The story
For centuries, “Jack” was the everyday name for any ordinary working man, the way we might say “some guy.” A jack of all trades was simply a fellow who could do a bit of everything.
The phrase appears in the early 1600s, in Geffray Minshull’s book about life in a debtors’ prison. He describes the prison porter as “some broken Citizen, who hath plaid Jack of all trades.”
At first it was mostly a compliment. A handy person who could mend, build and fix was worth having around.
Then the 1700s added a sting. A 1721 Boston newspaper wrote of a “Jack of all Trades; and it would seem, Good at none.” Later in the century, the familiar ending appeared: “master of none.”
Lately, people have added a happier tail: “but oftentimes better than a master of one.” It is often called the original version, but it is a modern addition.
