Jack all

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on July 17, 2006

In Reply to: Jack all posted by RRC on July 17, 2006

: : : In Canada...we use a phrase sometimes..."sweet dick all".
: : : As in...Joe went to work today and did sweet dick all (meaning he did nothing).
: : : Any idea where this came from. My American friends think this is hilarious

: : Well, I find it funny, too.
: : Never heard it in the US.
: : It sounds British in its construction, as in "bugger all" meaning none. I don't believe Americans have an "all" usage in that dismissive sense. That's shooting from the hip, of course, so someone can prove me wrong.

: There is some American usage of "jack all" to mean nothing, but I don't know jack all about where it comes from.

I've never heard it, but as a Brit my first thought was to assume that it's a euphemism for "sweet f**k all" which is thoroughly current in Rightpondia. (VSD)

• Jack all ESC 17/July/06