Where did the ‘placeholder’ word “Jack” originate? You know, like in “Don’t know Jack”, “Ain’t got Jack”, etc. Part of me thinks it was the Aretha Franklin song “The House that Jack Built” which uses the phrase “I ain’t got Jack,” but that seems wrong…
It’s short for “Jack Shit,” who was a Bishop in 15th c. England.
I checked this site http://www.shu.ac.uk/web-admin/phrases/ and they ain’t got jack on such a phrase. Check back, though, if you’re still interested, because I entered it in the “hey, where’s this one?” box.
Partridge gives plenty of slang uses for “jack.” One of the earlier ones was “money” (C. 1937) Others include:
A policeman (1865 – Australia)
Syphillis (20C Australia)
A blackjack (1951 Aust)
Double headed penny (1943, Aust)
Menthylated spirit taken as an intoxicant (c. 1930)
Ass, anus (19th Century)
Copulation (c. 1950)
There is a full column of slang with the word “jack” in the phrase.
Aretha did that song in '68.
My wonderful Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang by J.E. Lighter shows “Jack” as a slang word starting around 1700, meaning “a seaman”. From there, the term takes up more space than most other slang terms. I can give you printed usages as “place holders” from the 1860’s until today. Considering that “shit” wasn’t commonly seen in print until the last half of the 20th Century, a typical cite from 1914 jackshite obviously meant just that.
Many, many slang usages of words came from the military and colleges. In this case, I think the usage evoloved from the Navy over hundreds of years.
I’m certain the phrase pre-dates Aretha’s song. Which makes it a pretty cute pun…“I got the house, I got the car…but I ain’t got Jack”.