Why do we say "Jack of All Trades, Master of None"?

Meaning:

A derogatory phrase referring to someone who claims to have a wide range of abilities but isn't good at any of them.

Background:

Let’s examine this idiom in three parts. First, there’s “Jack,” the oldest part of the phrase. The name became a nickname for those named John in the Middle Ages, and because it was so common it began to be used as a placeholder for a generic guy. Phrases.org states that “the very long list of terms that include ‘Jack’ exceeds that of any other name in English,” and that it’s been used to refer to a “common man” since at least the 14th century. The site makes mention of a poem — Confessio Amantis — composed by John Gower in 1390 as an early example:

Therwhile he hath his fulle packe,
They seie, ‘A good felawe is Jacke’.

Starting around 1570, “jack” was added to the names of tools, like roasting jacks and book jacks. The idea was that the item’s help could be substituted for that of an unskilled servant.

It wasn’t until the start of the 17th century, though, that the second part of our idiom, “of all trades,” was appended to Jack. At the time, it meant someone who was good at a lot of different things, and it was a complimentary title.

Geffray Mynshul (c. 1594-1668) is credited with originating the phrase “Jack of all trades” in his 1618 Essayes and characters of a prison and prisoners, believed to have been written about his experience in debtor’s prison. He states:

"Now for the most part your porter is either some broken cittizen, who hath plaid Jack-of-all-trades, some pander, broker, or hangman, that hath plaid the knaue with all men, and for the more certainty his embleme is a red beard, to which sacke hath made his nose cousin german."

The idiom began to have a negative connotation sometime in the late 18th century. The Gentleman’s Magazine, a popular British periodical that was published from 1731 to 1914, wrote in 1770 that “A Jack at all trades, is seldom good at any.” The actual phrase, though — “Jack of all trades, master of none,” is first found in Pharmacomastix, a 1785 article haranguing illicit pharmacies penned by Irish politician Charles Lucas (1713-1771):

"The very Druggist, who in all other nations in Europe is but Pharmacopola, a mere drug-merchant, is with us, not only a physician and chirurgeon, but also a Galenic and Chemic apothecary; a seller of druggs, medicines, vertices, oils, paints or colours poysons, &c. a Jack of all trades, and in truth, master of none."

Its usage became common in English newspapers and magazines from that point forward.

Both “Jack of all trades, master of none” and its shortened version are still widely used today. The former continues to be a negative statement about a person’s skillset, while the latter is often used in admiration for someone with a wide range of abilities.

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