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Jawn is a
The Enduring Mystery of ‘Jawn,’ Philadelphia’s All-Purpose Noun
{{Authority control American slang Culture of Philadelphia Placeholder names
Jawn is a slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
term local to Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
and, by extension, the Delaware Valley
The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Nor ...
that may refer to a thing, place, person, or event, substituting for a specific word/name. Jawn is a context-dependent substitute noun; a noun that substitutes for other nouns. Jawn can be singular or plural. Examples include: "These jawns are expensive!", "Pass me that jawn.", "Slow it down, jawn.", "That new jawn.", "This jawn is packed.".
Jawn is believed to be derived from the word "joint" (as its proper pronunciation sounds more like "joiwn"). Historically, the city's black population migrated to the northern part of the city from Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas/Virginia, bringing with them a Southern dialect that carried words such as 'joint
A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...
'.
Popular culture
* In a scene in the 2015 Philadelphia-based feature film ''Creed
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets.
Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...
'', the character Bianca explains to Adonis Creed
Adonis "Donnie" Creed (born Adonis Johnson) is the fictional protagonist of the ''Creed'' films— ''Creed'' (2015), ''Creed II'' (2018), and ''Creed III'' (2023) — the sequel series to the ''Rocky'' films. The character is played by Michael ...
the meaning of ''jawn''.
*''Skate Jawn
''Skate Jawn'' is a skateboarding magazine founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2010 by Marcus Waldron. Skate Jawn produces a bimonthly magazine as well as a yearly photo issue. Skate Jawn releases video content and premieres skate videos v ...
'' is a skateboard magazine, founded in 2010 in Philadelphia, PA. The original name of the magazine was S''kate Jawn Mag Jawn.''See also
*Philadelphia English
Philadelphia English or Delaware Valley English is a variety or dialect of American English native to Philadelphia and extending throughout the city's metropolitan area, including southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, counties of northern D ...
* Da kine
Da kine () is an expression in Hawaiian Pidgin (Hawaii Creole English), probably derived from "that kind", that usually functions grammatically as a placeholder name (compare to English "whatsit" and "whatchamacallit"). It can also take the rol ...
References
External links
The Enduring Mystery of ‘Jawn,’ Philadelphia’s All-Purpose Noun
{{Authority control American slang Culture of Philadelphia Placeholder names