The phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" is a placeholder for unspecified people.[1][2] The phrase most commonly occurs as "every Tom, Dick, and Harry", meaning everyone, and "any Tom, Dick, or Harry", meaning anyone, although Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable defines the term to specify "a set of nobodies; persons of no note".[3]
Similar expressions exist in other languages of the world, using commonly used first or last names.[4] The phrase is used in numerous works of fiction.
Origin
'Tizio, Caio e Sempronio' has long been used in Italian to describe a generic set of people. The phrase originated in Bologna during the Middle Ages, where a jurist, Irnerio, wrote of ‘Titius et Gaius et Sempronius’, originally Latin names which morphed into the Italian. The phrase is used the same way as Tom, Dick and Harry in English, or 'Pierre, Paul ou Jacques' in French, as a placeholder for a generic set of people.[5]
The precise origin of the phrase in English is unknown. The earliest known citation is from the 17th-century English theologian John Owen who used the phrase in 1657.[6][7] Owen told a governing body at Oxford University that "our critical situation and our common interests were discussed out of journals and newspapers by every Tom, Dick and Harry."[6][7] Pairs of common male names, particularly Jack and Tom, Dick and Tom, or Tom and Tib, were often used generically in Elizabethan times.[7] For example, a variation of the phrase can be found in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 (1597): "I am sworn brother to a leash of Drawers, and can call them by their names, as Tom, Dicke, and Francis."[7][8]
A variation of this is Tom Dick And Very Nervous Harry. This corresponds to Tibialis, Digitorum, Artery, Vein, (tibial)Nerve, Hallucis.[citation needed]
Cultural influences
Tom, Dick and Harry is widely used, so it is beyond the scope of this article to list every passing mention. However, some notable instances include:
The three Galapagos Island tortoises brought back to England aboard HMS Beagle by Charles Darwin in 1835, as documented in his book, The Voyage of the Beagle. They were named Tom, Dick, and Harry. It was later discovered that "Harry" was female, so she was renamed "Harriet" and lived in captivity in Australia until her death in 2006, aged 175 years.[11]
The three escape tunnels used by allied POWs in the famous Stalag Luft III escape were named "Tom, Dick, and Harry" by the POWs. This nomenclature was carried over to the film The Great Escape, which portrayed the event.
