Green’s Dictionary of Slang

foolish, stupid.

1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 18: A jerk thing Nick did, bringing him along so fast.
1950		J. Weidman Price Is Right 107: Addressing his reply to some jerk newspaper man in a tank town nobody ever heard of.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 98: Some of those jerk characters really run.
1976		P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 153: Why do I get hit when some jerk colonel gets on Dad’s back?
1979		E. Torres After Hours 181: I’m going to lose retainers because some jerk lawyer will give a guarantee.