Joe Shmoe
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
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Joe Shmoe (also spelled Joe Schmoe and Joe Schmo and "Yo Hschmo") is one of the most commonly used fictional names in American English. 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"). This process was adapted in English from the use of the "schm" prefix in Yiddish to dismiss something; as in, "Fancy, schmancy." While "schmo" ("schmoo," "schmoe") was thought by some linguists to be a clipping of Yiddish "schmuck",[1] an etymology supported by the Oxford English Dictionary,[2] that derivation is not universally accepted.[3]
See also
- Joe Bloggs
- John Doe
- John Q. Public
- Average Joe
- Placeholder name
- Schmuck (pejorative)
- Man on the street
