英语词汇jerkwater town的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

jerkwater town. If you’ve ever traveled on a railroad line where trains are all steam-powered—and some still exist around the world—you’ll know that this expression, first re- corded in 1896, has nothing to do with “jerks” who live in small, or jerkwater, towns. Steam engines often make stops in small stations for no other reason than to obtain water, the fire- man jerking a cord attached to a long spigot extending from the water tower to fill the engine’s water tender. Similar practic- es, universal in the early days of railroading, gave rise to the Americanism jerkwater town, for any small, out-of-the-way place where no train stopped except to “jerk water.”

词汇	jerkwater town
词源	jerkwater town. If you’ve ever traveled on a railroad line where trains are all steam-powered—and some still exist around the world—you’ll know that this expression, first re- corded in 1896, has nothing to do with “jerks” who live in small, or jerkwater, towns. Steam engines often make stops in small stations for no other reason than to obtain water, the fire- man jerking a cord attached to a long spigot extending from the water tower to fill the engine’s water tender. Similar practic- es, universal in the early days of railroading, gave rise to the Americanism jerkwater town, for any small, out-of-the-way place where no train stopped except to “jerk water.”
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