this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
191 points (99.0% liked)

Asklemmy

43777 readers
1467 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] fubo@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In US legal cases, "John Doe", "Jane Roe", and similar names are used for pseudonymized legal parties.

For instance, the plaintiff in the famous abortion case Roe v. Wade was one Norma McCorvey, identified as "Jane Roe".

A group of unidentified people appearing as plaintiffs or defendants may be called a group of "Does", from the name John Doe.

The words doe and roe both refer to deer, which are common wild animals in North America โ€” and as wild animals, represent an arbitrary unspecified person. A doe is a female deer; and while "roe" can also mean fish eggs, roe deer is a common European species of deer.

[โ€“] Toast@lemmy.film 1 points 1 year ago