{"id":260,"date":"2012-01-30T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=260"},"modified":"2012-01-20T21:26:08","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T02:26:08","slug":"an-average-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/an-average-joe\/","title":{"rendered":"An Average Joe"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Average Joe” is an expression used in English to describe an average<\/em>, typical<\/em>, or normal<\/em> American male.\u00a0 The expression “Average Jane” is sometimes used to describe the hypothetically average<\/em> or normal<\/em> American woman.\u00a0 We have other terms used to describe someone as average<\/em>, normal<\/em>, and like everybody else<\/em> as well, for example: “Ordinary Joe”, “Joe Sixpack”, “Joe Shmoe.”\u00a0 It certainly seems from these expressions that we here in America think of the average person as having the name Joe!\u00a0 But who really is the average<\/em> or normal<\/em> American?\u00a0 That is a really hard question to answer!<\/p>\n

There is so much variety among Americans, in so many ways; differences in ethnicity, religion, physical attributes, employment, income, family size, interests, etc.\u00a0 There is just too much diversity for there to really be an average or typical American.\u00a0 According to statistics though, “the average American” is likely to be in the middle or working class.\u00a0 Overall, the average American 25 years old or older, makes around $32,000 a year; does not have a college degree; has been, or will be married as well as divorced at least once in his or her lifetime; has 2 children; and lives in a suburban setting.\u00a0 According to the author Kevin O’Keefe, who wrote a book called The Average American<\/em>, the following information is also true about the average American.<\/p>\n

The average American:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Eats peanut butter at least once a week
\n\u2022 Lives within a 20-minute drive of a Wal-Mart
\n\u2022 Eats at McDonald’s at least once a year
\n\u2022 Takes a shower for approximately 10.4 minutes a day
\n\u2022 Lives in a house, not an apartment or condominium
\n\u2022 Is between 5 feet and 6 feet tall
\n\u2022 Weighs 135 to 205 pounds
\n\u2022 Is between the ages of 18 and 53
\n\u2022 Grew up within 50 miles of his or her current home<\/p>\n

But, of course, this is not the whole picture, even though it is interesting information to think about, this information is just not true for all Americans. \u00a0 Here are some other statistics that help give a clearer idea of some American demographics.<\/p>\n

64% of Americans are White\/Caucasian
\n16% of Americans are Hispanic or Latino
\n12 % of Americans are Black or African-American
\n5 % of Americans are Asian<\/p>\n

76% of Americans are Christian
\n1.5% of Americans are Jewish
\n0.5% of Americans are Muslim<\/p>\n

13% of the United States population was foreign-born<\/p>\n

So, in the end I can’t tell you who the average American really is or what he or she actually looks like.\u00a0 One thing I can tell you though is that Joe is not the most common American name, even if it is average. \u00a0 The most common name among all living American males is James and Mary is the most common female name.\u00a0 So, perhaps we should have been saying “Average James” or “Average Mary” all along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Average Joe” is an expression used in English to describe an average, typical, or normal American male.\u00a0 The expression “Average Jane” is sometimes used to describe the hypothetically average or normal American woman.\u00a0 We have other terms used to describe someone as average, normal, and like everybody else as well, for example: “Ordinary Joe”, “Joe…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,135139,179],"tags":[150753,149930,150400,149709,151090,150134,150935],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-english-language","category-news","tag-average","tag-average-american","tag-average-jane","tag-average-joe","tag-normal","tag-ordinary-joe","tag-typical"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions\/266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}