Jack all

Posted by ESC on July 17, 2006

In Reply to: Jack all posted by Victoria S Dennis 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)

Sounds the same as: He did jack sh*t at work today. Meaning "nothing."