Hey Joe: How do we use the name 'Joe' in sayings

Q. Joe Public Why Joe

A. Good question. Although Joseph has always been a popular name, it's never had the the same degree of ubiqitty in the English-speaking world as John or William. John, Jack and Bill or Billy consequently have more uses in colloquial phrases, but Joe does pretty well.

Q. And they are

A.

Joe American slang for everyman and an alternative to John Doe - sometimes Joe Blow or Joe Sixpack - or someone (perhaps a corpse) whose name is unknown. Hence GI Joe, a blanket term for US soldiers (GI = government issue)

Joe Bloggs A version of Fred Bloggs, a British everyman (although who knows anyone called Bloggs )

Joe Muggins Related to mug, a fool, and often just muggins: a simpleton or someone who has been fooled or taken advantage of

Joe Public As per Joe/Fred Bloggs, a British everyman

Joe Soap A person taken advantage of or imposed upon

Holy Joe Originally sailors' slang for a clergyman and now also a mildly derogatory term for a pious or holier-than-thou person

A Joseph is someone who can't be lured away from a temperate and chaste life, after the Biblical character. Also named for his coat of many colours is the joseph, a woman's floor-length riding coat.

Q. And some famous Joes

A.

Uncle Joe Joseph Stalin

Vinegar Joe General Joseph W. Sitwell, US commander in China during the Second World War , on account of his sour temperament (also the 70s band of the same name featuring Robert Palmer and Elkie Brooks: tempting )

And of course the Joe in Hey Joe, who's off to shoot his girlfriend for cheating on him then hops over the border to Mexico; written by Billy Roberts and a huge hit as Jimi Hendrix's first single in 1967

Any more Joes Let us know

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By Simon Smith