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Re: CHAT: "John Doe" equivalents sought

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Sunday, May 21, 2000, 4:23
-----Original Message-----
From: John Cowan <cowan@...>
To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU <CONLANG@...>
Date: Saturday, May 20, 2000 7:54 PM
Subject: CHAT: "John Doe" equivalents sought


>I've been asked on another mailing list to collect "dummy names" from >other cultures. In Anglo-America, the names "John Doe" and "Richard Roe" >(and female equivalents with "Jane") are used in the legal system and >elsewhere for people whose names are not known. I have heard that >the name "Alain LaFlamme" is used similarly either in France or in >French Canada (my informant wasn't certain). Are there other such names >elsewhere? Details eagerly solicited. >
Spanish of course has Fulano de Tal; there's also a string of such names: Fulano, (#2 rhymes with Fulano), Berengano y Tal. Sounds like a Law Firm-- in which respect, the well known US "Dewey, Cheatham & Howe". I was told years ago by a Philippine friend that Juan de la Cruz is their equivalent of 'man in the street'. (That might have been current 50 yrs.or more ago; I don't know about nowadays.) Indonesian has Si Polan 'Mr. So-and-so', evidently borrowed from Port. or Span. Fulano. If you can't think of a word, you say ... anu; can't think of a person's name, ...si anu. _Si_ is called the "personal article", used when talking familiarly about someone; also in names of pets-- the horrible guard dog at my house was Si Putih ("Whitey"?). I must say, "harry"and "Bogan" are unknown this side of the equator (at least to me)-- the names, that is, not the types! Obconlang: Good grief, something else to incorporate into Kash.