Blind Freddy

Meaning

Proper Noun

• An imaginary incapacitated person held up as an archetype of incapacity: what blind Freddy can see (understand) must be very obvious.

Origin

• Rival theories exist concerning an actual person called Blind Freddy:
• A blind hawker called Freddy or Freddie who lived in Sydney in the 1920s.
• A police officer, Sir Frederick William Pottinger, who was in charge of the Lachlan district. The success of bushranger Ben Hall in evading capture there in 1862 earned Pottinger the name "Blind Freddy".
• Various Australian individuals were known as "Blind Freddy(ie)" from at least 1902, in apparent reference to an actual physical infirmity
• The use of "Blind Freddy" meaning "anyone can see..." dates to at least 1907