Whats Up With The Word..."JACK" ?

jack, jacks, jackie, car jack, hi jack, lo jack, pallet jack, jack frost, jack rabbit, jack of all trades, jackal, jack pot, jack hammer, jacket, jack knife, jackson, jack o lantern, jack ass, jack be nimble, lumber jack, cracker jack, jack of hearts...it goes on and on and on...whats up with the word...jack?...theres no other name/word that comes close to the multiple uses of this word...why and how does one word have so many different meanings?

I don't know, but I suuuuuure do love it

reply to post by blocula

Pot
You forgot, "pot" .
Oh, and " off ".

actually many of these merely have 'jack' in them.

for example 75 words have 'say' in them.

hope that helps you.

ya its crazy, check this out, its 132 words containing the word jack... www.morewords.com...

Originally posted by gunshooter
ya its crazy, check this out, its 132 words containing the word jack... www.morewords.com...

thanx for the info...the twenty or so examples i thought of were off the top of my head,i didnt realize there were "that" many!

jack comes from a french name : jacques. this name was first used as an occupational adjective, like "Smith".
it meant general 'support'. those refered to as 'jacques's were sort of freelance handyman types.

hence the proliferation: 'jack of all trades' = jacques, but also were used on objects: a general support device is called a 'jack'.

good thing
good name

I surprised that we did'nt name our planet...Jack...

I work with a guy named Jack...Really great guy. He really is a Jack-of-all trades, within his realm of responsibility.
My big problem is the big vacation calendar.
Written in big red letters for each employee:

Kelly off
Joe off
Pete off
Jack...well you can see where I am going with this.

Jack And Jill...Jack And The Beanstalk...Little Jack Horner...Jack Be Nimble...Flap Jack...Pallet Jack...Car Jack...Hi Jack...Lo Jack...Jack O Lantern...Jackal...Jack In The Box...Jack Of Hearts...Jack The Ripper... Springheel Jack...Jack...Jackie...Jackson...Jack Frost...Jack Rabbit...Jack Of All Trades...Jack Pot...Jack Hammer...Jacket...Yellow Jacket...Jack Knife...Jack Ass...Lumber Jack...Cracker Jack...It goes on and on and on...Whats up with the word...Jack?...No other word is used for so many different things and once being used as an occupational term like Smith isnt cutting it for me,theres way too many types of things here that Jack is being used to describe that go beyond occupations...

I don't know jack about the origins of it but, personally, I love it! I'm not seeing the problem here.