Man? definitly!. ..But I feel it must be said. Thanks.

[tpe]

Ennis also calls Jack "cowboy" in the Dozy Embrace scene "Come on cowboy, you're sleeping on your feet like a horse"

As for "Rodeo", LD uses it as an insult, implying that Jack is inferior somehow, so I love that fanfic authors have reclaimed the word, so to speak, and use it as an affecionate nickname for Jack

Interesting comments, CrimsonSky.  And I agree with what you say about LD using "Rodeo" in a demeaning sense.

[tpe]

Alma inferred to this also by asking Ennis Ennis if Jack was some one he "cowboyed" with. Ennis replys that Jack " rodeos mostly"

And this too, aintfoolin.    It is interesting that Ennis draws the distinction here -- as if to distance himself from Jack in Alma's mind...

[tpe]

It seems to me also that these are what they are or wanted to be - Ennis thought of himself as a cowboy and Alma asks, when Jack's postcard comes, "is he someone you cowboyed with?"  I think "cowboy" is more romantic, Western, macho, than temporary ranchhand, which is what Ennis was.

Same with "Rodeo" - LD uses it as an insult, someone who's an entertainer, but in fact it's what Jack wanted to be, what his father was a success at ( as he wasn't at ranching) and I guess it had a sort of non-conformist show-biz sort of glamor about it to Jack - being a tractor salesman doesn't sound half as interesting.

In the scene where LD forgets to bring in the baby formula, he also uses the term "Rodeo" to refer to Jack.  I guess he is referring to the circumstances wherein Lureen met Jack.  It is a matter of fact, but there is certainly an underlying downplaying of Jack as a person of no significance -- a person perhaps unfit to have his daughter.

[XoGreenEyed005Xo]

Pardon my language here but LD simply sucked. He was an arrogant pest in Jack's life. Much insight is givin into LD's mindset, insulting Jack by calling him "Rodeo" and flinging the car keys at him,  attempting to make Jack look small in his own wife's eyes. but his own daughter was a rodeo champ in her own right. I feel it goes to the heart of his idea of what a real MAN is more than the rodeo stuff. Jack did win a few times  and Lureen saw it. but to LD if you were'nt a rich rodeo champion, your somehow less of a man. A bunch of crap IMO. Jack was the perfect gentleman in all respects regarding his daugter, but when pushed too far, as in the Thanksgiving scene, he is not some one who will totally surrender his rights to be a man by cowering to the likes of LD. Who else would put up with this? Jack simply rose to the challenge. We saw it again in Jack trying to deal with Ennis about Mexico in the confrontation scene but for different reasons, but he exercised his right to dfend himself. Cowboy? yes! Rodeo bullrider? yes. A Real Man? definitly!. ..But I feel it must be said. Thanks.

I like what you had to say about it. You made a good point. I agree,  especially with the fact that LD sucked because he did.

[lamusica]

Even if Ennis and Jack hadn't been called "cowboy" or "rodeo" in the film, it's just a natural thing to call someone by what they do in life.  I've been called "teacher" and "teach" by lots of friends who I never actually taught.
So, if the fiction authors had made it up, it would still fly with me because it makes sense.  Also, Ennis had a lot of cowboy traits, as Jack had a lot of rodeo traits ( as you guys mentioned in above comments).  Those terms kind of set them into their place on earth -- the West, Wyoming, Texas, untamed, wild......

[tpe]

Even if Ennis and Jack hadn't been called "cowboy" or "rodeo" in the film, it's just a natural thing to call someone by what they do in life.  I've been called "teacher" and "teach" by lots of friends who I never actually taught.
So, if the fiction authors had made it up, it would still fly with me because it makes sense.  Also, Ennis had a lot of cowboy traits, as Jack had a lot of rodeo traits ( as you guys mentioned in above comments).  Those terms kind of set them into their place on earth -- the West, Wyoming, Texas, untamed, wild......

This is certainly true.  The labels make sense on multiple levels.  But yes, it would have been natural to append such names to either one of them.