John Q. Public

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

John Q. Public (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) A generic individual; some hypothetical average or ordinary citizen.

   Even careful safety precautions in the factory do not make it a good place for John Q. Public to wander unattended.

Synonyms

• G. Raymond
• Joe Average
• Joe Bloggs
• Joe Blow
• Joe Doakes
• Joe Public
• Joe Q. Public
• John Doe
• J. Random User
• man on the street
• Tom, Dick or Harry

Related terms

• John Q. Law

Translations

a generic individual; some hypothetical average or ordinary citizen

• Czech: Jan Novák m
• Dutch: Jan Janssen m (Flanders)
• Finnish: Matti Meikäläinen (fi)
• French: Jean Dupont m
• German: Hans Meier m (Austria, Switzerland), Max Mustermann (de) m, Otto Normalverbraucher (de) m
• Italian: Mario Rossi m
• Polish: Jan Kowalski (pl) m pers
• Portuguese: Manuel Dos Santos m (Portugal), João da Silva m (Brazil), José da Silva m, Zé da Silva m
• Serbo-Croatian: Marko Marković m
• Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович m anim (Iván Ivánovič)

See also

• Joe Schmoe

Further reading

• “John Q. Public n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present