Herkimer Jerkimer

English Etymology A reduplicated rhyming compound, from Herkimer and jerk. First appeared during the 1940s. Noun Herkimer Jerkimer en New York City slang pejorative dated A yokel; a country bumpkin. en Irving Lewis Allen The Contempt for Provincial Life Oxford University Press 1995 9780195357769 The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech 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. en Jesse McKinley 1995-11-19 F.Y.I. 13 2 New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/19/nyregion/fyi-048615.html A 'Herkimer Jerkimer?' Why, that's a local yokel, you rube. https://web.archive.org/web/20250810191005/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/19/nyregion/fyi-048615.html 10 August 2025 en rhyming compounds reduplications en People