"Joe Bloggs" and "Fred Bloggs" are
placeholder name
Placeholder names are words that can refer to things or people whose names do not exist, are tip of the tongue, temporarily forgotten, are not relevant to the salient point at hand, are to avoid stigmatization, are unknowable/unpredictable in ...
s used primarily in the United Kingdom to represent the average man on the street. It is used by students, on standardized test preparation courses, to represent the average test-taker. Many countries, such as the United States, Germany or South Africa, use their own unique placeholder names, some even used tongue in cheek. Sometimes the name will be useful as a quick alternative, or stalling mechanism especially when used in conjunction with "What's'isname?" and "'Im down the street", when a forgotten name sits on the
tip of the tongue
Tip of the tongue (also known as ''lethologica'') is the phenomenon of failing to retrieve a word or term from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent. The phenomenon's name comes from the saying, "It's on ...
.
Examples
In
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...
standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...
preparation courses, "Joe Bloggs" represents the average test-taker, and students are trained to identify the "Joe Bloggs answer", or the choice which seems right but may be misleading on harder questions.
"Joe Bloggs" was a brand name for a clothing range, especially
baggy jeans, which was closely associated with the
Madchester
Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music w ...
scene of the 1990s.
History
The name ''Bloggs'' is believed to have been derived from the
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
n region of Britain,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
or
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, deriving from ''bloc'', a bloke. In the UK, a "
bloke
''Bloke'' is a slang term for a common man in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The earliest known usage is from the early 19th century, when it was recorded as a London slang term. The word's origin is un ...
" represents the average man on the street.
Similar cases
In the United Kingdom and United States,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
has historically been one of the most common male
first name
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
s, and
Smith
Smith may refer to:
People
* Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals
* Smith (given name)
* Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland
** List of people wi ...
is the
most common surname in each, so "John Smith" is a recurrent
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
and placeholder name in those countries (especially in legal contexts).
Other placeholders, often used in advertising store cards and credit cards, are Mr/Mrs A Smith or
A. N. Other A. N. Other is used as a placeholder name or, less commonly, a pseudonym used by a person wishing to remain anonymous. It is most used in the United Kingdom, often written as AN Other. Occasionally it may be abbreviated to ANO, or—in cases wh ...
.
See also
*
List of placeholder names by language
This is a list of placeholder names (words that can refer to things, persons, places, numbers and other concepts whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed) in various languages. ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloggs, Joe
Common law
Legal fictions
Placeholder names
sv:Medelsvensson