Jacks Part 2

This article is the second half about jack(s). Read about jacked food, music (beyond the previous article's mention of "From a Jack to a King"), video media, and other scattered jacks. ("Jacks Part 1" centered around the name, children-item associations, and games.)

Jack Food and Related
Monterey jack cheese seems to be second to only cheddar as a popular cheese. (I hesitate to consider American and Velveeta to be in the same class.)

Around the 1700s, these monasteries around the Monterey region were making a semi-firm, creamy, mild flavoured cheese from cow’s milk which they aged for a little period. An American entrepreneur named David Jack realized its commercial value and started selling it all over California. The cheese came to be known as “Monterey Jack's” or “Jack's Monterey,” eventually acquiring the name Monterey Jack.

Anyone ever not eaten Cracker Jack snacks, otherwise called Crackerjacks? This product, and variations of spelling, are a food, an attribute (complimentary term), and movie. The food was immortalized in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in 1908.

A jack in the box is a toy, eatery, and movie. Although a jack in the box would be a "Kid Stuff" item that seems to belong in Jacks Part 1, I decided to write about it in Part 2 because of food.
A jack in the box toy is a spring-loaded toy with popup figure. Phrase Finder provides information about some unsavory associations.

Jack-in-the-box was variously a religious insult, a swindler, the Devil and an incendiary device - clearly a character not to be meddled with.

I'm guessing all American fast food diners know what a Jack in the Box (eatery) is. Not to sound like I'm plugging their offerings, but JITB has been serving breakfast during all their open hours long before McDonald's. As most with most fast food eateries, their offerings are deadly loaded with fat, sodium, or both. (Sigh.)

In 1951, a businessman named Robert O. Peterson opened the first Jack in the Box® restaurant in San Diego on the main east-west thoroughfare leading into city. Equipped with an intercom system and drive-thru window, the tiny restaurant served up hamburgers to passing motorists for just 18 cents, while a large jack-in-the-box clown kept watch from the roof.

Jack Animals
Three animals—one fictitious—have "jack" in their names.

• jackrabbit, long-legged rabbits, also referred to as hares
• jackalope, legendary antlered jackrabbit
• jackass (male donkey). (Also is a movie and TV reality show.)

Jack in Music and Video Entertainment
Jack is prominent in songs and video media.

 Mostly Music
This section is mostly about music oldies that have Jack in song titles, lyrics, or both. Although "From a Jack to a King" fits this section, it also fits well into Jacks Part 1 WRT to references to a playing card, in a romantic sense.

• "Hit the Road, Jack" (Ray Charles)
• "Jackie Blue" (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
• "Jack and Diane" (John Mellencamp). Visit the Weird Al parody using Homer and Marge Simpson.
• "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (Paul Simon)
  "You just slip out the back, Jack"
• "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (Rolling Stones)
  Related—jumping jacks (the exercise) named for General "Black Jack" Perishing
  

  Some white officers nicknamed him “Black Jack” in reference to his defense of his black troops. … While he was a senior cadet at West Point, he invented an exercise used by people around the world to this day: the jumping jack.

 Mostly Movies
This section is mostly about movies with Jack in titles, characters, or both.

• Billy Jack, “a half-Indian/half-white ex-Green Beret”
• Jack the Ripper, based on the notorious criminal of the late 1880s.
  "On 27 September 1888, the Central News Agency received a letter written in red ink … It was signed 'Jack the Ripper'."
• Jack Ryan, character in Tom Clancy books, some made into movies
• Jack and Rose, main characters in Titanic
• Jack Sparrow, character in Pirates of the Caribbean
• Jack Skellington, main character in Nightmare Before Christmas
• Jack Donaghy, a main character in 30 Rock

Miscellaneous Jacks
"Jack" shows up in unusual contexts, sometimes in related, compound word forms.

• Hijack, skyjack, carjack indicate stealing a vehicle by force, although some speculate the origin of hijack pertains to sneaking out of zinc ore, known as "jack", by miners. "Skyjack" does not seem to have retained popular use, and far fewer planes seem to be hijacked—maybe because of much tighter airplane boarding restrictions. For that matter, hijack seems more popular a term pertaining to changing of subjects in discussions among people.
• A LoJack is recovery system for motor vehicles, laptops and similar devices.
• "Jack of all trades" is an expression often accompanied by "and master of none")
• "What is the difference between a connector, jack, plug, and port?" explains jack connector and other related items.
• Read about the origin of the Union Jack name for the British flag.
• Neatorama explains the origin of "you don't know jack". The article includes additional jack expressions, including reinforcement of some items I've previously mentioned.

Find more jack references at "The Phrase Finder" for "jack". Also visit Jacks Part 1. (Numerous well-known people are named Jack, and a few for Jackie, easily googlable for interested readers.)

Jacks Part 1

When I heard or read “jackpot” recently, it occurred to me that it was a strange word. Almost immediately afterward, I thought about “jack” as a frequently encountered word or name, something to write about.

"Where the Term 'Jackpot' Came From" explains the origin of the term and also hitting the jackpot. Incidentally, the “jack” part refers to the Jack rank of playing cards.

“Behind the Name” explains the origin for Jack, the name.

Derived from Jackin (earlier Jankin), a medieval diminutive of JOHN. It is often regarded as an independent name. During the Middle Ages it was very common, and it became a slang word meaning "man". It was frequently used in fairy tales and nursery rhymes, such as 'Jack and the Beanstalk', 'Little Jack Horner', and 'Jack Sprat'.

I think it interesting about names Jack/John (English) and Jean/Jacques (French). However, Juan has no Spanish equivalent for Jack.

More Kid Stuff
Petra Turnbull writes about Jack and the Beanstalk symbolisms adding more information about additional story characters named Jack.

The name Jack is commonly used in fairy tales as a symbol for a clever but unreliable character who starts off poor and stupid with an unpromising future, but ends up rich and respected by using his wits. Other Jacks in fairy tales are "Jack the Giantkiller" who starts off as a poor farmer's son but cleverly tricks and slays giants and gets to marry an aristocrat, and "Lazy Jack" who does everything to avoid physical work, but still ends up rich through marriage. There is also a "Stingy Jack" who tricks the devil in Irish folk tales and ends up roaming the world, which is where "jack-o-lantern" is derived.

History.com and Pumpkin Nook contain more in-depth info about the jack o' lantern.

 Mother Goose Connections
Scroll to the poems section of Poetry Foundation to links for "Little Jack Horner", "Jack and Jill", and "Jack be Nimble". Click the following links for reading more context about the rhymes.

• Little Jack Horner
• Jack (and Jill)
  "Jack and Jill referred to are said to be King Louis XVI - Jack -who was beheaded (lost his crown) followed by his Queen Marie Antoinette - Jill - (who came tumbling after)."
• Origins of Jack be Nimble (Some discussion about "Jumpin' Jack Flash" coming in "Jacks Part 2".)

 Not Mother Goose, but Well-Known Rhyme Anyway
A non-Mother Goose nursery rhyme is Jack Sprat, pertaining to a royal couple in the 1600s.

Jack(s) Games
A jack is prominent as a token in a child's game and also playing card.

 Jacks
Jacks is a child's game with rubber ball and spiky metal piece. Encyclopedia Brittanica provides an phonetic explanation for the pieces' term.

The name derives from “chackstones”—stones to be tossed. ... In the United States and Canada jacks is primarily a children’s game played with six to 12 or more six-pronged iron or plastic jacks and a small ball

 Jack as a Playing Card Figure
A jack is a face card in a deck of playing cards, ranking below queen and king.

• According to "History of Blackjack",
  

  The game was still termed ‘21’ when it gained popularity in Nevada in 1931 as the State first chose to make gambling legal. To draw more people to the game, some casinos then offered a special bet: A hand featuring either of the black jacks (the Jack of Spades or that of Clubs) plus the Ace of Spades would pay 10-to-1 odds on the lucky player’s bet.

• "Why are Jacks Called Jacks?" provides some background about the jack and relationship to knave.
  

  Originally, in England, the court cards were called king, queen and knave, with knave being the now-defunct term for a male servant. Card game books still referred to the knave in the 3rd quarter of the 19th century. …The word jack also had 'a common man' as one of its meanings.

• A New Yorker cartoon has the image of a jack fulfilling a role as another jack.
• A very popular older song was "From A Jack To A King" by Ricky Van Shelton. It used references to playing cards to convey love conquest.

Jacks Part 2 includes more jacks-related items of song, video media, food, and miscellaneous.