"Hey, lighten up, jerk!" Marty calls Buford a jerk...
...much to the confusion of Buford and his gang.
- "Hey, lighten up, jerk!"
- —Marty McFly yelling at Buford Tannen
Jerk was a word used to describe bullies or people with a bad attitude.
History
Marty McFly called Buford Tannen a jerk right after preventing him from killing Dr. Emmett Brown with a shot from his derringer. Because "lighten up" as an idiom and "jerk" as an insult were invented in the 20th century, Buford and his gang were confused by these words. Buford nonetheless acknowledged them as "mighty strong words".
Behind the scenes
- In some edited for television airings of Back to the Future, Marty asking Doc if he and Jennifer becoming assholes in the future is changed to jerks.
