Jack of All Trades

182 words, 1 minutes.

You’ve most likely heard the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none”. It’s most often used as an insult, or at least in a derogatory context. But that’s not the full version of the phrase. And the insult isn’t in the direction you think.

ONE OF THE EARLIEST recorded uses of the phrase “jack of all trades” as an insult dates to 1592. In the New Latin form “Johannes factotum”, it was contained in a pamphlet by a playwright criticizing his own industry. The jab refers to a poet with no university education who was apparently involved in various other roles, like copying scripts and bit-part acting, even trying to write plays. The poet on the receiving end of the insult: a young William Shakespeare.

The phrase evolved over time, and today it’s usually “jack of all trades, master of none.”

I think it is culturally telling that we habitually hack off the end of the long version:

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

Quote from David Epstein’s “Range”.