I haven't been in on any of the sessions, I don't intend to get directly involved, and I'm not going to engage in any speculation about "who shot John".

1979, Mr. Morris, quoted in Reauthorization of programs under the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979 : hearing before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, United States General Printing Office, page 17,
I really do not think it is appropriate to come up here and present to this committee or to the Congress the "who shot John" processes by which the President makes decisions.

A great number of the most important questions presented to our regulatory agencies have nothing to do with "who shot John."

... Adjudication procedures are great for "who shot John" questions, but not for the great mass of policy issues which will come before the Board in its first few years.

It is hard to go back and do a who shot John and determine who is responsible for the procedures that are in effect today.

NOBODY REALLY cares who shot John.
That's because who shot John is inherently dismissive, always used in the sense of a question that the speaker is not about to answer because it involves loathsome finger-pointing, unworthy of the fair-minded.

1987 May 13, Ms. Gradison, quoted in The Clayton Act Amendments of 1987 (railroad antitrust immunity) : hearing before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Monopolies, and Business Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, United States General Printing Office, page 88,
Senator DeConcini. You may not be able to comment on some pending cases, but I am aware of an Arizona electric case filed in 1981 which is still pending.
Ms. Gradision. Yes, sir. And I thought that might come up, so I brought the who-shot-John on it.

I called the attorneys to the bench and said, "You know I'm not interested in who shot John in this divorce. What matters is reaching a decision that will work for these people and their children.

2004, Thomas Friedman, quoted in International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East Staff, Role of Civil Society in Promoting a Just And Lasting Peace in the Middle East: An Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue, United Nations Publications, →ISBN, page 67,
That was the intervening event. I raise that not to start this whole who-shot-John-first, but to say that if we are going to talk about these events, we have to talk about them in the full and complete context.

To her, however, the authorship evidence is inconclusive. Besides, "coming off a college education in postmodern literary theory, I was mildly troubled by the 'who-shot-John?' interest in who the real Shakespeare was," she says. "My view is that the work stands on own."

This "Who-Shot-John" stuff about "Love thine enemy" is all very pretty, but I would rather have a little regard and do a good turn for a man that has proved himself my friend by having stuck to the organization that has raised my wages and thereby making It possible for me to give my family more of the necessities of life.

He never raised the topic of religion, but if it did happen to come up, he would promptly close the conversation by dismissing the entire subject as “a bunch of who shot John".

Because in school all they tell you is a bunch of "Who Shot John."

"I don't know why you wanna run around looking like Who Shot John," exclaims Monica's mother, played by Alfre Woodard. These words may seem a bit harsh, but they were supposedly said with a loving sentiment.

I know this topic goes both ways because there are women who also fall short in this area and need to douche on a regular basis with the way they are running around smelling like “who shot John”. However, the topic is on you men […]

Red Mammy, the proprietress, bootlegs a horrendous brew known as "Who Shot John?"

Who shot john

Meaning

Noun

Synonyms