I'm alright, Jack

This article is about the expression. For the film, see I'm All Right Jack.

"I'm all right, Jack" is a British expression used to describe people who act only in their own best interests, even if providing assistance to others would take minimal to no effort on their part.[1][2] It carries a negative connotation, and is rarely used to describe the person saying it.

The phrase is believed to have originated among Royal Navy sailors; when a ladder was slung over the side of a ship, the last sailor to climb on board would say, "I'm all right Jack; pull up the ladder."[3] The latter half of the phrase, typically used as "pulling up the ladder behind oneself", has been used to call out unfairness and hypocrisy on the part of those who are seen to have benefited from opportunities handed out to them, only to deny such opportunities to others.[4][5][6][7]

The expression was used in the title of the 1959 comedy film I'm All Right Jack. It appears in the lyrics of the 1973 Pink Floyd song "Money", the 1978 Tom Robinson Band song of the same name, and is also the name of a 2019 song by UB40 which satirises people who do not care about the less fortunate.[8]

  1. ^ Sarah Cassidy and Richard Garner (April 12, 2006). "Thatcher blamed for lack of respect in classrooms". The Independent.
  2. ^ Lynsey Hanley (July 3, 2016). "High status, high income: this is Britain's new working class". The Guardian.
  3. ^ Paul Beale, Eric Partridge (1992). A dictionary of catch phrases, American and British, from the sixteenth century to the present day. Scarborough House. p. 94.
  4. ^ Anna Patty (May 27, 2016). "Women leaders urged against pulling up the ladder after they climb". Sydney Morning Herald.
  5. ^ Russell Lynch (February 28, 2021). "'We can't let the rich pull up the ladder behind them', says Nobel prize winner Sir Angus Deaton". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. ^ Ezra Klein (October 5, 2012). "Romney's 'pulling up the ladder behind him'". Washington Post.
  7. ^ Zane Small (November 12, 2020). "Finance Minister Grant Robertson on the 'perfect storm' that's seen house prices soar in New Zealand". Newshub.
  8. ^ See the UB40 album For the Many.