Crack a Jack

or Cleave a Knave if you prefer.

As early as the mid-16th century the card was known in England as the Knave (meaning a male servant of royalty). Although "Jack" was in common usage to designate the "Knave," the term became more entrenched when, in 1864, [1] English cardmaker Samuel Hart published a deck using "J" instead of "Kn" to designate the lowest-ranking court card. The Knave card had been called a Jack as part of the terminology of the game All-Fours since the 17th century, but this usage was considered common or low class. However, because the card abbreviation for Knave was so close to that of the King ("Kn" versus "K"), the two were easily confused.

(Note the exclamation by Estella in Charles Dickens's novel Great Expectations: "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!")

Thanks to Wikipedia for the above.