Herkimer Jerkimer

English

Etymology

A reduplicated rhyming compound, from Herkimer and jerk. First appeared during the 1940s.

Noun

Herkimer Jerkimer (plural Herkimer Jerkimers)

1. (New York City, slang, derogatory, dated) A yokel; a country bumpkin.
   • 1995, Irving Lewis Allen, “The Contempt for Provincial Life”, in The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 245:

     Herkimer Jerkimer, a fool, a rustic, is a "jerk from Herkimer," an impossibly remote place. This jerk was, presumably, from his upstate hometown of Herkimer, New York, ZIP code 13350.

   • 1995 November 19, Jesse McKinley, “F.Y.I.”, in New York Times, section 13, page 2:

     A 'Herkimer Jerkimer?' Why, that's a local yokel, you rube.