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The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

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Re: The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

#131

Post by aspenmayer »

DonHopkins wrote: post #119
johnfn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article specifically addresses this with the fascinating quote from Dave Berry where he reports that the definition of the word unknowingly changed in his head over the last few decades: > “I always thought jerk meant asshole. At least I thought I always thought that, although the quotes you cite seem to suggest otherwise. So to answer your question: I have no idea. You may be right!”

The important difference between "jerk" and "asshole" is that "asshole" goes through glass. If you're driving around, then somebody cuts you off, and you mouth "jerk" at them through the windshield, they will smile at you and and wave. While "asshole" will be totally and universally unambiguously understood.

> "asshole" goes through glass

This is a great hard and fast rule of thumb for photocopiers as well!

Re: The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

#132

Post by aspenmayer »

keane wrote: post #126
aspenmayer wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of warnings, this one is all caps. They must mean business! > The Jerk (1979) "For Theater Owners Only" Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GZMbj8dt1o It’s hard to be this bad intentionally, and it somehow wraps around to being good again, and that’s knowing it’s an ad and the premise is suspect. Steve Martin is that good. It raises an interesting point that I’ll put to the projectionists of HN: Were th…

This one for Ghostbusters was screened at ShoWest 1984 (the National Association of Theatre Owners convention now called CinemaCon) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqpumEZmxa0

That was amazing. They even wedged in some Canadian jokes. Bill Murray can make anything funny with just a look, no words necessary.

Re: The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

#133

Post by aspenmayer »

DonHopkins wrote: post #120

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41478088 DonHopkins 11 months ago | parent | context | favorite | on: The PERQ Computer The predecessor to the "Blit" at Bell Labs was originally named the "Jerq" as a rude play on "Perq" borrowed by permission from Lucasfilm, and the slogan was "A Jerq at Every Desk". PERQ workstation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PERQ Blit (computer terminal): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blit…

Thanks for this rabbit hole, Don.

You must have enough material for an autobiography. Have you ever thought of writing one? I’d buy that.

Re: The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

#136

Post by jbaber »

jp57 wrote: post #19

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'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.

Re: The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

#137

Post by jbaber »

VonGuard wrote: post #50

I believe this comes from soda jerks: the guys who jerk the soda taps and make you an egg cream or a chocolate coke. I should probably say "made," as it's a job that was eliminated by soda machines. A lot of restaurants even have customers "Jerk" their own soda, though now you just press a cup against a thingie.

I thought it was from residents of jerkwater towns.

Re: The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

#139

Post by Chris2048 »

permo-w wrote: post #87
Chris2048 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but you can also use "thanks" as a goodbye. Consider ending a phone call, maybe "thanks" is for whatever they called about, but it's effectively "goodbye" before hanging up.

you can use it in place of goodbye, but you would be using it with different meaning. this is illustrated by the fact that there are certain situations in which you would never end an interaction with "thanks", but you might "goodbye". for example ending a call with a lover

But that's maybe it's more casual, not because its semantically/logically incorrect. I wouldn't say its incorrect though.

Re: The forgotten meaning of "jerk"

#140

Post by CRConrad »

saghm wrote: post #98

There are a few places in the article that they refer to the modern usage as being similar to "asshole", which was interesting to me because I've often been mystified about that word and it's relationship to "ass". When used alone, "ass" to me feels like it's roughly synonymous as when it's prefixed with "dumb", which would seem to relate to that old meaning of "jerk", but with "hole" on the end, it's equivalent to t…

> When used alone, "ass" to me feels like it's roughly synonymous as when it's prefixed with "dumb", which would seem to relate to that old meaning of "jerk", but with "hole" on the end, it's equivalent to the modern version of "jerk".

Could be because the original "ass = stupid" is possibly related not to ass = arse, but to ass = donkey?

"Donkey-hole", OTOH, is meaningless, so "asshole" rather definitely means "arsehole".

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