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

submitted 1 year ago by ech@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

84 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] lichengeese@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Not to stifle further discussion, but this Wikipedia page has a wealth of examples

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_placeholder_names_by_language

[–] livus@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The examples for places was interesting.

We have "Eketahuna" (meaning, a small town, middle of nowhere). Eketahuna is a real place ha ha.

We have "Waikikamukau" which is a fictional small town. In bad pakeha pronunciation accent it would sound like "why kick a moo cow").

(Aotearoa/NZ)

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

Amazing, Ive been learning German for 8 years and just had a great laugh!

[–] f5xs_bhw0a@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'd attest to that Juan de la Cruz for the most generic Filipino name. de la Cruz still works as a very common surname though I don't think Juan is still used as much as back then.

And then there are the placeholder phrases, all of which I've heard and used.

Uy, ku'nin mo ang ano, yung kuan, iyon! Ay, ano nga ba ang tawag d'yan? Noong ninety kopong-kopong pa namin binili iyan kina ano... Ano nga ba'ng pangalan niya?