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What's the "Joe Shmoe" of different cultures? Or the "John/Jane Smith"? (lemm.ee)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Explanations/etymology also appreciated!

For Joe Shmoe, it means a very average or below average person. It's a derivation of the practice of using "shm-" to dismiss something (eg "Practice shmactice. We're already perfect").

And "John Smith" is meant to be the most average name or person imaginable, so they have the "most common" (citation needed) first and last name as well.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I've always heard it as Joe Bloggs. The Bloggs bot is believed to be a derivation of bloke

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Australian here, Joe Bloggs is very common here.