jack of all trades:
(plural: ‘jacks of all trades’ — for the right pronunciation of this phrase, please click here)
A person who can do several kinds of work/jobs;
a handyman;
a person who is capable of doing several different activities, activities such as painting, music, sport, etc., some activities for money and some for pleasure or out of interest, relatively well, but not necessarily very well,
a jack of all trades
My granddad was a real jack of all trades; there was nothing he could not do regarding the minor repairs, not only in our house but also in our neighbourhood.
The proverb or saying: “Jack of all trades; master of none!” means ‘a person who knows or tries to do little of everything but cannot become an expert in anything’.
The caretakers/janitors of large apartment buildings need to be jacks of all trades to maintain the building and to assist the residents — repairing leaky pipes and taps, fixing creaky doors and broken windows, replacing faulty wiring and fused off bulbs, and changing flat tyres and engine oil of residents’ vehicles, and many other odd jobs.
