Conference thebay::joyoflex

    FooBar -- used to refer to a generic routine, node....   I made the
    mistake of using this name for my workstation.  You might be
    surprised at the number of people who test routines with parameter
    values like FOOBAR::anyone.  I imagine that the person who had the
    name before me gave it up because of the false alarms.  Each has to
    be tracked (traced?) and resolved for our local net police.
    
    re John Doe:  This is found in 'mercan jurisprucence.  John Doe is
    the first anonymous or unknown party.  I believe Richard Roe is the
    second, and there are others after than. I'll consult my wife, the
    lawyer, if you want further detail.  Note that these names probably
    did not originate here, but are commonly used here.

    	Those legal people are also known in England.
    
    	In France "thing" translates to "machin", "truc", "bidule", or in
    moments of stress "machintrucbidule".
    
    	"Anybody" in French tends to be Dupont or Dupond.

    Re: <<< Note 753.0 by SMOOT::ROTH "W -+- " >>>

    "Acme" and "Ajax" seem to be generic names of corporations - as in
    "Acme Trucking Company".  (Remember all that stuff Wile E. Coyote
    ordered from generic supply companies?)
    
    The generic U.S. eatery is "Joe's."
    
    The generic brand-name product is "Brand X" - its competition is
    always "Brand Y."
    
    The generic U.S. President is "George Bush."
    
    Bill
    
    
    BTW, for the benefit of the small minority of readers unfamiliar with
    the etymology of "FOOBAR": it is derived from "FUBAR", an acronym for
    "F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition."  :-|
 

Here's some I remember from my days in the U.S. Army.

Joe -- any trainee, or collectively, all trainees:  "When is Joe coming
back from the field today?"  "They'll be back about 1530."

Charlie -- from Victor Charlie, the phonetic pronunciation of V.C, Viet
Cong.  Any individual V.C., or any group of them.  Do you really need
any more explanation?

Jody -- any best friend you left back home.  Probably now having sexual
relations with your s.o.

Tom Terrific (or any other cartoon or comic book hero) -- any young
ninety-day wonder, i.e., recent graduate from O.C.S.   Sorry, sir, I
meant no offense.  I was just explaining for the readers here how the
term was used; I wouldn't use it like that myself.  Sir.   :-)

Dave C.

    'Scuse me?
    
    Never heard *anyone* take *my* name in vain...
    
    ;)
    
    -Jody
    

Generic for a faraway place.

Often spelled "Timbucktoo" and used with ". . . from here to"


	Clay    

Does anyone else remember this guy?  He was the generic unsophisticated user 
of any computer system.  Probably derived from Dave Garroway's friend - J. Fred 
Muggs.

Larry

Re .6

Yeah, Jody, that's right, but they probably didn't have you in mind. 
You don't fit the image.  I swear it's true, though.  Virtually anyone
who's been through basic training, at least at Fort Jackson, South
Carolina, will verify what I said.

Current rules prevent me from giving examples of what our sergeants told
us Jody was doing while we were doing pushups.


Re .8

Oh sure, I still run into good old J. Random User.


--

Another generic place, kind of like Timbuktoo, which is, after all a
real place name:  Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, after J. Ward's wonderful
Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons.

Dave C.

    "J. Random User" was MIT AI-Lab terminology in the mid to late 1960's.

    I don't know if this is still current; but WWI (English) war reports
    were full of what was happening to Tommy.  I suppose his German
    counterpart (I shan't name him for fear of litigation under the
    Race Relations Act) got his name from the cartoon pairing of
    Tom[my] and Jer[man]ry.
    
    <RATHOLE>
    Jermyn Street, London W.1., used to be German Street, until it was
    renamed when German-sounding names became unpopular - some time
    about 1913, I suppose.
    <END_RATHOLE>
    
    b
    

    I don't know if this is a common form or a nonce one made up by
    my (sardonic) maths master.
    
    b

    I used to have a manager who referred to the generic dumb user as Sally
    (or Sammy) Rottensox.
    
    -dave

    As an example, of a famous usage of a fake name, the "roe" in
    the US abortion decision of "Roe v. Wade" comes from "Jane Roe"
    name that was used to hide the identity of the actual woman.

    
    I can't believe I thought of one:
    
    My mother referred to the malady suffered by a child who wants to stay
    home from school as "school-a-roo-stay-homus".  She even let me stay
    home with that once in a while!
    
    CQ

    In the theater, the generic names used when the program went to print
    before a part was cast, were George or Georgina Spelvin.  Which I found
    quite amusing when the X-rated flick _The Devil in Miss Jones_ starred
    "Georgina Spelvin" in the title role.

The generic wise-acre kid in school is Johnny Badmouth.  


One Tuesday Johnny Badmouth brought a bag of ping pong balls to school in a
paper bag.  Now, every Tuesday, Johnny's teacher...   No, I'd better
not.

Dave C.

Re .12

	"Tommy" was actually Pt. Thomas Atkins, which was the "generic"
	example used to show new recruits how to fill out their Army 
	pay-books and personnel forms (which also include a Last Will
	and Testament form, in the back!)
	They were supllied with a blank book, and a sample filled of an 
	already-completed one, in the the name of Thomas Atkins.
	Hence "Tommy Atkins", the Universal British Soldier


Re.-a couple
	My old boss used to refer to certain troublesome clients, in 
	times of stress, as "Old B*ggerballs" - apparently another 
	military expression.


Ian

    
    	While working on hospital information systems, I had to create
    	phony 'patients' so I could use their accounts as test data.
    
    	My favorite names were:
    
    		Chester Honeyhugger (Thank you, Jonathan Winters)
    
    		Ophelia Rass	(Think about it.)
    
    		Hugh Q. Finorkny (NO ONE would have that name!)
    
    	-- Glinch

    
    My father used a phrase, supposedly from Army days, for things that
    didn't perform their alotted functions properly.  Most often applied to 
    beer that was not of the finest quality, it was: "This horse is
    definitely unfit for work." 
    
    Richard.
    
    By the way, I wonder which nationality has the greatest number of
    generic terms for drink - specifically beer. 'Neck oil' is my
    favourite.

RE:.4
   > BTW, for the benefit of the small minority of readers unfamiliar with
   > the etymology of "FOOBAR": it is derived from "FUBAR", an acronym for
   > "F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition."  :-|
    
    When I worked on a US Navy project at GE, they gave me a list of
    acronyms recognized by the Navy (it was a large book). One of them
    was FUBAR.  The de-acronymation of it was *Fouled* Up Beyond All
    Recognition.  
    
    Here's s'more:
    
    Plain Jane
    Mary Jane
    East Juhunga
    53 miles west of Venus. (B-52's song)
    Smalltown, USA
    Main Street, USA
    Joe Cool Hard Guy
    Freddie Free-loader
    Uncle Sam
    
    
    
    
    

    G'day,
    A favourite reference to Government (junior) ministers is used by
    'Uncle Roger' in Flight magazine...  
    
    Roland Freelunch.
    
    
    Downunder, there are places that are :-
    Back o' Bourke  - way out in the boondocks - Bourke is far west NSW
    beyond the black stump - likewise.
    
    There is cooking that would 'sicken a brown dog'
    
    and the generic New Zealand country village of Whykickamoocow
    and in Oz , Kickatinalong
    
    derek
    

In France, a far away place is P�tahouchnoque (very, very far away).


A village in the countryside, when you don't want to remember its 
name, is Triffouillis-les-Oies.


La Saint-Glinglin is a date in a very, very distant future.


A man-in-the street may be called Tartempion, Trucmuche, or Duchnoque.


 roger

I've seen "East Overshoe" used as a random hick town (not to be confused with
Hicksville, NY) far away from everything.

						Brian

    	.20 is derived from a very old shaggy-dog story where a customer at
    a bar complains about the quality of the beer, and finally ends up
    submitting a sample to the public health analysis laboratory. You have
    the punch line correct.

    re .25
    
    Thanks! That does explain a lot -- especially about the taste of beer
    in the North of England. 
    
    Richard. 

Don't forget good ole G.I. Joe.

Wook

    
    What with all this talk about service-related generics, what about
    Kilroy?  (I know nothing about the origins...)
    
    Just waiting for my Christmas bread to rise...
    
    CQ
    
    

To refer to a person that drops things, and seems to be uncoordinated we would
call them a klutz. While I was moving into my room at college, everyone was
tired, and were dropping things, and so the name klutz was flying around quite
often. Then someone came in (one of the people that had been calling almost
everyone a klutz) and informed us that we had to stop. Naturally, since he was
one of the biggest offenders, we were suspicious of this announcement, and
demanded a reason. His answer?



One of the people moving into that building was named Klutz.

			- - -  Karl

    Re: .11 and .18
    
    Which came first, the generic example or the Kipling poem?
    
    	Oh, it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Tommy,
    	  go away';
        But it's 'Thank you, Mister Atkins,' when the band
    	  begins to play.
    
    	It's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him
          out, the brute!'
    	But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to
          shoot.
    
    	Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy
    	  'ow's yer soul?'
    	But it's 'Thin red line of 'eroes' when the drums begin
    	  to roll.
    
    Bernie
    

>                      -< Did Kipling first use the name? >-


Bernie, I checked a little - not too easy, most of my references are away 
for the holidays, or recovering therefrom - but the nearest thing I could 
find to a military historian (Mike Gething, of "Defence" magazine) suggests 
that Pt. Thomas Atkins was around well before Kipling's day.

In those days, of course, your average hero was likely to be nearly, or 
completely, illiterate, so the detailed example was even more necessary.

I'm ready to be proved wrong, though - I claim Christmas fever as my 
defence!!

Happy new year to all our readers!

Ian

    Let's not forget generic term for xerographic copier.
    
    Bill
    

    Hmmm.  I hope the Xerox (TM registered) Corporation's legal department
    doesn't see .-1.

    Re .30 and .31
    
    
    Fresh from the old joke section:
    
    "Do you like Kipling?"
    
    "I don't know, I've never Kippled"
    
    In the same vein, I'll let you work out your own joke about the
    author of David Copperfield.

    
    I've heard British Army squaddies referred to as GRUNTs (Government
    Reject, Unfit for Normal Training).

    I thought it was because they did the grunt work (i.e. heavy
    physical labor, work that makes you grunt).
    
    --bonnie

    In the U.S., I believe marine corp recruits are called jar heads.  What
    about the other armed forces?
    
    Wook

Re .37

In the U.S. Army, marine recruits are called jar heads, too.

Dave C.

    
    All this service-related stuff is making me remember things better 
    left forgotten... :-)
    
    In the AF, we called squads of new recruits (before they got their 
    fatigues) "Rainbow squads".  They had ya marching to and fro at the 
    first opportunity.  Sounds kinda quaint, doesn't it?
    
    Also, "jeep", the "go'fer" equivalent.
    
    CQ

    
    In Canada, and probably the rest of the Commonwealth, members of
    the armoured corps  are called Zipperheads because of the
    scars left by the stitches when they crash forward and open their
    foreheads on the hatch covers of the tanks.

    Roger

    Another Air Force term - PINGERS - 
    
    It's a new recruit just out of basic training.  At night, if you're real
    quiet, you can hear the hair growing back in on the poor fellows
    shaved heads!
    
                                PING
    
    Ex-Master Instructor
    Ex-SSGT
    USAF
    

All of these are in common use in the UK.  It would be interesting to see how 
many are also common in the States and how many are uniquely British.

PEOPLE

John Smith - 	Kind of strange to give the name `John' to baby Smith when it's 
		used so much as a generic but I believe J.S. is still statistic-
		ally the most common name in Britain.

Fred Bloggs	& Freda Bloggs as a female version

Joe Soap -	I think this one is particularly used in the North of England.

N.O. Body

A.N. Other

`Colour' names are often used when several generic people are required - 
Mr Brown, Mrs Green, Miss Black, Mr White etc.  A bit like Cluedo.

PRODUCTS

I don't think anyone's mentioned `widget' yet - in its original use as a 
generic product rather than a DECwindows thingy.

JOBS

`Average Adjuster' - I've seen this on forms as an example job.  It sounds like
a very dull job just involving columns of figures but it's actually to do with
insurance claims.

`Sagger-Maker's Bottom-Knocker' - A real though obscure job in the pottery 
industry.  Occaisionally used as an example because it sounds very silly.

I suppose vaguely related to this subject - at least to the legal use of `John 
Doe' - is the Chiltern Hundreds.  This is a more or less fictional job which 
British MPs can take as a procedural mechanism to give up being an MP - they're
not allowed to just resign but if they take `an office of profit under the crown'
they cease to be an MP.  There's at least one `spare' bogus post in case two or
more MPs want to leave at once.

Jon


   

    Re: .42
    
    Here is an American's view of your names:
    
	John Smith:	Very common
    
	Fred Bloggs & Freda Bloggs:	Unheard of.

	Joe Soap: "Joe" is common, as in "an average Joe", the common
    		   man, or "GI Joe", the common soldier. I've never heard
    		   of "Soap" as a name.
    
	N.O. Body & A.N. Other: Never heard of them. I like them though.
    
	`Colour' names:	Also used here.

	`widget': Not common, but well recognized.
	
    	`Average Adjuster': Unheard of.  "Insurance adjuster" is well
    		recognized as one who determines how much insurance you
    		will collect for your crumpled car.
    
	`Sagger-Maker's Bottom-Knocker': No comment needed.

	Chiltern Hundreds:  American politicians are allowed to resign,
    		sometimes strongly encouraged!

    But it's a real trade, found in foundry work.
    
    Nick

    
    
    How about the generic "used car salesman" which represents the epitome
    of unethical, untrustworthy characters with which one may have to 
    conduct business.

    Yeah, I guess "used car salesman" is lower than "dog catcher".

    
    This morning I listened to the repeat of last Sunday's "Car Talk" and 
    was reminded of:
    
    Boyd, Dewey, Cheatham & Howe (law firm)
    
    and 
    
    Vinnie Goombahts (Perhaps one of the Italian American members of the
    JOYOFLEX community would be kind enough to explain this one and to 
    offer an alternate spelling to the last name...)
    
    CQ
    ("Car Talk" is a call-in radio talk show.)

        I believe it is Boombats... or at least that's how I heard it. 8^}

        	Mike

    A 'left-handed smoke shifter' is a generic nonexistant item, typically
    used to get rid of some eager novice who is getting in the way.
    
    At least that's how it was used when I heard it.
    
    Wook

    re .-1
    
    The generic non-existent item I've heard is `blunt hook' - used
    in particular by a surgeon who doesn't know what to do next:
    `Get me my blunt hook'. The trick is to send someone looking
    for it, and time your re-starting of the operation (`Oh well,
    I suppose I'll have to make do without one, but don't blame
    me if ...') to happen just before the wild-goose chaser gets
    back and says there's no such thing.
    
    
    Re widgets
    
    Has anyone said yet that widgets are usually made (in British English)
    by the Acme Co (or, more recently, ACME plc)?
    
    b
    b

The name used as a signature for most dunning notices is ficticious and
chosen entirely on how the collection group feels the average citizen will
react to the name. Double-syllable first names coupled with single-syllable
last names seem popular.

My magazine for years kept Jane Field on staff as Field Reporter...anyone
who called up complaining was directed to write to dear Jane.

Speaking of Jane, don't prostitutes use the name John in some generic way?
I think a 'John' is the same as a 'trick' in this case.

And there's a 'Dear John' letter, of course.

-Perry

Just remembered another...any southern U.S. 'good-ol' boy' may be
referred to as Billy Bob or Bubba. I think Bobby Sue is the feminine 
equivalent.

-Perry

    Not to forget the "Dear Jane" letter.
                              
    						Don

    you can go to the "john" also.
    

    RE: .47
    
    Vinny Goombah (sp?) is a joke reference to an Italian name.  Vinny is
    generic (and not quite complimentary) for an Italian man.  Meant to be
    short for Vincenzo. Goombah roughly translates as friend or associate
    (possibly neighbor?).
    
    Since the car talk guys, Click and Clack Tappet are really named
    Malliozzi, I don't think it is too outrageous for them to use
    either Vinny or Goombah.  Me, I would not use it and expect to get
    served at any self-respecting restaurant in Boston's Italian North End.  
    
      Ciao,  Margaret

    
    There's also a generic name for (male) opera singers. I can't remember
    the Christian name, but the surname is Fatagitti.
    
    Richard.

    RE .55
    
    Pronounced Malliotsi, but spelled Magliozzi, I believe.

    In the old days in Waterloo (if Waterloo can be considered old enough
    to have had old days) the generic userid was "fbaggins".  Occasionally
    "fred" was used as an alternative.  In fact, I have the impression
    that "fbaggins" was usually used in instructional materials and "fred"
    was used in bug reports.  Unfortunately I've forgotten the second
    generic userid.
    
    In Japan, if there are samples for forms to be written in a bank or
    department store or whatever, the family name of the sample person
    is usually the same as the name of the company, and the given name
    is then some common given name such as Taro.  Perhaps another
    generic family name is the very common name of Yoshida.
    
    Not a generic, but along the lines of previous postings such as
    the name "John" being used for things other than people:
    Some of the places where prostitutes would start by sharing baths
    with their customers (instead of giving massages) used to call
    themselves Turkish baths, usually abbreviated to just "Torku", the
    Japanese name for Turkey.
    Then one day the ambassador of Turkey wanted to take a taxi to his
    embassy.  Typically, the taxi driver understood a few key syllables
    of the request, but the result was less typical.
    The government persuaded these establishments to change their names.
    
    Re .11
    > <RATHOLE>
    > Jermyn Street, London W.1., used to be German Street, until it was
    > renamed when German-sounding names became unpopular - some time
    > about 1913, I suppose.
    And of course, the entire city of Berlin, Ont. (adjacent to Waterloo)
    was renamed about the same time.
    > <END_RATHOLE>
    You only thought that was the end.

On my recent vacation in Las Vegas, I took a shuttle van from the hotel
to the airport.  The driver had his own idiom (at least I've never heard
it anywhere before) for addressing the people on the bus.

He needed to know to which airlines each passenger was going, and so he
asked each of us, in turn, our destination.  He addressed each woman as
Lucille and each man as Leroy, and when addressing us all he said
"Leroys and Lucilles".  (When he dropped me off and handed me my
suitcase, he said "So long, Leroy, ask for me next time you come to 
town."  Goodnaturedly, I said, "I sure will, Sylvester.  Thanks for the
ride."  I don't know his name.)

Dave C.

Here's an example of usage of "Joe Average" from the TELECOM Digest.

Dave C.

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 26 Jun 90 01:05:17 CDT    Volume 10 : Issue 454

                            A B S T R A C T
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 90 22:13:20 EDT
From: Jack Winslade <[email protected]>
Subject: Exchanges Taken Out of Service
Reply-to: [email protected]
Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha, Ne. 402-896-3537
 
 
In a message of <19 Jun 90 02:46:26>, Woody writes:
 
 >In the midst of the vast numbers of nxx prefixes put into service each
 >year, does anyone have examples of nxx prefixes taken out of service?
 
I ran into two such examples last year when I was attempting to make
up an >>ACCURATE<< prefix list for the Omaha dialing area.  The one
that they published in the phone book was a joke.  Even a cursory
inspection by Joe Average would find some omissions.  [....]