John Q. Public

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"Joe Public" redirects here. For other uses, see Joe Public (disambiguation).
For the band with a similar name, see Johnny Q. Public.
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John Q. Public is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a "common man." He is presumed to have no strong political or social biases relevant to whatever topic is at hand, and to represent the randomly selected "man on the street." The equivalent terms are John Q. Citizen and John Q. Taxpayer. Female equivalents include Jane Q. Public, Jane Q. Citizen, and Jane Q. Taxpayer.

In the United States, the term John Q. Public is used by law enforcement officers to refer to an individual with no criminal bent, as opposed to the terms perp or skell, used to qualify unsavory individuals.

Similar terms for the common family can be Mr. & Mr. John Q. Public, Ms. & Ms. Jane Q. Citizen, or Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Taxpayer

Roughly equivalent, but more pejorative, are the names Joe Six-pack, Joe Blow, and Joe Shmoe, implying a lower-class citizen (from the Yiddish schmo: simpleton, or possibly Hebrew sh'mo: (what's)-his-name). 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin famously referred to "Joe Sixpack and Hockey moms" during a debate. "Joe Sixpack" is the byline of award-winning Philadelphia Daily News beer reporter and author Don Russell.[1] Presidential Candidate John McCain referenced a similar symbol, this time represented by an actual person, saying that Senator Obama's tax plan would hurt Joe the Plumber's bottom line. A fifteen-minute debate on this issue ensued, with both candidates speaking directly to "Joe".[2]

The equivalent in the United Kingdom is Joe (or Jane) Public, or Joe Bloggs. Tommy or Tommy Atkins is the generic soldier's name there. The phrase, "Tom, Dick & Harry" is often used both in the UK and elsewhere to indicate possibly unwelcome people, as in the phrase, "Any Tom, Dick and Harry could have (walked in, picked that up, etc.)."

The historical and legal equivalent is the man on the Clapham omnibus, although this is a generic description rather than a generic name.

In Australia, John (or Jane) Citizen is usually seen as a placeholder in credit card advertisements, while Joe (or Jane) Bloggs is commonly used in speech. Joe Blow is also in common parlance in Australia, but contains slight overtones of inappropriateness. For example, in the admonishment: "You left the door unlocked and any Joe Blow could have walked right in."

The term "John Q. Public" was originally the name of a character created by Vaughn Shoemaker, an editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Daily News, in 1922.[3] Jim Lange, the editorial cartoonist for The Oklahoman for 58 years, was closely identified with a version of the John Q. Public character,[4] whom he sometimes also called "Mr. Voter". Lange's version of the character was described as "bespectacled, mustachioed, fedora-wearing".[5] In 2006 the Oklahoma State Senate voted to make this character the "state's official editorial cartoon."[6]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.joesixpack.net
  2. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/15/debate.transcript/index.html
  3. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4D6143AF931A1575BC0A967958260
  4. ^ Longtime cartoonist Jim Lange dies, The Oklahoman, April 18, 2009.
  5. ^ Goodbye, Jim: Our hats are off for 58-year cartoonist, The Oklahoman, April 19, 2009.
  6. ^ Mr. Voter Tapped by Senate as State’s Official Editorial Cartoon, Oklahoma State Senate News, March 9, 2006 (retrieved May 25, 2009).
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