Thread: "Jack-of-all-trades". Is he a good guy or bad?

As usually americans confuse me a lot.
One of my friends said to me that you can call like this a hard working, handy man.
Another one was sure that it is about a person who clames to have many skills, but basically can't do any of them well.
Who is right?

They are both right.

Jack-of-all-trades is a person who can do a lot of different things.

But the whole phrase goes like this : jack of all trades, master of none.
Which means the person can do a lot of different things, but none of them as well as a professional skilled in the particular area.

When we use the "Jack of all trades" phrase, we almost always mean the first description.

Я бы сказал "мастер на все руки".