“Jerking off” is a common
slang phrase which means to just
hang out or
chill out and do
nothing when you have some
important things that you ought to be doing but are not. The phrase originates from the
fact that just hanging out and doing nothing when you have things that you ought to be doing is, well, kind of being a
jerk. This similarly comes up in the phrase "
jerking around." An alternative theory is that it involves the methods of cooking
beef jerky or
jerk chicken, which involve a lot of
waiting while things
marinade or get
smoked. The other portion of the phrase naturally reflects the common use of the word “
off” in phrases like "cooling off" or "taking the day off."
A
common example of use would be:
Kid: Hey mom, where is dad?
Mom: Oh, he is just in the
backyard jerking off. He's been jerking off out there all day, when he knows the
lawn needs
mowing. Well if he's going to jerk off in the backyard, I'm just going to go jerk off right here in the
kitchen, and he can make his own
dinner.
Kid: Ok, I'm going out back to jerk off too.
Be aware that, like many other phrases in the
English language, such as the
billiards expression "nice rack" or the
law enforcement phrase "finger the bad guy," the phrase "jerk off" has a rare alternative meaning associated with
sexual innuendo as well, which might get people thinking that you're using it as a
double entendre.