joan is as good as my lady in the dark
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
All women are equal when their social status is unknown
Literally: Joan (a commoner) is as good as my lady (a noblewoman) in the dark
Examples
In the anonymous voting system, Joan is as good as my lady in the dark
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “joan is as good as my lady in the dark” mean?
All women are equal when their social status is unknown Literally: Joan (a commoner) is as good as my lady (a noblewoman) in the dark
Is “joan is as good as my lady in the dark” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.