Do we all owe "Little Johnny" a collective apology?

From childhood, many of us should remember modern parables which depict “Little Johnny” screwing up, or getting into some mess. The Little Johnny Jokes web site kind of sums up my younger perception of Johnny. Sometimes Tommy, or Billy, or Maxwell got into trouble. But most often, it was Little Johnny who taught the lessons of life to a young man. Little Johnny was the poster child for all those bad kids who received a lump of coal from Santa.

Perhaps the ladies had a female counterpart to Johnny… Jane? But even if so, I’d doubt she continued with infamy the way Little Johnny did. Because later, Little Johnny became Big Bad John depicted as a drifting loaner, unapproachable, and even a murderer… though he did redeem himself by giving his life for the miners. And later, Johnny Too Bad becomes another murderer on the run.

Is it any coincidence that Little Johnny eventually becomes the butt of all jokes, having his name become synonymous with a toilet? Certainly all of us use the John on a regular basis.

It gets worse… The clients of prostitutes are also known as johns or tricks in North America… These slang terms are used among both prostitutes and law enforcement for persons who solicit prostitutes.[9] The term john may have originated from the frequent customer practice of giving one’s name as John, a common name in English-speaking countries, in an effort to maintain anonymity. Basically, we become John when we want to be a nobody.

Perhaps we are all destined to become Little Johnny. If you, like me, are a common man, then we are referred to as John Q Public. And upon our lonely death, we become John/Jane Doe.

I for one, feel a great burden has been foisted upon our friend Little Johnny. Do you think we owe him a formal collective apology?