John Doe vs. Joe Block ?

[unhappysoul]

I was coming home tonight listening 106.7 KROQ radio station's
'Love Line'. Tonight's guest were Def Leppard..

They were talking about something and said 'Joe Block' instead
'John Doe'.

Dr. Drew asked said in U.K. they use term 'Joe Block' intead of 'John Doe' to refer something wihtout ID...

Is that true?

Very interesting how same meaning but completely different term.

Americans will never understand the term 'Joe Block'


Unhappy

[kchess79]

I love differences in slang

[psalzer]

And then there's Joe Blogg or is it Bloggs?

[robert@fm]

Pat has got it right; the expression is actually "Joe Bloggs" (not "Block")...

[Bamb0]

I actually like the way the UK does stuff better in alot of ways!


Joe Bloggs instead of John Doe??

I dont see WHY but I understand it..

[SideshowBob]

It's not really the same thing, Joe Bloggs is just a generic name rather than an unknown man.

John Doe was used in English Law in the late Middle Ages. After the black death, feudalism began to break down, but it took a long time for property law to catch-up. If a landlord tried to evict a tenant, it was theoretically possible that it could end-up in trial by combat.

Lawyers invented a way around this; the landlord needed the help of two friends, one pretended to own the property and the other pretended to be the tenant. The real landlord and tenant got called as witnesses establishing the owner's right to evict the actual tenant.

Eventually the Judges streamlined this process; most of the trial could be skipped by giving the names John Doe and Richard Roe in place of the two friends turning-up.

At least that's what I heard.

[dryoldlime]

Originally Posted by unhappysoul

I was coming home tonight listening 106.7 KROQ radio station's
'Love Line'. Tonight's guest were Def Leppard..

They were talking about something and said 'Joe Block' instead
'John Doe'.

Dr. Drew asked said in U.K. they use term 'Joe Block' intead of 'John Doe' to refer something wihtout ID...

Is that true?

Very interesting how same meaning but completely different term.

Americans will never understand the term 'Joe Block'


Unhappy

I figure from what were occasionally presented in the past several years, should be "Joe Bloak", in which the "last name" would, if you'll excuse the poor choices here for phonetic spelling "blok" using the "long O" for the vowel. Same vowel as in the word, "coat". or "goat". OR, the "a" in "bloak" is silent, so the vowel pronounced is the long O.

[Bamb0]

Originally Posted by SideshowBob

At least that's what I heard.

Thats all quite interesting!



I didnt realise the UK had a different term until l saw this thread..

[north]

24 yo necro thread. nice!

[dryoldlime]

I initially said this, which is probably wrong:

I figure from what were occasionally presented in the past several years, should be "Joe Bloak", in which the "last name" would, if you'll excuse the poor choices here for phonetic spelling "blok" using the "long O" for the vowel. Same vowel as in the word, "coat". or "goat". OR, the "a" in "bloak" is silent, so the vowel pronounced is the long O.

That quoted does not show any support through trying an online search. Maybe better would be John Smith, as might be applied in England.

Also, no seeming connection of "Bloak" to any first-name placeholder. Further, another variant spelling is "Bloke", same pronounciation as I said earlier.

[Bamb0]

Originally Posted by north

24 yo necro thread. nice!

Yes north isnt it nice the site is still about?

[north]

Originally Posted by Bamb0

Yes north isnt it nice the site is still about?

absolute nice!