Names’ Meanings in Popular American Expression

I have mentioned before that I got a part-time job as teaching assistant in English Conversation class. There are three teaching assistants in that class, all of us are Indonesian. :lol: Students are retirees, housewives, young office workers and university students. Today, the teacher decided to do some listening practices. The text was about names’ meanings in popular American expressions and written by Jill Moss.

It was very interesting since I found myself unfamiliar with some of those expressions. Here I want to share them with all of you.

  • A cup of Joe: A cup of Coffee
  • An average Joe: Common person, either male or female.
  • Do not know Jack about …: Do not know anything about …
  • John Q. Public: Common person, either male or female
  • Jeez Louise: Expression of surprise
  • For Pete’s sake: Expression of surprise or disappointment
  • A doubting Thomas: Someone who does not believe anything he is told
  • Joe Blow: Common man
  • A plain Jane: Woman who is neither ugly nor pretty
  • Sheila: Beautiful woman
  • No way, Jose: No
  • Do not know him from Adam: Do not know him at all
  • Jack of all trades: Someone who knows how to do everything
  • Uncle Sam:The United States Government
  • John Hancock: A signature
  • Johnny one note: Someone who could only sing one note

I had known some of them before but hardly used them. John Q. Public. I think it would be both first and last time for me to hear that expression. :lol: I guess some of them are already obsolete. Maybe those who had lived in the USA are more familiar with those expressions, Tasa? Mas Bleu? Ian? Mbak Jenny? Mas Beni Bevly?

What about you?

Anyway, there must be some historical backgrounds of each expression, unfortunately Jill just mentioned about John Hancock. No, he is not that Hancock in Will Smith’s newest movie. He was one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence and known for his large and beautiful signature.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Articles in English, Catatan Pribadi, Jepang. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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18 Responses to “Names’ Meanings in Popular American Expression”

  1. Calvin Michel Sidjaja Says:
    October 7th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    I think I have read them several times in donald duck, and yes, these expression are pretty unusual (though I have encountered “for pete’s sake” several times in comic)

  2. michaeljubel Says:
    October 7th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    “A doubting Thomas”, sound so biblical, aye?

    “Berbahagialah orang yang percaya tapi tidak melihat”, Calvin? Huahahahahahaha… peace peace peace..

  3. inda Says:
    October 7th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    yet another fun of English learning … thank you very much, brother. can we say that those are kinds of idioms? i find also some fun in reading idioms, especially the slang one. we got a synonym for your “Do not know Jack about ..” i.e. “do not know beans about…” indeed we got some vegetables for expressions, right? please post more of your teaching fun

    indas last blog post..Eid ul-Fitr: A New Begining

  4. Calvin Michel Sidjaja Says:
    October 7th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    @jubel
    ada gejala misunderstanding yang cukup parah nih bel, gw agnostik, percayalah :P :P

    Calvin Michel Sidjajas last blog post..10 Cleanest Indonesian Politician, According to MetroTV’s Poll

  5. michaeljubel Says:
    October 8th, 2008 at 3:25 am

    @Calvin: oops. haha.. gua tuh cuman menjelaskan gimana asal muasal istilah “doubting Thomas”, vin.. kalo tiba-tiba ada kata “Calvin” setelah kalimat penjelasan gua tuh sebenernya kepencet.. gua lagi baca sejarah agama soalnya.. Luther, Calvin, Wesley, et cetera.. (yeahh right).
    :mrgreen:

  6. yonna Says:
    October 8th, 2008 at 6:06 am

    John Doe or Jane Doe : prefer to nameless person

    yang pake nama Jack, ada juga istilah negatif seperti :

    Jack shit : anything or nothing at all.

    Jack off : masturbate

    Flap jack : thick biscuit (bakalan negatif kalo dikonsumsi terus2an, bikin ndut)

    atau istilah positif

    Union Jack : istilah bendera Inggris tapi digunakan untuk negara2 persemakmuran (bekas jajahan Inggris), Inggris sendiri tidak mengistilahkan Union Jack untuk benderanya, CMIIW

    Udah itu doang taunya :mrgreen:

    Dalam bahasa Inggris emang banyak istilah2 idiom, bisa dibilang bahasa Inggris ini kaya akan idiom atau expression. Yah mirip ma bahasa Indonesia juga ya, cuma kalo bahasa Indonesia gak pake nama orang untuk idiom, karena yang dipake itu biasanya nama benda, nama hewan, nama tumbuhan :)

    Judul bukunya apaan? Karangan Jill Moss gitu? Bagus banget nih, bisa memperkaya khazanah pengetahuan bahasa Inggris gue yang belum jugak nambah-nambah dari taun ke taun :oops: :mrgreen:

    Btw, elu dan Seraphine termasuk daftar allowed user yang bisa masuk blog gue. Emang diset private, menghindari spam bersaudara. Lagian gue pengen cuma orang2 yang gue kenal yang masuk ke blog gue, thanks :)

  7. michaeljubel Says:
    October 8th, 2008 at 10:55 am

    @yonna: jack off? is it? bukan jerk off? ga tau sih. hehehe.. (masturbate ajaa dikomentarin dehh).

    anyway, sebulan lalu gua beli buku.. cheater’s guide to speaking english like native. 700+ idioms. hahaha.. dari A ampe Z. lumayan berguna.. hehehe..

    michaeljubels last blog post..Colorize your Platformate Theme!

  8. vienz Says:
    October 8th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    hohoho.. I’ve heard some of them being used, like, ‘no way Jose’. but the rest, I don’t know. It’s like something that you learn from school text book and when you go to America and start talking like that, people will think that you’re weird.

    or at least, ’sok asik’. haha!

    but it’s fun to know…

    vienzs last blog post..Ah, Dua Satu…

  9. macangadungan Says:
    October 9th, 2008 at 4:41 am

    wah…wah… ini semuanya pada tinggal di luar ya???

    beberapa istilahnya sih sering denger, kayak uncle sam. eh, John Doe, Jane Doe juga pernah denger… tapi yang lainnya baru denger.

    kayaknya klo nonton di tv, emang istilahnya nggak begitu sering kedengeran ya…

  10. Anton Soeharyo Says:
    October 9th, 2008 at 11:02 am

    Yeah man, I know Jack about those words..

    and thanks for going to the job with me

    Anton Soeharyos last blog post..Still Waiting for my Card approval

  11. Andika Says:
    October 10th, 2008 at 12:14 am

    Wah! lucu juga! Tapi beberapa emang baru denger sekarang sih..

    Kalo ‘jack of all trade’, dengernya di lagu..

    Kenapa nama ‘joe’ banyak banget dipake ya? Humm..

    @Calvin
    Langsung klarifikasi gitu Vin…hWahahaha! :mrgreen:
    Andikas last blog post..Palin: “Place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support other women”

  12. antown Says:
    October 14th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    sudah lama saya tidak berkunjung kemari…
    blog ini bagus. Memang bagus…

    salam kreatif!!

    antowns last blog post..Kreatif, Ide, Ilustrator

  13. sherwintobing Says:
    October 16th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    @Calvin & Jubel:
    Yes, I bet all of us might have already heard some of those expressions before. Talking about biblical thing, I think my next post will be very biblical, haha. :D

    @Inda:
    Well, but brother isn’t person’s name. :D Sure Inda, I’ll share more later.

    @Yonna:
    Thanks for addtional examples Yonna. I forgot my wordpress password, hahaha, I’ll make the new one soon. It wasn’t taken from a book, it was broadcasted in VOA’s English Learning Program.

    And I second Jubel, I guess it’s jerk instead of jack.

    @Jubel:
    Sepertinya menarik bukunya lae.

    @Vienz:
    Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be using them in my daily life here, haha. You know, there are that kind of person, they learned new words and used it sooo often afterwards, as if they’d known them for centuries. :lol:

    @macangadungan:
    Ah nggak, gw juga gak pernah denger beberapa kok, temen2 gw yang bule juga gak ada yang make yang aneh2. :lol:

    @Anton:
    Yeah man, you got yourself smart students, kepala gw udah mau meledak tadi pas ngajar. :lol:

    @Andika:
    Pasaran itu Dik, sama halnya seperti Anto, Tono, Susi di buku cetak Bahasa Indonesia. :lol:

    @Antown:
    Thanks Antown. :D

  14. inda Says:
    October 19th, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    sorry for being oot: i wonder what your reply meant: @Inda:
    Well, but brother isn’t person’s name. :D
    did i go wrong?

    indas last blog post..Savoy Autos: 2008 Honda Element

  15. Ian Says:
    October 23rd, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    Every Tom and Dick = anybody/everybody

    Uncle Sam = Amerika Serikat hehehe…

    Ians last blog post..Fenomena: Kapitalisme di Indonesia

  16. sherwintobing Says:
    October 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    @inda: Well, if you see examples given above, they contain person’s name such as Tom, John, Jane, Sheila, etc. Brother isn’t person name right? :D Still appreciate your comment though.

    @Ian: Thanks Ian.

  17. adite Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 9:48 am

    For Pete’s sake: Expression of surprise or disappointment >>> kayaknya ini deh yang sering nongol di film yang saya kenal dan sering dengar.. laennya ajaib…

    John Hancock. No, he is not that Hancock in Will Smith’s newest movie. He was one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence and known for his large and beautiful signature. >>> :shock: …. Wakakaka gdubrak.. ya ga mungkin kali ya :mrgreen: (kok ga ada icon ketawa guling2 yak hahaha)

    btw kenapa klo orang yang ngintip dinamain Peeping Tom? atow kenapa lobang ngintip dinamain Peeping Tom Hole? apakah karena orang mesum pertama yang ngintipin gadis t*l*nj*ng adalah Tom Cruise? (hah kenapa bawa2 Tom Cruise….? apa gara2 dia suka loncat2 di atas sofa orang laen? sumpah ga nyambung) :roll:

  18. sherwintobing Says:
    November 20th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    @adite:
    About Peeping Tom, you can read about it in this following link http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peeping_tom

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