Jerkwater
/ˈdʒɝːkˌwɔːtər/noun
A small, insignificant, or out-of-the-way place; also used adjectivally to mean rustic or inferior.
Did you know?The word comes from the railroad era, when engines at minor stations were refilled by a quick jerking motion of the water supply, and the name shifted into a sneering label for remote, unimpressive places.
Etymological Timeline
19th Century
English
jerkwater
“A railroad stop or small place where water was taken on in a hurried, jerking manner; later, a contemptuous term for a backwater town.”
19th Century
English
jerk
“To move or pull suddenly and sharply.”
Old English
OE
*giercan
“To move or twitch suddenly; the exact ancestry is uncertain, but the modern sense of a sharp sudden motion developed in English.”
Old English
OE
wæter
“Water.”