A man who can turn his hand to many things.
With any phrase that includes a name, it's natural to consider whether its the name of a real person. In this case, as was the case with many other literary Jacks - Jack the Lad, Jack Robinson, Jack Sprat, Jack Horner, Jack Frost, etc, Jack of all trades was a generic term rather than a living and breathing individual. In fact, the very long list of terms that include 'Jack' exceeds that of any other name in English and this reflects the fact that, as a derivative of the common name 'John', 'Jack' has been used just to mean 'the common man'. This usage dates back to the 14th century and an example is found in John Gower's Middle English poem Confessio Amantis, 1390:
Therwhile he hath his fulle packe,
They seie, 'A good felawe is Jacke'.
We now use 'Jack of all trades, master of none' in a derogatory way. 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. Nevertheless, mediaeval Jacks were pretty much at the bottom of the social tree. The OED defines the generic meaning of the name Jack thusly:
Jack - A man of the common people; a lad, fellow, chap; especially a low-bred or ill-mannered fellow, a 'knave'
If 16th century commentators wanted to imply that a person was stretching their talents too thinly they resorted to the disparaging Latin term Johannes factotum ('Johnny do-it-all'). In 1592, the English writer and member of the literary establishment Robert Greene wrote a pamphlet entitled Groats-worth of Witte. In that he ventured the opinion that a new writer on the scene was:
An upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that supposes he is as well able to bumbast out a blanke verse as the best of you. Beeing an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.
Sadly for Greene's ongoing reputation the 'Upstart crow' was William Shakespeare.
Various trades were populated by Jacks - lumberjacks, steeplejacks for example, and sailors were Jack-tars. There can't have been any trades in the Middle Ages that didn't make use of a jack of some sort.
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
In 1777, thirteen gunshots were fired, once at morning and again as evening fell, on July 4 in Bristol, Rhode Island. Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary in a manner a modern American would find quite familiar: an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white, and blue bunting.
In 1778, General George Washington marked July 4 with a double ration of rum for his soldiers and an artillery salute. Across the Atlantic Ocean, ambassadors John Adams and Benjamin Franklin held a dinner for their fellow Americans in Paris, France.
In 1779, July 4 fell on a Sunday. The holiday was celebrated on Monday, July 5.
In 1781, the Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize July 4 as a state celebration.
In 1783, Moravians in Salem, North Carolina, held a celebration of July 4 with a challenging music program assembled by Johann Friedrich Peter. This work was titled "The Psalm of Joy".
In 1791 the first recorded use of the name "Independence Day" occurred.
In 1820 the first Fourth of July celebration was held in Eastport, Maine which remains the largest in the state.
In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.
In 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.
Today we celebrate Independence day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue, watching parades and firework displays and take advantage of the day off.
We hope you have a happy and safe Fourth of July!
Matt and Paula
When you look at a list of the 50 most important events in all of history it should not be surprising that the world of printing is mentioned 10 times. Communication is ranked right up there with fire, the wheel and metallurgy. With communications, publishing and printing mentioned as 20% of the top 50 events in human history you can ubderstand how proud we are to be part of the tradition of printing.
3200 BC Invention of writing in Mesopotamia: the means to record and understand human history.
1600 BC Modern alphabet invented: the essential means of communication of complex concepts and culture.
AD 105 First use of modern paper: this replaced stone, slate, papyrus and vellum as a cheap and convenient medium.
AD 730 Printing invented in China: an essential step in mass communication/ administration/cultural dissemination.
1088 First university founded in Bologna, Italy: the start of a modern conception of higher learning and universal knowledge.
1455 First book printed with moveable type: Johannes Gutenberg’s revolution in printing technology makes mass-market reading possible.
1651 Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan is published: this is the origin of the modern idea of civil society, equality before the law and egoistic individualism]
1687 Isaac Newton publishes Principia Mathematica, the foundation of modern physics.
1859 Publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species. His theory of evolution transforms the view of Man and his environment, and belief in God.
1905 Einstein’s theory of special relativity published. It transforms the nature of modern physical knowledge.
Have a great day.
Matt & Paula
