I looked up the origin of 'sod', and wow, I didn't know it was originally short for 'sodomite'! According to the OED, the earliest use is from 1814, but there are still examples of it used that way in the 20th century. And then later in the 19th century it also became 'a general term of abuse or contempt for a person (originally a man), esp. someone irritating, difficult, or troublesome', which is pretty much what I thought it meant, though it's not a word in my active vocabulary.