Jackleg

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:19 AM -0400 9/30/01, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>When I was a kid and worked in my parents' paint and wallpaper
>store, a 'jackleg painter' was a combination of several of the
>following facts:
>
>1) non-union
>2) self-taught
>3) unreliable
...

When *I* was a kid (in NYC) we didn't know from jacklegs (jackknives,
yes, but not jacklegs), but in at least one traditional song a
'jackleg miner' satisfies just one criterion, your (1), with the
further implication 'employed as a strike-breaker: = scab'

larry