John Q. Public

John Q. Public refers to an average American citizen, especially a man, as in The paparazzi thought Tom was a celebrity, but he turned out to be just a John Q. Public. 

John Q. Public is used to collectively refer to regular people or average Americans as a whole, as in The movie contained no controversies so it would be easily marketed to John Q. Public. 

Example: The newscaster asked for an opinion from a John Q. Public standing on the street corner.

The first records of John Q. Public come from around 1935. It is an Americanism that combines the common first name John with the word public, which refers to a community as a whole. The Q represents a person’s middle name, though it doesn’t stand for anything here. A John Q. Public is an everyman or everywoman who is an example of an average member of the community.

John Q. Public is just one example of using fake names to refer to generic, average, or anonymous people. The name John is also used in John Doe, which refers to an average or unknown man. Jane Doe is used in the same way for women. The phrases Joe Sixpack, Joe Blow,  and Tom, Dick, and Harry are also used to refer to average men.

What are some synonyms for John Q. Public?

• everyman
• everywoman
• John Doe
• Joe Blow 
• average joe

What are some words that share a root or word element with John Q. Public? 

• John
• public

What are some words that often get used in discussing John Q. Public?

• regular
• person
• average
• society

People use John Q. Public to refer to an average person or society as a whole.

Totally support your right to get a gun, but seriously, is there a reason John Q. Public needs an assault rifle?

— Joce Sterman (@jocefromthenews) July 20, 2012

At a meeting on Affordable Care Act. I swear these are the most informed questions I've EVER heard at a public meeting. Go John Q. Public!

— Erika D. Smith 🦅 (@Erika_D_Smith) November 4, 2013

The prelims are open to everyone. Who gets to the starting line is never up to John Q. Public.

— Frank Stahl (@alwaysmoreinfo) May 3, 2021

True or False?

John Q. Public is a term used to refer to the wealthy elites of a society.