jerk = 'stupid person' (1928)

[Garson O'Toole]

Historical Dictionary of American Slang has:
jerk 2 n b. a male masturbator - usu. considered vulgar [Perh. the orig. sense]

The first HDAS cite is 1938. Here is a citation that may be dated 1935:

Cite: 1935, The Urologic and Cutaneous Review: Volume 39, GB Page 876,
Urologic & Cutaneous Press. (Google Books snippet; Not verified on
paper; Volume 39 is dated 1935 according to library catalog; Date
probes look ok)

He was frequently called a "jerk" by his brother-in-law, referring to
his masturbation.

http://books.google.com/books?id=nwlEAAAAYAAJ&q=jerk#search_anchor

It appears that this case study is retold with slightly different wording later.

Mental Therapy by Louis S. London (maybe 1937)

He was frequently called a "jerk" by his brother-in-law, the term
referring to his masturbation.

http://books.google.com/books?id=f2bH40RuA-UC&q=jerk#search_anchor

This is later than the 1928 citation, but perhaps this sense was less
likely to be printed or put into a song.

On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 11:25 PM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      jerk = 'stupid person' (1928)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Brett Reynolds, on his "English, Jack" blog:
>
> ---
> http://english-jack.blogspot.com/2011/03/antedating-jerk.html
> Just now iTunes threw up Harry McClintock's 1928 recording of "Big
> rock candy mountain", which contains the line, where they hung the
> jerk who invented work. "Hey," my mind said, "I'll bet that's a very
> early recording of the word jerk." So I hied myself over to the OED
> website to check it out.
> Sure enough, a jerk, as in a stupid person, is listed in the OED as
> n.1 sense 5, and, as you can see, the first example is from 1935.
> ---
>
> HDAS has a cite from 1919 with "Jerk" used as a (presumably
> pejorative) nickname -- as discussed by Dave Wilton:
>
> http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/jerk_jerkwater_jerk_off_jerky/
>
> But I think 1928 would indeed be an antedating for a clear-cut use of the noun.
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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