4 ms·
It's strange how the "Jack of all trades" phrase changed over time. The original phrase was: "Jack of all traits, Master of none, Still better than a master
by gitgud 7y ago
It's strange how the "Jack of all trades" phrase changed over time. The original phrase was:
"Jack of all traits,
Master of none,
Still better than a master of one"
The original phrase is much more against specialisation, however omitting the last two lines makes it almost belittle generalization... The meaning of the phrase has basically reversed over the years.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_all_trades,_master_of_none https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_all_trades,_master_of_...
- duxup 7y agoIt certainly cycles back and forth. In this day and age where hiring managers filter folks based on alphabet soup lists of tech and hum and haw over not 8 years of one of the dozen things and ... it's not even a thing it's a just file format ... and they can't stop using Java and JavaScript interchangeably damn it! sigh It's easy to get frustrated by the demands folks have for ... both.
- lil-scamp 7y agoI love learning how the English language has evolved. Public service announcement: If you're into this stuff-check out the Allusionist Podcast: https://www.theallusionist.org/listen https://www.theallusionist.org/listen It's full of fun stories like these. One of my favorite language nuggets—the word "guys" is an eponym—most historians trace it back Guy Fawkes.
- _o-O-o_ 7y agoThere's even more ways you could twist the original: - Jack of all trades and master of one - Jack of all trades and master of all - Master of all trades and jack of none - Jack of all trades and master of some
- qrian 7y ago> "Still better than a master of one" is a recent addendum to the phrase. Your wikipedia link says the last line is not included in the original phrase
- lowbloodsugar 7y agoIn the reference you cite, it says ""Still better than a master of one" is a recent addendum to the phrase." Whereas it says "Jack of all trades, master of none" (without your recent addition) is from 1721. See also https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/jack-of-all-trades.html https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/jack-of-all-trades.html
- ivanhoe 7y agoNot that I dispute it, but that sentence is marked with [citation needed] so it should be taken with a grain of salt...
- mbell 7y agoFrom your link: > Originally, this wasn't the case and the label 'Jack of all trades' carried no negative connotation, the 'master of none' part being added later. So it went through three separate versions flip flopping in meaning.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Konnstann 7y agoSomething similar happened with "Blood is thicker than water", a phrase used to convey the importance of family, where the original quote is "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb", which conveys the exact opposite, that ties you make yourself are more important than family.
- Semaphor 7y agoAccording to Wikipedia [0] it's not as clear as you make it out to be. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_is_thicker_than_water https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_is_thicker_than_water
- tj-teej 7y agoMy favorite is "Great minds think alike" the full expression is "Great minds think alike. Fools rarely differ."
- microcolonel 7y agoRelated: “premature optimization is the root of all evil” vs. “Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%.” I frequently see people use that cropped quote to justify paying no attention whatsoever to performance, which usually bites them in the ass (or would have bit them in the ass, if the standards for software weren't so low these days).