Joe Shmoe (also spelled Joe Schmoe and Joe Schmo), meaning "Joe Anybody", or no one in particular, is a commonly used fictional name in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
.
Adding a "Shm" to the beginning of a word is meant to diminish, negate, or dismiss an argument (for instance, "Rain, shmain, we've got a game to play"). It can also indicate that the speaker is being ironic or
sarcastic. This process was adapted in English from the use of the "schm" prefix in
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
to dismiss something; as in, "sale, schmale" (thus denying that the sale is worthwhile). While "
schmo" ("schmoo", "schmoe") is thought by some linguists to be a clipping of Yiddish
שמוק "schmuck", that derivation is disputed.
See also
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Average Joe
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Joe Bloggs
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John Doe
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John Q. Public
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Man on the street
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Man on the Clapham omnibus
The man on the Clapham omnibus is a hypothetical ordinary and reasonable person, used by the courts in English law where it is necessary to decide whether a party has acted as a reasonable person would – for example, in a tort, civil action fo ...
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Placeholder name
Placeholder names are intentionally overly generic and ambiguous terms referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are temporarily forgotten, or are unimportant; or in order to avoid stigmat ...
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Tom, Dick and Harry
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Zé Povinho
References
Anonymity pseudonyms
Placeholder names
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