Semper Ubi Sub Ubi
28 comments on this post.
Search us!
Ask a Question!
Puzzled by Posh?
Confounded by Cattycorner?
Baffled by Balderdash?
Flummoxed by Flabbergast?
Perplexed by Pandemonium?
Nonplussed by... Nonplussed?
Annoyed by Alliteration?
Don't be shy!
Send in your question!
Bill Souder:
May 19th, 2013 at 2:33 pm
What a long jackleg answer to a simple question. Here’s all that needed said.
An unskilled or unscrupulous person, often used to describe lawyers, preachers and the word detective.
Rex Fouch:
June 13th, 2013 at 12:53 pm
I searched for this etymology because my daughter, who is in college near Dayton OH used the term “jack knife” and her friends asked her where she came up with that bizzare term. They insisted it was “pocket knife,” and never heard it called anything else. She then asked me if I had playing a joke on her for 19 years (we use both terms in Michigan, but I guess I generally use the shorter one. I’m relieved to learn I wasn’t using a non-legit term all those years.
Mr Souder–read Mr Johnson’s question again…more carefully this time.
Rex Fouch:
June 13th, 2013 at 12:56 pm
“bizarre,” that is
Mr.TracyCrawford:
January 13th, 2014 at 10:48 am
A complete answer is as long as it takes to be complete. Thank you Sir for your diligence. You have increased my understanding and that is more than I could have asked.
Susan Rusciano:
May 20th, 2014 at 9:29 am
I just purchased BJ Ward’s collected poems, titled “Jackleg Opera,” and not being familiar with the term, came across your entry. Thank you for your thorough explanation of the word and its origins. (I highly recommend the poetry volume.)
Ed Biemer:
November 8th, 2014 at 6:20 pm
I believe that I may have the origin of the term “jackleg”. I’m not sure where I read this but I believe the term “jackleg” came about from the side effects of drinking an inferior alcoholic liquor made from the Jack Fruit. It seems the fermented juice from the Jack Fruit has a natural occurring chemical (neural toxin) in it that after fermentation causes intermittent paralyses in the legs and knees of the drinker. This resulted in strange staggering gate cause by the weakening of the legs and buckling the knees of those who drank it on a regular basis. Thus, a jackleg was a drunk or low life.
jmsalmon:
April 13th, 2015 at 8:29 am
I heard a story about how the term jack leg drunk came about. Supposedly in Cloverport, Ky or along the Ohio River many years ago. Liquor was traded from Jamaica was traded. It was poisonous and the side effect was dragging one leg. Since the prominent members of these communities did not partake in drinking, they were busted when dragging their legs around town. Don’t know how true this is, but it makes sense.
Nick C.:
August 19th, 2015 at 8:59 am
It’s Jake leg not jack leg. Coming from one of those tonics that were sold during prohibition.
Wonderful article, thanks for digging.
G. Morris:
November 13th, 2015 at 1:23 pm
Terrific explanation. Makes perfect sense. Although I also share the OED’s skepticism over Jacques de Leige. My ancestors, most all of whom were from the British Isles, have used this term for at least a Century here in the States: a have a letter from an uncle written in 1859 that uses the word “jackleg (sic)” in this manner: “Cousin Press was taking a jacklegg to the beam when it fell and hit him on the head, liked to knock him to Kingdom’s door…” Since they were taking down a rickety old shed, I imagine Press was using a flat edge to pry a post and beam apart. I didn’t know for sure what my uncle might have meant, but this article gives me an insight. My family has always carried pocket knives, and although I’ve never heard one refer to his knife as a “jack leg” (jack knife, yes), the term “jack leg” is almost exclusively used to refer to someone unskilled in the building trades. So thanks for the detailed answer!
Brendan:
November 25th, 2015 at 11:19 am
Ed’s explanation makes the most sense. My grandfather used the term and was curious as to it’s origin.
Richard Dale:
December 24th, 2015 at 6:03 pm
Cornish miners have spread around the world, are frequently followed by many relatives, and the name Jack was so common that introducing a new arrival as “me cousin Jack” became a cliché. In rock drilling, one man with a light sledge hammer and drill became a “single jack”. Two man teams, one holding the steel and the other with a heavy sledge, became “double jack”. As pneumatic tools became available, the one-man drill with a support leg is called a “Jack leg”.
Patsy:
January 9th, 2016 at 2:14 pm
Being reared in a working class, union family, I often heard the term “jackleg”. It was always derogatory and referred to someone who not only was unskilled, but was probably too lazy to even learn the job. The term “jackleg” was also used to speak of strike-breakers…union busters…scab laborers. Since many “scabs”, who worked for the Company during a major strike were unskilled and inexperienced, the title “jackleg” was appropriate in a union man’s eyes. Almost nobody could be “lower” on the humanity scale than a jackleg…a person did not respect nor uphold his working “brothers” in the labor force.
Lorri Robinson:
March 9th, 2016 at 9:29 pm
I’ve only ever heard it called “jackleg”, and it referred to preachers and lawyers who were perhaps a bit, shall we say, on the shady side of the street as far as their certifications went.
I just used the term today in describing a preacher. He doesn’t have a degree in any sort of religious studies, he’s not ordained by any church, but he’s set up his own church and styles himself “Father”. A jackleg preacher if I ever saw one.
Vance Goss:
March 22nd, 2016 at 2:03 am
Sorry if this was mentioned already but I started reading this while digging into the origin of a specialized mining drill that has been used underground for about 100 years. It is also called a Jackleg, at least in the US. Elsewhere, like Australia, they call it an Airleg. It is composed of a pneumatic drill that is mounted on a swivel on top of a tubular, staged or telescoping pneumatic leg.
Randy Parker:
August 20th, 2016 at 4:08 am
jmsalmon and Nick C seem to have the right origin. In the book titled Water for Elephants the circus roust a bouts drank Jamaican rum during prohibition. In order to be legally sold in the U.S.additives were mixed in the rum to make it poisonous.the effects of the poison caused the abusers to walk with a foot dragging shuffle. I believe this explaination is plausible. That explains the Jake Leg,Jake being an abb. for Jamaican.
Travis Smith:
March 31st, 2017 at 2:17 pm
I grew up in Texas and Oklahoma, where the term jake-leg is used to describe one who is not able to do quality work. Jake-leg carpenter carpenter is the most common use.
R Simpson:
September 15th, 2017 at 10:03 pm
Jackleg is a common mining term used to describe a pneumatically operated drill with an extendable, telescopic pneumatically operated leg. It consists of two main parts; the hammer, which is similar to a jack-hammer and the leg. While a jack hammer is used primarily for drilling vertically down, or slightly off vertical, down, addition of the pneumatic leg and associated valving and connections, allows the jacklleg drill to drill at any angle from below horizontal to horizontal to vertical, up. These are very commonly used in underground hard-rock mining and tunnel development. For untrained users, they can be very dangerous to operate. they are also very loud and both ear plugs and ear muffs should be worn when operating them.
Jack knife is a very common term for a folding pocket knife, usually associated with a knife having one or two blades. When there are two blades, they are both hinged on the same end of the knife.
Jack knife can also refer to a dive where the diver after leaving the diving board, bends and reaches for the toes. Next the diver extends fully, entering the water hands and head first
Elizabeth Gulley:
December 29th, 2017 at 2:23 pm
My father said the word Jack leg, was used to describe a medical problem wherein men who had abused moonshine walked in a certain way- a limp but also tremors.
Jack C. Gann:
March 5th, 2018 at 12:21 pm
My Father, who was born in 1902,
always used the term jackleg for
an unskilled worker. He used the
word jackknife for a folding knife.
He told me that his father had
told him these terms. I’m sure that
these terms go way back.
Rohame:
August 26th, 2019 at 8:38 pm
OK, this comes late into the tale,BUT.
As a, near as dam it, Geordie from the UK, I grew up knowing that a Jack-knife was either a 2-bladed clasp knife (as issued to the Royal Engineers and most probably all other regiments) or the final position of an articulated lorry or car/caravan – Probably because it resembled a half-opened…. Oh, work it out. Anyway, that, to me, lends credence to good old Jaques. Who says the Japanese were first to nick good ideas?
Somewhen I’ve picked up the concept of something unsatisfactory being ‘jake’ – never gave it much thought before but, in 20/20 hindsight this feels related to/corrupted from someone being “a jack-of-all-trades and master of none”.
So we come to the alcohol problem: if jake is ‘substandard’ then anyone in a working class milieu (I just put that in to let you know I come from an upper-working/lower-middle class background but am snobbish enough not to admit it) with walking difficulties (sober or not) could well be ‘jake-legged)’. Usually on the night of payday b4 going home to an undeserved frosty reception! Sorry for any typo’s, blame the spellchecker – I will.
Belinda:
November 17th, 2019 at 5:56 pm
Well, this is all very interesting. Here in South Carolina we say he ain’t nothing but a “Jack’s HIND leg!” For emphasis. Lol
B.A. McLean:
March 10th, 2020 at 10:34 am
In the Middle English poem “Speak Parrott” the name Jack Leg is used. More information concerning the origin, and meaning of the poem can be found at http://www.skeltonproject.org/infospekeparott/. There is also a YouTube reading of the poem in Middle English in which the name “Jack Leg’ is clearly understood. I hope this doesn’t muddy the waters too much. (I was surprised to see the word “popinjay” in the poem.)
EPGerhart:
June 19th, 2020 at 11:46 am
Another meaning of “Jack” is a male donkey. A donkey has hind legs. Perhaps when you describe someone as a Jack’s Hind Leg, you’re just being too polite to call them an ass’s ass ?
Dan Axelrod:
September 13th, 2020 at 6:02 pm
Just heard Al Sharpton use it to describe the preaching of James Clyburn.
Brilliant explanation.
Donna Swan:
December 3rd, 2020 at 9:44 am
I’m a fifth generation Floridian, and my great grandparents and aunts, uncles, etc, who settled Deerfield Beach in about 1903, all used this term for incompetence and misbehavior. I remember being called a jackleg by my Mother!!
David R Feller:
June 22nd, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Jack rafters and Jack studs are shorter than full-length rafters and studs, and while they have a use, the idea of a carpenter who pieces things together because they cannot measure and cut accurately rings a bell for me, since as a carpenter this is the occupation to which I always heard it applied.
Joe Tennant:
July 10th, 2021 at 10:06 am
The term “Jackleg” also is the name given to a piece of mining equipment. It basically refers to a “jack” hammer attached to a telescoping “leg” driven by air. This equipment is operated by one person and is used to drill holes in the rock for explosives. They are also used to drill holes for different types of mining bolts to hang air/water/vent pipes or to attach steel mats to the underground drifts to secure slabs of rock. A “jackleg” is an interesting piece of equipment to operate and takes a lot of practice to get good at its operation without beating yourself to death. Once the technique is mastered, it is not as much work and actually very fun to operate.
Jim McLean:
August 27th, 2021 at 8:00 am
The term “jockteleg” is in a poem by Robert Burns, and refers to a knife.