John

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A John is an excuse for losing, missing a recovery, being hit by an attack, winning but not doing as well as one could have, or any other kind of unfavorable event in Smash. It is a statement or action that detracts from the validity or quality of a competition (or its implied significance), irrespective of truth.

Origin

The term John, according to California smasher HugS, comes from a Smash player in Texas (named John) who would consistently invent excuses every time he lost. The term "Johning" became commonplace in the community, as others grew tired of his excuses, thus coining the term.

Variations

In Europe, there are some variatons of this phrase:

In Sweden, the term "Yuna" can be used interchangeably with "John", here referring to the Smasher, Yuna, who has the same habit. It's most commonly said in pseudo-Swedish, "Inga Yunas".

In Spain, there are a lot of synonyms to the term "John". It is commonly overheard "No Veyrons" (especially in northern Spain) or "No Joshis" (more common in the south). This is because of Veyron, a Catalonian smasher, and Joshi, an Andalusian smasher; that both have the habit of making up excuses every time they lose.

In Italy, for a certain period of time, the expression "No Dems" was used, referring to Dem-Long, a player from Florence who didn't pass pools in a tournament in June 2006 with the claim that his hands were too cold.

In Germany, during early Brawl times, a counterpart evolved: "No Stacos" which leads back to the player Staco. He frequently made up excuses for why he lost, or even when he won ("I could have done better"). While this is past, the phrase is still commonly used, especially when he himself comes up with this phenomenon. As an extra in written form, the digit sequence "<<" was established by him, stressing his disapproval when something was not in his favor. Throughout the community, this is being called kleiner als kleiner als (less than less than).

"No Johns"

The phrase "No Johns" or simply, "Johns!" means "no excuses". It is frequently used as a retort when another player uses an excuse.