Navin R. Johnson: Are you a model?
Marie: No. I'm a cosmetologist.
Navin R. Johnson: Really? A cosmetologist? That's unbelievable. That's impressive. Must be tough handling the weightlessness.
Mother: Navin, it's your birthday, and it's time you knew. You're not our natural-born child.
Navin R. Johnson: I'm not? You mean I'm gonna stay this color?
Truck Driver Picking Up Navin: St. Louis?
Navin R. Johnson: No, Navin Johnson.
Taj Jonson: Hey! Any of you bums heard of Navin R. Johnson?
Navin R. Johnson: I've heard of him.
Taj Jonson: Born in Mississippi? Inventor of the Opti-grab?
Navin R. Johnson: I was just telling these guys.
Mother: Navin.
Navin R. Johnson: Mommy, Daddy! How did you find me?
Father: We don't know. This is the first place we looked.
Navin R. Johnson: These hoodlums are dangerous. I think we oughta get out of here before she sees us.
Marie: She?
Navin R. Johnson: What?
Marie: You said she.
Navin R. Johnson: No! No! I always call a gang "she." It's like when you call a boat "she", or a hurricane "she."
Marie: Or a girl?
Navin R. Johnson: A girl, you can call a girl she, that's just one of the many things you can call she.
Sniper: HEY! HE'S not carnival personnel.
Navin R. Johnson: First I get my name in the phone book and now I'm on your ass. You know, I'll bet more people see that than the phone book.
Sniper: Everyday random SON of A bitch! take that you RUN of THE mill bastard! DIE GAS pumper.
Navin R. Johnson: For one dollar, I'll guess your weight, your height, or your sex.
Mother: Navin, I'd love you if you were the color of a baboon's ass.
Navin R. Johnson: For one dollar I'll guess your weight, your height, or your sex.
Answer: Navin self-applies the "Jerk" epithet early in the film, using it not in the sense of someone obnoxious or mean (as it is used in most cases), but in the sense of a stupid person. He's saying he blames himself and his lack of intelligence (though, as you say, it is usually simple naïveté) for ending up where he is (broke, homeless).