schmo

Any average Joe; any Joe Schmoe.

Noun US, derogatory

  1. Any average Joe; any Joe Schmoe.
    • I'm just an average schmo
    • Of his early childhood, he told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City: “I'm a schmo. My family never made more than $25,000 a year. We're all bakers for generations.” - 2010, Dana Milbank, Tears of a Clown, New York:...

Origin

See Joe Schmoe § Etymology; schmo in this sense may well be homonymic to schmo in the sense above.

Forms

schmos schmoes schmoe shmo shmoe

Noun Jewish, US

  1. A stupid, obnoxious, pathetic, or otherwise contemptible person; a schmuck.
    • The poor schmo would immediately break down and confess that he did a lot of other bad things as well. - 2008, Ben Yagoda, chapter IV, in When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It, Crown, →ISBN:

    Synonyms: alcatote asshat arsehole asshole bayard berk birdbrain blither bobchin bonehead bozo buffoon brickhead Charlie chucklehead chowderhead chump clart clown der-brain dill pickle dim bulb dimwit dingleberry

Origin

From Yiddish, alteration of schmuck. Compare also Russian чмо (čmo, “jerk, schmuck”).

Forms

schmos schmoes schmoe shmo shmoe

Related

schmuck Joe Schmo schlemiel schlimazel schlub