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Here’s the sort of spooky thing. It’s not just that there are multiple generations who’ve never known a “jerk” was once a simpleton or sap. It’s that some of th
by jp57 1y ago
Here’s the sort of spooky thing. It’s not just that there are multiple generations who’ve never known a “jerk” was once a simpleton or sap. It’s that some of the folks who used to use it that way don’t remember that they did. When I asked my mom to define the word this week, she used the modern meaning, with no apparent recollection of her former firm conviction that a jerk was a dope, dodo, or dimwit.
I am gen-X and I have no recollection of that former meaning at all. I was 10 or 11 years old when the movie The Jerk came out, and I recall being mildly confused about the fact that he didn't really seem like a jerk, and sort of thinking that he must be acting that way on purpose.
- rufus_foreman 1y agoI have the same memory but no idea if that is a real memory or a false one. Being Gen X, most of my meaning for the word jerk came from Devo and the Circle Jerks.
- Tagbert 1y agoI was an adult in my twenties when that movie came out and thought the title was odd as it didn’t seem to fit him. Maybe I had already transitioned from idiot to mild asshole.
- jbaber 1y agoI'm around that age and still have "some poor jerk" in my vocabulary. Any other use than that specific one still has the modern meaning for me.