man on the street

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man on the street (plural men on the street)

1. (idiomatic) An ordinary member of the general public, especially one who lacks special expertise.
   • 1919, Lee Meriwether, The War Diary of a Diplomat, Dodd, Mead and Company, page 173:

     Such was the airy way with which, not an illiterate man on the street, but a brilliant woman of the world disposed of a tremendous historical fact.

   • 2004, Steve Rushin, The Caddie Was a Reindeer: And Other Tales of Extreme Recreation, Atlantic Monthly Press,, →ISBN, page 214:

     "When do the Olympics begin?" a reporter from a Nagano television station asks me in a man-on-the-street interview.

   • 2005, Hisashi Nasu, “Between the Everyday Life-World and the World of Social Scientific Theory—Towards an “Adequate” Social Thory”, in Martin Endress, George Psathas, Hisashi Nasu, editors, Explorations of the Life-World: Continuing Dialogues with Alfred Schutz, Springer, →ISBN, page 136:

     It is not only the man on the street who is characterized by taking one's own system of relevance for granted. This holds true for the expert,....

• average Joe, John Q. Public, layman, man in the street, man on the Clapham omnibus