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The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

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1–10 of 55 posts

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#2
dont understand the mystery that is attributed to 'jawn' in this article. I have known a couple slang words in my own lifetime that have been used in an all purpose manner similar to 'jawn', the only real difference is that jawn manages to remain stable, most of these generic slangs fade out relatively quickly because they are pretty much meaningless...

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#4
post #2

dont understand the mystery that is attributed to 'jawn' in this article. I have known a couple slang words in my own lifetime that have been used in an all purpose manner similar to 'jawn', the only real difference is that jawn manages to remain stable, most of these generic slangs fade out relatively quickly because they are pretty much meaningless...

Curious, what are the other all purpose slang words?

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#5
These articles on "jawn" always miss the use of "the jawn" which works in a manner similar to saying something is "the shit." In other words, the phrase "That jawn is the jawn" is a valid sentence, meaning "That thing is the best."

Stuff like this is why I think "jawn" is the fuckin' jawn.

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#6
post #2

dont understand the mystery that is attributed to 'jawn' in this article. I have known a couple slang words in my own lifetime that have been used in an all purpose manner similar to 'jawn', the only real difference is that jawn manages to remain stable, most of these generic slangs fade out relatively quickly because they are pretty much meaningless...

Curious, what are the other all purpose slang words?

[deleted]

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#7
I grew up northeast of philly, and definitely remember the word being pronounced more like 'joint'. But then, the closer you get to the city, the more pronounced the philly vowel slur becomes. Also, I did not realize this was a regional word (and jimmies as well. What does the rest of the country call them?)

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#8
post #2

dont understand the mystery that is attributed to 'jawn' in this article. I have known a couple slang words in my own lifetime that have been used in an all purpose manner similar to 'jawn', the only real difference is that jawn manages to remain stable, most of these generic slangs fade out relatively quickly because they are pretty much meaningless...

Curious, what are the other all purpose slang words?

The number one most similar was 'jumpoff' in NYC around 2000. Have a memory of getting a haircut on near timesquare in manhattan at this time period and a younger guy (maybe 20) talking to the older barber (maybe 30) saying, " I am got the new red and green jumpoffs to go to the jumpoff in queens tonight to bag a new spanish jumpoff" or something very similar... the barber literally had to tell the dude to repeat the sentence without using the word jumpoff... it lasted for maybe a year in common use before eventually faded out of use primarily because it had no meaning...

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#9
post #2

dont understand the mystery that is attributed to 'jawn' in this article. I have known a couple slang words in my own lifetime that have been used in an all purpose manner similar to 'jawn', the only real difference is that jawn manages to remain stable, most of these generic slangs fade out relatively quickly because they are pretty much meaningless...

Curious, what are the other all purpose slang words?

Not the parent poster, but in Ireland there's "yoke" meaning 'a thing whose name one cannot recall, does not know, or does not wish to specify. "how much did that yoke set you back?"'

Re: The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn', Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun

#10
post #7

I grew up northeast of philly, and definitely remember the word being pronounced more like 'joint'. But then, the closer you get to the city, the more pronounced the philly vowel slur becomes. Also, I did not realize this was a regional word (and jimmies as well. What does the rest of the country call them?)

Sprinkles. But they're wrong.
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