For as long as I can remember, a cup of โjoeโ has designated a cup of coffee. And not just any coffee. It always had this everyman connotation, a strong cup of black coffee served piping hot, probably old, probably burnt from sitting on a heating element; it’s the coffee of yesteryear. Though once widely used, the etymology of โjoeโ remains a relative mystery, but a recent article in Readers Digest offers the leading theories on the termโs origins.
The first theory starts in the U.S. Navy:
But according to the article, this origin story is an unlikely one. Referring to a Snopes article on the subject, Readers Digest notes that the term โcup of joeโ was coined in 1930, 16 years after the Navyโs prohibition. Given the time gap, ole Josephus is an unlikely muse.
More likely theories include โjoeโ being a truncation of โjamokeโโa portmanteau of java and mochaโand simply a slang term for โguyโ or โfellowโ as a means of expressing this is a drink for the common person.
The actual origins of the term โjoeโ may never be certain, so we all just need to pick our favorite and run with it.
Zac Cadwaladerย is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.ย Read more Zac Cadwaladerย on Sprudge.
*top image via Digital Trends