The term popped into my mind as I was lying on my new exercise mat, not exercising, but staring at the ceiling and feeling completely uninspired by anything beginning with J.
Where did that phrase even come from? I wondered. And does it mean anything or nothing?
Like, you don't know jack, means you don't know anything, but it's worth jack, means it's worth nothing.
What the heck? My curiosity roused me from the floor and over to the computer.
It turns out that the origin of this phrase is a mystery, although there is some unconvincing speculation about "Jack" historically being a common diminutive and thus Jack shit is worth even less than regular shit. That seems very improbable to me, but what do I know?
And it actually does mean both anything and nothing, which is a lot like this alphabiography.
Life Lesson: "Words are all we have." ~Samuel Beckett
Where did that phrase even come from? I wondered. And does it mean anything or nothing?
Like, you don't know jack, means you don't know anything, but it's worth jack, means it's worth nothing.
What the heck? My curiosity roused me from the floor and over to the computer.
It turns out that the origin of this phrase is a mystery, although there is some unconvincing speculation about "Jack" historically being a common diminutive and thus Jack shit is worth even less than regular shit. That seems very improbable to me, but what do I know?
And it actually does mean both anything and nothing, which is a lot like this alphabiography.
Life Lesson: "Words are all we have." ~Samuel Beckett
J was not easy, but I'm stuck on K. I'm also a day behind. Way to pull Jack sh*t out of your *ss!
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