Spotlight - 01.2020

Fotos: marekuliasz, Franck Boston/Shutterstock.com

44 Spotlight 1/2020 LANGUAGE

Joe, John, Jane... and Fred

Many languages have a name for “the typical

man (or woman) in the street”. In everyday

US English, he’s the “average Joe”. In the UK,

he’s known as “Joe Public”, “Joe Bloggs” or

“Fred Bloggs”.

In a more formal context, for example when

referring to an unidentified dead body,

Americans use the names of John Doe

and his female equivalent Jane Doe. Other

placeholder names in the US include: John

/ Jane Q. Public, John / Jane Q. Citizen and

John / Jane Q. Taxpayer. The “Q.” probably

stands for the Latin word quisquam, which

means “anyone”.

Idioms with surnames

Hobson

“Hobson’s choice” is a choice whereby only one thing is really

offered. You can either take it or leave it. The phrase is said to

refer to a stable owner in Cambridge called Hobson, who offered

customers the choice of taking the horse in the end stall or no

horse at all.

Jones

If your neighbours have an expensive new car, perhaps you feel

you should have one, too. This syndrome is known as “keeping

up with the Joneses”. Nowadays, of course, it’s the lifestyles of

the stars in Los Angeles that people aspire to — as is reflected in

the name of the US reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

McCoy

If something is described as “the real McCoy”, it’s the real thing

or the genuine article. There are many different stories about the

origin of this phrase, but, ironically, no one knows whether the

original Mr McCoy was real or not.

Murphy

“Murphy’s Law” states that “if anything can go wrong, it will go

wrong”. It’s how the universe works against you. It makes your

toast fall with the buttered side down, for example, or it makes

you always choose the slowest queue in the supermarket.

1. Which name?

Choose the right first names to complete the following

sentences.

A. Money is tight at the moment. I’m having to rob

to pay.

B. My dad worked in a lot of different jobs. He was a

of all trades.

C. A New York hospital needs help to identify a female

patient, known only as Doe, who has

lost her memory.

D. Do I want to take a pay cut? No way,!

E. There’s a guy in my team at work who thinks he

knows everything. He’s a real smart.

1.^

Which name

?

A.

P

eter, Paul

B.^

jack

C.^

Jane

D.^

José

E.^

alec

Answers

aspire to sth. [E(spaIE tE]

, etw. anstreben, sich

nach etw. sehnen

dead body [ded (bQdi]

, Leiche

stable owner

[(steIb&l )EUnE]

, Stallbesitzer(in)