About David Epstein
Expand Your Range
The first written record of the phrase “jack-of-all-trades” as an insult dates to 1592. In the New Latin form “Johannes factotum,” it was contained in a pamphlet by a playwright criticizing his own industry. The jab refers to a poet with no university education who was involved in myriad roles, like copying scripts, bit-part acting, and even trying to write plays. The poet on the receiving end of the insult: a young William Shakespeare.
The phrase evolved over time, and today it’s usually “jack-of-all-trades, master of none. ” I think it is culturally telling that we habitually hack off the end of the full version: “A jack-of-all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.