Slang

"Joe Soap" is British rhyming slang denoting a foolish stooge or scapegoat. Joe being an ordinary person, with Soap as a rhyme for dope. The phrase appeared in a 1943 book of military slang by John Hunt and Alan Pringle: “Joe Soap, the ‘dumb’ or not so intelligent members of the forces. The men who are ‘over-willing’ and therefore the usual ‘stooges’.” The name Joe Soap appears in the WW1 song "Joe Soap's Army" sung to the tune of "Onward Christian Soldiers".

In Popular Culture

Song "Blind Youth" by "The Human League" 1979 lyrics refrain: Blind youth, take hope You're no Joe Soap Your time is due Big fun come soon!

Joe Soap was a photographic comic series published in the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 Eagle

Eagle (comic)

Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...

, from issue 12 (dated June 12, 1982) until issue 45 (dated January 29, 1983). It was written by Alan Grant and John Wagner

John Wagner

John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...

, with photography by Gary Compton

Gary Compton

Gary Compton is a former American football wide receiver in the Arena Football League. He played college football at East Texas State....

. Another character of the same name appeared in Cracker and The Beezer. The humorous strip featured Joseph Soaper, a self-styled hardboiled "enquiry agent", who was in reality a down-trodden and occasionally incompetent private detective. Nicknamed Soap due to his softness, Soaper spent his days mired in unprofitable or even ludicrous cases, which weren't helped by his tendency to miss obvious clue

Clue

Clue may refer to:* Cluedo , a crime fiction board game** Clue , based on the board game** Clue , based on the board game** Clue , based on the board game...

s and antagonise both clients and police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

. The character of Joe Soap would reappear during the late 1980s, this time in drawn form, in a comic strip/puzzle feature which would be published in both the Eagle Summer Special and the Eagle Annual of that year. Titled Could You Be a Joe Soap?, readers were encouraged to read the story carefully and try to spot in both the frames and speech balloons all the clues Joe missed. In the final panel, after realising that he has got everything completely wrong, Joe would almost always end up exclaiming "Oh no! Where did I go wrong this time?", or words to that effect.

In 1994 Andrew Motion published a long poem with the title Joe Soap.