# You don't know Jack. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 1999, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303 "1999-10-28T13:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/1 "1999-10-28T13:19:00Z")
How did the guy’s name Jack become synonymous with “nothing” as in, You don’t know jack. Every time I hear this or say it, I want to ask it to the Teeming hundreds and finally remembered. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/2 "1999-10-28T13:34:00Z")
We’ve got a new guy here at work named Jack. And he doesn’t know jack. But while he is on the older side, I doubt he’s old enough that they named it after him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/3 "1999-10-28T13:44:00Z")
I always figured it was short for Jack Shit. Which gives us the question who is Jack Shit and do we know him well enough to be on a first-name basis with him? * * * Back off, man. I’m a scientist. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/4 "1999-10-28T15:11:00Z")
Websters online doesn’t have a relevant definition (Is the OED online?), but going thru the associated words (jack of all trades, jack plane, etc.), I get the impression that the word once referred to a journeyman or a journeyman’s level of knowledge. So maybe, if you don’t know jack, you’re barely good enough to be a hand. I, on the other hand, do know Jack. My father was called that from the day he left the hospital. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![eden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f9b8f/32.png) [@eden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eden)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/5 "1999-10-28T16:48:00Z")
Am I the only one who thought this thread was going to be about the game? ---
**Author:** ![Melatonin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@Melatonin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melatonin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/6 "1999-10-29T05:59:00Z")
Jack 15. the least bit; anything; JACK SHIT; (in ono negative constr.) nothing- usu. used in negative constructions. a1973 PFC, US army, US Taiwan Defense Command (coll. J. Ball): Them new guys don’t know jack! 1982 in “J. B. Briggs” Drive-in 1980 he doesn’t do jack about it. 1984 Buckaroo Bonzai (film): You’re not getting jack from me 1986 Kingsport, Tenn; man, aged 32: My father’s said “He doesn’t know jack” for as long as I can remember" 1986 Miami Vice: You don’t know jack about this 1987 National Lampoon (June) 44 He didn’t say jack 1989 S. Lee “Do the Right THing” I aint boycotting jack!" 1993 P. Munro UCLA SLang 2: I got jack for my birthday. . . We didn’t do jack today. Historical Meanings: a seaman term of address to a man whose name is unknown a boy or man a Jacksonian democrat a flapjack applejack or raisonjack a jackass crib notes locomotive jackrabbit lumberjack money jackpot zinc a blackjack jack-rollar syrup fact (constr. with “the”) a fortune (to make one’s jack) holdup or mugging jack off (vul) to trifle or fool around with to maneuver cleverly or unfairly to use a tanslation in order to pass to steal/ hijack/ poach to strike with a blackjack to serve (time) to raise or increase ( from the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, v 2) In other words, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/7 "1999-10-28T22:55:00Z")
Add to the list Jack Mehoff. ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/8 "1999-10-28T22:57:00Z")
Oh, and in the south, a _jackleg_ preacher is one without a congregation. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-know-jack/4303/9 "1999-10-29T05:40:00Z")
John means ‘man’. It’s a generic term. When stuck for a name, they often use John. Jack is, for some reason, the same thing. It literally refers to a man, or ‘john’. Wacky, huh? So it’s just a phrase in the same way that the H in Jesus H Christ means nothing. * * * “Vyvyan! Where did you get that Howitzer?” “…I found it.” [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - updates every Wed & Sat