jerk = 'stupid person' (1928)

[Garson O'Toole]

Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
> But some say it's "Turk".
>
> At YouTube: supposedly the 1928 McClintock recording:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKk_kPmAk4
>
> ... wherein I believe I hear "Turk".
>
> Why "Turk"? Farmer & Henley et al. give "Turk" = "cruel hard-hearted
> man" or so. There are other possibilities.

I think you present an excellent hypothesis with your fine ears, Doug.
There is some support in these raw matches before 1950 in Google Books
which all contain Turk. (Apparently, the lyrics use "that" instead of
"who".)

An introduction to economics
Clyde G. Chenoweth - 1941 - 677 pages - Snippet view
Oh, I'm bound to go Where there ain't no snow, Where they hung the
Turk That invented work, In the Big Rock Candy Mountains. 1 From a
version by Harry McClintock, copyrighted by Villa Moret Co., San
Francisco. ...

Railroad avenue: great stories and legends of American railroading
Freeman H. Hubbard - 1945 - 374 pages - Snippet view
... No axes, saws or picks; Where they hung the Turk That invented
work In the Big Rock Candy Mountains. Haywire Mac brings us back for a
moment to the subject of clearances. Mac likes to tell about the
boomers he used to know, ..

The poets' world: an anthology of English poetry
James Reeves - 1948 - 304 pages - Snippet view
... goin' to stay where you sleep all day, Where they hung the Turk
that invented work, In the Big Rock Candy Mountains. Alexander the
Great FOUR men stood by the grave of a man, The grave of Alexander the
Proud: They sang words without ...

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