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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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[–] Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Finnish it's Matti Meikäläinen for male and Maija Meikäläinen for woman. Matti Meikäläinen roughly translates to Matt Myself

[–] gerdesj@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

So that might be Matty and Miya Meiikaalayinen. Dealing with diacritics from a language that has none is a bit tricky.

Am I even close?