This was a hilarious movie, but i could never figure out why it was called "The Jerk". That never made sense to me. Navin wasn't a jerk. He was actually a pretty nice guy. Why wasn't it called "The Moron" or "The Idiot"?
shareI am sure you have heard the expression "don't be such a jerk" or variations of that. In its original usage at that time jerk meant idiot. You would say that to someone acting stupid or saying something really dumb. Then g84ls started calling their boyfriends jerk when they were acting stupid evolving into acting like a jackass.
shareWell as soon as he became rich, he turned into a jerk. Think about his interview on that TV show they were all watching at the party. The smug-ness and his holier-than-thou attitude.
shareI always thought it had something to do with the scene towards the end of the movie when Navin and Marie were arguing about losing the money.
As he's heading for the front door, half dressed and picking up items that he can't live without, Navin turns around and yells to Marie, "Well what are you looking at?! Whaddaya think I'm some kind of jerk?!"
But that's just my opinion. Hilarious movie!
Agree with sdrudolph here. I always attributed it to him yelling, whaddya think i'm some kinda jerk or somethin
shareYeah this confused me too as a kid. Over time I've realized the usage of the word has changed somewhat over the years.
From Websters (December 2016):
"Definition of jerk
...
a : an annoyingly stupid or foolish person
b : an unlikable person; especially : one who is cruel, rude, or small-minded"
So both definitions are still technically correct, but it seems the first one has fallen out of favor. It sounds weird to modern ears but in 1979 people would have understood it to mean stupid, foolish, etc.
It is very interesting how quickly language can change.
As I understand it, the term 'jerk' evolved from 'soda jerk.'
In the U.S., just after WWII, there were many soda 'fountains' on local town squares. To make a soda, the man behind the counter would 'jerk' the handle to dispense soda water, just like a barkeep would jerk the handle on a beer tap. Thus, the fellows who mixed and dispensed sodas were known as 'soda jerkers,' which term was later shortened into 'soda jerk.'
How 'jerk' came to be a pejorative term is a bit less-certain. Probably, it came from 'cool kids' coming in to get a soda, and feeling superior to the 'soda jerk' who was their age, but was working behind the counter and, therefore, had to take their abuse.
Once 'jerk' became a term for somebody who wasn't 'cool,' it was only a matter of time before it became a term much like 'nerd' meant, in the 1980s. Then, 'jerk' evolved to include somebody who had no real social understanding, and then the word 'jerk' turned into a synonym for @ssh0le.
I never HAVE understood the pejorative connotation of @ssh0le. We've all got one, don't we?
- Oh, SOMEbody asides me is gonna RUE this here particular day...
Then, 'jerk' evolved to include somebody who had no real social understanding