Submitted by Anonymous It can refer to an item, a situation or even a person. Through more semantic bleaching, joint became less a place and more a thing. Urban Dictionary on jawn: it can mean anything, like a fine girl, a blunt, really, it can be used for everything, Scan this QR code to download the app now. Philadelphia's joint had become its own joint. Hopefully the related words and synonyms for "term" are a little tamer than average. Archived. "Jawn" is a noun can be . One moose, two moose. Urban Thesaurus crawls the web and collects millions of different slang terms, many of which come from UD and turn out to be really terrible and insensitive (this is the nature of urban slang, I suppose). Please also note that due to the nature of the internet (and especially UD), there will often be many terrible and offensive terms in the results. In spite of the fact that we are a society of international TV and widespread population shifts, regionalisms are flourishing and staying stubbornly local. WHYY provides trustworthy, fact-based, local news and information and world-class entertainment to everyone in our community. Yet, itspecifically, Houston, Memphis, Atlanta, and New Orleanshas some of the richest and most prolific online record-keeping of their regional terms. Urban Dictionary on jawn: it can mean anything, like a fine girl, a blunt, really, it can be used for everything. by Fangsta April 28, 2003 Get the jawn mug. ), the disreputable part was gradually lost, and a joint simply became a place, as Cab Calloway defined it in 1939 in his Hepcat Dictionary (as in the joint is jumpin). Can "youse" think of any other Philly slang that should be added to the dictionary with "jawn?" Jawn is used as an all encompassing substitute for any person, place, or thing. Our weekly newsletter delivers original reporting on the people, places and things that make Philly. Think about what happened to twerk, and bling, and fleek. I cringed when Tessa Mae Thompsons character Bianca deployed it in the movie Creed. . Were proud of that jawn around here. Florida Agricultural And Mechanical University, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (Mit), Missouri University Of Science And Technology, State University Of New York Health Science Center At Brooklyn, Suny College Of Environmental Science And Forestry, The University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, The University Of Texas Health Science Center At Houston, The University Of Texas Health Science Center At San Antonio, The University Of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, The University Of Texas Medical Branch At Galveston, The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Uniformed Services University Of The Health Sciences, University At Buffalo Suny School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences, University Of California, Los Angeles (Ucla), University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign, University Of Maryland Baltimore County (Umbc), University Of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester, University Of Tennessee Health Science Center, University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. - this could literally mean anything: "Hand me that jawn." Translation: Hand me the thing I'm pointing to (ice cream cone, remote control, small child, etc.). All rights reserved, Sixers to Donate $760 Per Assist to Philly Gun Violence Prevention During Playoffs, Police ID 2 Persons of Interest in Triple Homicidein Philadelphia, Mark Your Calendars: These Festivals Are Coming to the Philly Area This Spring, Bryce Harper Cleared to Return to Phillies Lineup, Source Says. I value the words ability to identify something that I cant quite articulate while still being understood. Jawns is fine, but you can also modify jawn elsewhere. (jn) 1. The Inquirers Angry Grammarian tried to slam the lid on jawn way back in 2019, bemoaning its commercial co-opting by, among others, Fishtowns Lokal Hotel, a Christmas decor operation, Vitamin Water, at least one podcast, and the Rocky movie Creed. You'll be hard-pressed to find an entry for "yas" or "kiki" in the latest Merriam-Webster 's dictionary. I hate to break it to you, Philly, but linguists agree that jawn actually comes from New York City and is derived from the word joint, which is deeply rooted in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), but its history goes back to around the time of emancipation. What is JUNT slang for? It takes both a standard plural ("gimme one of them jawns") and a zero plural ("gimme them jawn"), and is as Philadelphian as Ben Franklin and throwing snowballs at Santa Claus. See more words with the same meaning: unspecified item (s), 'stuff', 'thing (s)'. Normally the word means "thing." Philadelphia, we need to talk about how the word jawn has been used in recent years. Joint is an old word: it dates back to the 1200s and referred initially to the point where two bones meet. Overall my explanation of jawn resonated with people, but there was a small handful of people who were strangely possessive of jawn, and were quick to discredit my perspective for one simple reason: I am from New Jersey. More parklets, plazas, and streeteries: Why now is the time for Philly to invest in making our streets safer and better. Taylor Jones, a Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania, was unfamiliar with the bizarre stew of linguistic quirks in Philadelphia when he first started school there. jawn, city, fan, lover, pennsylvania, philadelphia, philly, slang, urban. Joint is an old word: it dates back to the 1200s and referred initially to the point where two bones meet. phrasal verb with pull verb [ T ] /pl/ us. Eyes on the Street brings new ideas and fresh voices into the conversation about Philadelphias changing cityscape. I stopped him here: Isnt that first part of that vowel more like oh? So every once in a while, Phillys peculiar linguistics bubble up into the cultural conversation. : to talk especially abusively, indignantly, or long-windedly jawing with the referee. [] The higher the terms are in the list, the more likely that they're relevant to the word or phrase that you searched for. Together we can reach 100% of WHYYs fiscal year goal. The further north you get, the more /oi/ you tend to hear in joint. How every letter can be (annoyingly) silent. In the South, a juke joint, perhaps itself a variation of jug joint, was a gathering place for Black people to enjoy music, drink and dancing while they were excluded from white establishments. High quality Jawn-inspired gifts and merchandise. You and your jawn would be in the "talking stage" Ex: No she is not my girlfriend yet, but she's my jawn for now. Comes from Boo meaning love and Jawn meaning thing. Jawns is fine, but you can also modify jawn elsewhere. During this time, joint was also a way to describe a place as seedy or dangerous. transitive verb. You might also have noticed that many of the synonyms or related slang words are racist/sexist/offensive/downright appalling - that's mostly thanks to the lovely community over at Urban Dictionary (not affiliated with Urban Thesaurus). Jawn is used as an all encompassing substitute for any person, place, or thing. Jawn is a context-dependent substitute noun, a noun that substitutes for any other noun. The word is mostly heard in the eastern part of Philly, but the entire city and state have adopted it. The fascinating story behind many people's favori Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz! Jawn was a Black Philly thing before it was a Philly thing. For a lot of the words in our vernacular, we may not have delved into a meaning, but the sounds are important to us, he continued. The current understanding of the word jawn is that it can be used to replace any noun in a sentence. The word has remained a treasure in the city's black lexicon and natives . We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the worlds hidden wonders. Its been dissected by bloggers, pro sports teams, sports fans and Questlove, as well as would-be scholars. Jawn - its a Philly thing Sticker. Jawn hypes people up and is a term of encouragement, like how Funky Four Plus One calls each member of their group the joint in their song Thats the Joint. Typically youd find a whole class of words with similar histories, and there arent really any companions to jawn in Philadelphia. Flickr / Miranda. It is hard to define, which is why people tend to just throw it into sentences or tack it on to other words to add a bit of Philly flare to their vocabulary. Like this definition, an informative jawn. Jawn is like the Philadelphia version of the French je ne sais quoi "jawn sais quoi," if you will. Jawn can be singular: pass me that jawn. It can be plural, and in a couple of different ways. When you know the history behind jawn, understand where it comes from and recognize the community who brought meaning to it, you can better appreciate its more subtle meanings. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. By Cary Hardy May 31, 2022. Jackie went to the party with her Boo Jawn. Like this definition, an informative jawn. It can also describe people, but should not be used to describe an individual woman. Southern rap. Phillys city flag is over 120 years old. The rise of jawn dovetails with breakthroughs in the study of American linguistics itself. Calling something the joint means its something you like, something that you connect with, and a slight tweak of that to my joint means that its something that you cheerfully embrace as yours. A recording taken in 1981 of a young black man from West Philly has him using the word joint (which came, again, from New York hip-hop), but in a broader way than even the hip-hop artists used it. If you're a scraper, please click the link below :-) "You can say 'jawns,' but more often it's going to be, like, 'Where'd you get them jawn,'" says Jones. Also may refer to any combination of the following breakdown: 1. husky- adj: synonym for massive or obese. But joint/jawn, in Philly, has come to be so broad as to encompass basically anything. The settlement will bring new affordable housing to the site and provide money to displaced residents. In local usage, jawn has been used to describe clothing, events, locations, or just a thing in general, as evidenced by this sign for Philadelphia-themed memorabilia in a Five Below store on Market Street. In-depth, original reporting on housing, transportation, and development. Regionalisms are a class of words that most speakers think are a quaint relic of a bygone era, a time before national radio and television broadcasts flattened our vocabulary into general American English, when people were born, raised, and buried in the same town. michael: ohhh myy dayss john: what fam michael: bruv look at that gyal ova there shes a jawnnn to rasss. You can even buy a t-shirt that celebrates its contribution to a local delicacy, or one that marries two of our greatest accomplishments: Wawa and the word. Bowel. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bowel. Joh-ee-nt? In Philadelphia, a phenomenon occurred, first with the word joint and later with its mutation jawn, known in the linguistic community as semantic bleaching. The term refers to a word that originally has one or a small number of specific meanings, but then eventually loses the shades of meaning and becomes something much more broad and general. Flickr / Enid Martindale. (in this case, a dip chew) Did you hear about that bull Tony Gwynn? But it is possible that the meaning preceded the sound: As evidenced by that 1981 West Philly speaker, joint already had a meaning specific to Philadelphia, a unique feature within the various black communities in the city. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. In Philly, dammit, we say what we mean. Jawn is used as an all encompassing substitute for any person, place, or thing. Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: @krisk, @HubSpot, and @mongodb. Average of 69 votes: Offer subject to change without notice. Report Save. 4, Rare and Amusing Insults: Cockalorum, Snollygoster, and More, 'Couple,' 'Few,' and 'Several': The (Mostly) Definitive Guide. Though jawn has become part of our regions shared culture, it will always carry a deeper meaning to the Black community. One such recording, from 1981, is of paramount interest to Jones and other jawn-philes. It is a magical word, and did not come about in a vacuum. Jawn isnt joint pronounced with a Philly accent. Friend: Yoo you see that girl?? She's dumb bad Friend 2: Ur buggin yeo .she's any jawn by LordChops March 1, 2019 Get the any jawn mug. Yah huh (int. "Jawn" has been added into Merriam-Websters "Words Were Watching" list, which means the team at Merriam-Webster is seeing the word used more and more. A young black male from a West Philly neighborhood was recorded using whats probably an in-between point in the evolution of jawn. He used the word joint, but the ways in which he used that word are completely in tune with the way jawn is used in Philadelphia today, much more broad than the way joint was used in New York either then or now. $50. Its a noun, she explained to her on-screen beau Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) while using objects on the table as examples. Growing up in the suburbs just west of the city, I heard it used mostly to refer to objects and events. The emphasis of jawn is when you want to express that the noun is extra its weird, its wild, its awesome it can mean a lot of different things, but the context of the rest of the conversation will capture that. Jawn is Philadelphia slang for anything literally anything. Put the snowballs down, Philly. #1 Term: (A word or expression you have seen in writing) jawn Your definition or explanation: A word used by people in Philadelphia, USA to describe a noun that could not be thought of when the speaker needed it in a sentence. to work closely together to achieve something: We can survive this crisis as long as we all pull together. The concept of a joint as a place expanded a bit, and is still in use today; think of a pizza joint. Wicked (adv. It's likely because of the phonetics of Philadelphia, and possibly because the way that the word joint changed as it moved south. It's a noun. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. But as jawn has gained some national prominence, even showing up in regional ads, some Philadelphians are declaring it dead. So when the sound mutation happened, it only affected that one word, because only that one word was unusual enough to mean something different in Philly than it meant in New York or DC. JAWN What does JAWN mean? And jawns meaning isnt just what the word is today its also deeply connected to where the word came from. Winner will be selected at random on 06/01/2023. The Urban Thesaurus was created by indexing millions of different slang terms which are defined on sites like Urban Dictionary. She didnt have to name the thing in question, but her tone or eye contact let me know exactly what she was talking about every time. 50 Slides. (Thus the words use for drug paraphernalia in general and eventually, in particular, a marijuana cigarette.). Jawn can mean nothing and everything. rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of jawn My grandfather, Claude Suggs, moved here from North Carolina (he was part of The Great Migration), and worked with my grandmother in Philadelphia as a street vendor. Thanks lol. The word point, for example, isnt pronounced pawn in black Philadelphia. Joint and jawn are both slang for a place (particularly a restaurant or bar): Meet me at the pizza joint. Urban Dictionary: Jawn Boo Jawn An affectionate name for a girlfriend or boyfriend used primarily by Philly adolescents. Or you might try boyfriend or girlfriend to get words that can mean either one of these (e.g. Definitions include: promotional material. Is jawn slang for joint? Jones, more than most other linguists Ive talked to, seems interested in the why, but is equally powerless to find an answer; how, what, and when are much more concrete beginnings of questions for linguists. Thats the $64,000 question, Jones laughs. Close. Shut your mouth, you dumb jabroni! Perhaps deciphering what a person is exactly referring to when they use the word sounds cryptic, but its pretty simple and the nuances of context are important and they make a big difference: Im offended if Im referred to as the jawn but flattered if Im told You look like a jawn.. Really, anything? Definitions include: an attractive person. Related words: doodad someshit thingamajig whatever Where does jawn come from? Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Its both a noun and an abstract idea, it draws most of that context from the culture around it. Considering that Southern hip hop is a relatively recent genre compared to the Coasts . Further south, in DC and Memphis, the New York influence is lessened, and so while they also changed the sound of the word joint, they did it in different, more Southern ways. Badlands. Philadelphia, this jawn's for you. And because of the Southern drawls influence on Philly-tongue, not to mention that of African American Vernacular English, we tend to draw out our vowels and swallow our final consonants, so no t. As a couple of grad students explain in the Philadelphia Encyclopedia, In essence, Philadelphia created the pronunciation of the word, but its meaning already existed.. William Labov, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania interested in dialects, began making field recordings of Philadelphians back in the 1970s. No unsafe levels of toxic chemicals found in air near Hunting Park junkyard fire, city says. If you take measurements of peoples speech, it tends to be something closer to aw and to ih. Okay then: Jaw-ih-nt. The consensus is that it came from joint, and from New York, says Jones. Hear from current Drexel students and staff members . Jawn can be singular: pass me that jawn. It can be plural, and in a couple of different ways. Need to refer to something? It warms my heart when little children say it, especially when I can guess that no one has ever defined it for them. Ive lived in different parts of the region, from Philadelphia all the way to the Pine Barrens, where people also shop at Ack-uh-me and get wooder from a spicket.. . Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. A yawn is a reflex consisting of the simultaneous inhalation of air and the stretching of the eardrums, followed by an exhalation of breath. Region: Greater Philadelphia. From the 1910s through the 1970s, roughly six million Black Americans moved to the North, Midwest, and West to escape the oppression of the Jim Crow South. Antonia is a firm believer in the power of education, and she is passionate about helping students reach their full potential. If you watched wrestling during. But jawn had the least parameters and specifically belonged to Philly. Jaw-away definition (intransitive, idiomatic) To jabber; to gabble; to ramble. Theres no need, after all, because its ingrained in us. Thats because jawn is shaped by the tonality, cadence, and vocabulary of African American Vernacular English. The plural can be either . Check out our slang phone case selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. Its this hatred toward Black Americans in the South that leads to The Great Migration. Some say that its a derivative of the word joint, a Philly pronunciation of a similarly all-encompassing word mostly used in New York City. Everything You Need to Know Before the 76ers Enter the NBA Playoffs, Philadelphia Mayoral Candidate Guide: Cherelle Parker, Philadelphia Mayoral Candidate Guide: Helen Gym, This search result is here to prevent scraping, Helen Gym Sends Cease and Desist Letter to All Philly TV Stations, How Philly Cheesesteaks Became a Big Deal in Lahore, Pakistan, The Most Bizarre Moment from Last Night's Philly Mayoral Debate. As you've probably noticed, the slang synonyms for "term" are listed above. Musicians. Advertise your Facebook post on Urban Dictionary in just 3 clicks. Jawn is Philadelphia slang for anything literally anything. Note that due to the nature of the algorithm, some results returned by your query may only be concepts, ideas or words that are related to "term" (perhaps tenuously). It's called Junt, a name very appropriate for Memphis Made Brewing. The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn,' Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun. Definitions include: interjection of disappointment. Jawn has been used to refer to a cheesesteak (Put some onions on that jawn) and the person with whom someone is cheating on another someone (as in side-jawn). But why did this happen in Philly? Definitions include: an item whose name one doesn't know or has forgotten. Any object, being or entity. Jawn is Philadelphia slang for anything literally anything. How dare you called me a ninnyhammer you pillock! Well, if youre from Philadelphia, you may just use the every-wordjawn. Reserved for romantic relationships. Bare Jawn A hamburger consisting only of beef and two buns. Jawn is like the Philadelphia version of the French je ne sais quoi jawn sais quoi, if you will. It can be used to refer to any person, place, or thing. Others, as a 2016 Atlas Obscura story points out, claim that its completely original. By general Twitter consensus, "jawn" is " super Philly slang " meaning " anything! That jawn over there be doing some messed up shit" or to point out something in particular "Shut up and go get that jawn so I can return it to the store". What it means everywhere else: A toilet, spelled "john." What it means in Philly: A word used in the place of pretty much any noun. Last edited on Nov 20 1997. Last edited on May 13 2005. Delivered to your inbox! (Elizabeth Estrada/WHYY). As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Posted by Krassimira Bijeva on May 1, 2023 . on May 13 2005. Also, culture doesnt stop at the borders old white men drew on a map. Jawn has an unspoken language connected to it. Or, rather, meanings. Say your texting your friend and say I saw this dude girl he. No, never heard it before. Philly and of the digital series Delishtory. Also jaun. "Jawns" is fine, but you can also modify "jawn" elsewhere. It is a completely acceptable statement in Philadelphia to. It is, as the site says, by far the largest single sociolinguistic corpus of any speech community. Neighborhood by neighborhood, person by person, linguists blanketed Philadelphia and recorded thousands of hours of Philadelphians speaking. A possibility is that the mutation happened in such an extreme way because Philadelphia is, in some ways, an extreme kind of place. It is an all-purpose noun, a stand-in for inanimate objects, abstract concepts, events, places, individual people, and groups of people. Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. These indexes are then used to find usage correlations between slang terms. Its also around this time when joint and jawn take on main character energy. When @paradenoia remakes Ferris Buellers Day Off with a local angle. I think I want my tombstone to say Emily Drinker: She Crushed That Jawn#philly https://t.co/OvvC4Dn1ep, Emily Drinker (@emilydrinker) July 10, 2018. : to talk to in a scolding or boring manner. WHYY offers a voice to those not heard, a platform to share everyones stories, a foundation to empower early and lifelong learners and a trusted space for unbiased news. Tap Mac. If you know of another definition of JAWN that should be included here, please let us know. Home University Of Memphis What Is A Jawn Urban Dictionary? That meaning gradually led joint to refer to a place where shady characters meet up and hang out, as in an opium den. Nosowitz goes so far as to call it a magical word. It must be; its even been dissected on public radio. "Jawn" is a noun can be singular or plural. It was intended to spell English words in a more phonetically accurate way. These recordings eventually turned into an important sociolinguistic corpusand also help us pinpoint the development of jawn from joint. When a person drags out a sentence like That jaawnn craaazy, for example, the elongated emphasis implies that there was something either very significant about this person, thing, or experience. They brought with them their Southern Black culture which is why we find barbecue in Kansas City, why Chicago has its own style of jazz, and why New York City began to use the word joint. But one of his first interactions with legendary Penn linguist Bill Labov started him on the road to understanding his new city. Hip-hop culture and rap popularized the term joint which spread beyond New York Citys borders all along the east coast. Thing Other definitions of JAWN: All of our slang term and phrase definitions are made possible by our wonderful visitors. These indexes are then used to find usage correlations between slang terms. Submitted by Zoe S. from Philadelphia, PA, USA The word jawn can be used to replace any noun in a sentence, but the term is more than an interchangeable Philly word. A girl? The Grizzlies' motto is "Grit and Grind," hence the nickname Grind City. These is jawns, this is a jawn. It was cool to hear it in a major film but I knew this meant the word was vulnerable and exposed. To learn more, see the privacy policy. And not something you want to be.. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced searchad free! In Washington DC, this joint sounds more like jaunt; in Memphis, users report the spelling of this particular joint as junt to match its pronunciation. A popular three-floor apartment building, where each unit has a front porch/balcony, so people can sit outside, yell to their neighbors and rip butts. Screenshots of Black people being hilarious or insightful on social media, it doesn't need to just be twitter but obviously that is best. Here in Paris, a ticket de mtro is (as well as the obvious) a type of pubic hair styling - just a very small strip of hair.. And it was right around then that Philadelphians started saying jawn.. It is used mainly to refer to places and things, but it can even be a person, specifically a pretty woman. Founded by Aaron . 2. jawn- noun: literally can mean anything. You can say jawns, but more often its going to be, like, Whered you get them jawn, says Jones. No less than half of a can's worth of chew in a single 'rub' may be called a Husky jawn. You cant say in New York, I have a lot of joint to do. Neither Jones nor I have ever heard joint used to refer to people or groups of people; typically its for objects or items. The data from the Philadelphia Neighborhood Corpus is a little outdated, Jones thinks, to make a definitive statement either way, but he opined white Philadephians seem to use it in a more limited way, not really exploring its full breadth and range. Or in other words, meat sauce. Definitions include: inadequate, displeasing, or of poor quality. Definitions include: to relax, usually with other friends; ". boul (plural bouls) A curved handle. Black Southerners used the term juke joint to refer to clubs and bars that were safe spaces for Black people to gather. Becoming Respectable Well, of course it is. https://t.co/e9Ux87wkA4. Jawn n. Slang. I didn't even realize this was Philadelphia slang until I mentioned that I had to tap MAC when I was in Boston. Learn a new word every day. You can say jawns, but more often its going to be, like, Whered you get them jawn, says Jones. The opium joint led to the word becoming kind of a general purpose slang in the drug world for paraphernalia, and by the 1950s the word was firmly and commonly understood to refer to a cigarette-like roll of marijuana. adjective. In fact, according to the experts that I spoke to, its unlike any other word in any other language. on Nov 20 1997. The Humanoid Typhoon (@OD_King) July 6, 2018, Incredibles 2 was amazing honestly lol I gotta see it without the shrooms to make sure but that jawn was insane. What is a revolute joint? Live near Philly, am white, everybody says jawn. The first vowel in oi, for most people, is the same vowel in jawn, an aw sound, says Jones. In Philadelphia, jawn evolved as a variant of joint, originally denoting a place. Christian Mcbride's New Jawn at Ridgefield Playhouse. Places of ill repute like opium dens, gambling parlors and places where criminals met were referred to as joints.

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