Just the facts, ma’am

E249557
catchphrase popular misquotation quotation

"Just the facts, ma’am" is a famous line popularly associated with the no-nonsense, procedural style of the Dragnet TV series and its lead character, Sergeant Joe Friday.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label Occurrences
Just the facts, ma’am canonical 2
Just the facts, ma'am 1
“Just the facts, ma’am.” 1

Statements (27)

Predicate Object
instanceOf catchphrase ⓘ
popular misquotation ⓘ
quotation ⓘ
appearsIn popular culture references to Dragnet ⓘ
associatedWith American television ⓘ
Dragnet (television series) ⓘ
surface form: Dragnet

Jack Webb ⓘ
LAPD Sergeant Joe Friday ⓘ
surface form: Sergeant Joe Friday

police procedural genre ⓘ
countryOfOrigin United States of America ⓘ
surface form: United States
culturalRole shorthand for evidence-based discussion ⓘ
symbol of straightforward police questioning ⓘ
hasTone no-nonsense ⓘ
procedural ⓘ
inspiredBy dialogue style of Dragnet ⓘ
language English ⓘ
mediumOfPopularization radio ⓘ
television ⓘ
misquotes lines from Dragnet such as "All we want are the facts" ⓘ
popularlyAttributedTo Jack Webb ⓘ
LAPD Sergeant Joe Friday ⓘ
surface form: Sergeant Joe Friday
referencedIn discussions of critical thinking and skepticism ⓘ
discussions of investigative journalism ⓘ
later parodies of Dragnet ⓘ
timePeriodOfPopularization mid-20th century ⓘ
usedToConvey avoidance of emotional detail ⓘ
focus on factual information ⓘ

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Dragnet (television series) → catchphrase → Just the facts, ma’am ⓘ
LAPD Sergeant Joe Friday → catchphrase → Just the facts, ma’am ⓘ
subject surface form: Joe Friday
Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday → catchphrase → Just the facts, ma’am ⓘ
this entity surface form: Just the facts, ma'am
Dragnet (radio series) → notableCatchphrase → Just the facts, ma’am ⓘ
this entity surface form: “Just the facts, ma’am.”