Glottal stops are pretty hard to hear; theyre not all that common in American English, though theyre extremely common in British English. Jawn is a philly term that is literally anything. Hopefully the related words and synonyms for "term" are a little tamer than average. This is not meant to be a formal definition of jawn like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is Bare Jawn A hamburger consisting only of beef and two buns. a stupid, foolish, or contemptible person; loser: She always has a comeback to own the trolls and jabronis on Twitter. "As soon as I heard it in [the movie] Creed," said one Philadelphian Redditor, "I knew that was the final nail in the coffin. Definitions include: to happen automatically, in a way that appears almost magical. There is still lots of work to be done to get this slang thesaurus to give consistently good results, but I think it's at the stage where it could be useful to people, which is why I released it. The data from the Philadelphia Neighborhood Corpus is a little outdated, Jones thinks, to make a definitive statement either way, but he opined white Philadephians seem to use it in a more limited way, not really exploring its full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. If we keep going at the rate of a Jawn Morgan SEPTA bus barreling down Washington Avenue, were going to lose its more nuanced meaning. Any object, being or entity. Tap Mac. The Urban Thesaurus was created by indexing millions of different slang terms which are defined on sites like Urban Dictionary. The word jawn can be used to replace any noun in a sentence, but the term is more than an interchangeable Philly word. Where. Slang 101 - Jawn - YouTube 0:00 / 3:41 Slang 101 - Jawn TOON215 57K subscribers Join Subscribe 142 Share Save 3.8K views 3 years ago #Language #Jawn Like, Comment & Subscribe! It refers to a thing, place, person, or event instead of a specific name to. Screenshots of Black people being hilarious or insightful on social media, it doesn't need to just be twitter but obviously that is best. Can "youse" think of any other Philly slang that should be added to the dictionary with "jawn?" Philadelphia, we need to talk about how the word jawn has been used in recent years. Jawn is used as an all encompassing substitute for any person, place, or thing. In early hip-hop and rap, joint underwent further semantic bleaching and came to refer not to a place, but generally to a thing: And when the sucker MCs try to prove a point / We're Treacherous Trio, we're the serious joint. The Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight," released September 1979. When my mother said Pass me that jawn, she couldve wanted me to pass her the remote or her purse. Joint is like a lesser jawn. It tries, but it has limits. The search algorithm handles phrases and strings of words quite well, so for example if you want words that are related to lol and rofl you can type in lol rofl and it should give you a pile of related slang terms. In spite of the fact that we are a society of international TV and widespread population shifts, regionalisms are flourishing and staying stubbornly local. Definitions include: an item whose name one doesn't know or has forgotten. One goose, two geese. The vowel sound in joint is a diphthong, meaning its two smaller vowel sounds that act like a single vowel sound. 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. It is noted for its accessible coverage of business, economics and personal finance. Well, if youre from Philadelphia, you may just use the every-wordjawn. This sense of joint quickly spread among hip-hop fans up and down the east coastincluding Philly. In IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet, which transcribes sounds as letters, its represented as aw ih, he says. We used [jawn] interchangeably to describe a party, or location, or even an attractive woman, he told me over the phone. Urban Dictionary: Jawn Boo Jawn An affectionate name for a girlfriend or boyfriend used primarily by Philly adolescents. Want a digest of WHYYs programs, events & stories? It could be when Bryce Harper wears his Clearwooder t-shirt. The fascinating story behind many people's favori Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz! All designs available in various styles, sizes, & colors. Joint and jawn are both slang for a place (particularly a restaurant or bar): Meet me at the pizza joint. No, never heard it before. In this. Phillys city flag is over 120 years old. Archived. Posted by 6 years ago. Romania: Castles, Ruins, and Medieval Villages, Iceland in Summer: Journey Through a Fabled Land, Monster of the Month w/ Colin Dickey: Mokele-Mbembe, Accidental Discoveries: A Celebration of Historical Mistakes, Antiques and Their Afterlives: Stories from the Collection of Ryan and Regina Cohn, Monster of the Month w/ Colin Dickey: Satanists, Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tale Writing With Anca Szilgyi, Gourds Gone Wild: Growing and Crafting Gourds With Gourdlandia, Playing Ancient Games: History & Mythology With John Bucher, Secrets of Tarot Reading: History & Practice With T. Susan Chang, Why 18th-Century Scots Performed Mock Human Sacrifices Over Cake. Sign up for writing inspiration in your email, Zombie movie based in Philly "JAWN OF THE DEAD". The South is often referred to as the "dirty South" or the "third coast" of rap. A Multitude of Meanings Jawn is like the Philadelphia version of the French je ne sais quoi jawn sais quoi, if you will. Jawn seems to have developed as a Philadelphia variant of joint sometime in the 1980s, after the release of a hip-hop song called Thats the Joint by a group from the Bronx, Funky Four Plus One. 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. But joint/jawn, in Philly, has come to be so broad as to encompass basically anything. The advent of African-American Vernacular English, or AAVE, dovetails with jawn in some pretty important ways. 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. You can hear it in a word like bag, which white Philadelphians will sometimes pronounce more like byeag, an almost nasal, Midwest-y kind of sound. No purchase necessary. We gots our awn way aspeakin, and yuze can figger out wot weir sayen, by uzen Stu's pronunciation and translation guide to Philly's langwich: Ack A Mee: Acme, a local supermarket. Definitions include: an object whose name isn't known or can't be recalled instantly. Southern rap. Since joint was used already as a place, and specifically, in the minds of some Americans, a disreputable place, it came to be used for other disreputable places: betting parlors at first, then opium dens. The rise of jawn dovetails with breakthroughs in the study of American linguistics itself. Definitions include: an item. And it was right around then that Philadelphians started saying jawn.. the Philadelphia Eagles football team. It can be used to refer to any person, place, or thing. But reducing jawn to a Philly thing perpetuates the idea that its just a quirky local colloquialism instead of a term that has a deeper, richer meaning. Kae Lani Palmisano is the Emmy Award-winning host of WHYYs Check, Please! Jawn's been in the news lately the Daily News' Bill Bender got the perfect quote from a witness to one of the many worrying building collapses, and "The whole jawn came down" will now live forever.We thought, then, that this was the perfect time to post this interview with linguist, lexicographer, Wall Street Journal columnist and former New York Times On Language columnist, UPenn Language . (He did not respond to a request for an interview; Jones, who has studied with him, says hes enjoying his retirement.). Due to the way the algorithm works, the thesaurus gives you mostly related slang words, rather than exact synonyms. Musicians. Labovs work provoked an explosion of interest in AAVE in the 1970s, and though New York became perhaps the most important study location, it was Philadelphia, where Labov worked, that created the Corpus, the best collection of AAVE recordings in history. Or terms that Gen-Z has made popular . She's dumb bad Friend 2: Ur buggin yeo .she's any jawn by LordChops March 1, 2019 Get the any jawn mug. The higher the terms are in the list, the more likely that they're relevant to the word or phrase that you searched for. Also may refer to any combination of the following breakdown: 1. husky- adj: synonym for massive or obese. Any object, being or entity. Wiktionary (slang) A woman. It's even the name of a radio station in Philly. Sign in to save this event. Yes, popular slang words beloved by millennials like "binge-watch" and "woo-woo" have been added to the definitive book of words, but what about the slang popping up in your DMs? Urban Thesaurus finds slang words that are related to your search query. Yo, check this jawn out! Considering that Southern hip hop is a relatively recent genre compared to the Coasts . What we know about our ever-evolving speech patterns can, in part, be seen through this one weird word. Jawn (rhymes with fawn, dawn, etc.) See more words with the same meaning: unspecified item (s), 'stuff', 'thing (s)'. "You can say 'jawns,' but more often it's going to be, like, 'Where'd you get them jawn,'" says Jones. Submitted by Kia Karaam from Philadelphia, PA, USA on Nov 20 1997 . Christian Mcbride's New Jawn at Ridgefield Playhouse. Though jawn has become part of our regions shared culture, it will always carry a deeper meaning to the Black community. Talking about a movie; yo that jawn was fire. (Thus the words use for drug paraphernalia in general and eventually, in particular, a marijuana cigarette.). Jones does say, though, that when segregation creates words like jawn, they usually dont happen alone. The Grizzlies' motto is "Grit and Grind," hence the nickname Grind City. place. Jawn is a whole world, unto itself. john: shit den shes a sweet one still michael: lets try get her snap stiilll ): very. An example would be awesome, which originally meant inspiring awe or fear, and was used more often to refer to scary things rather than good things. As with its architecture, Philadelphias accent, syntax, and vocabulary are rarely discussed outside of the city. Jawn is used as an all encompassing substitute for any person, place, or thing. One shining example is the Philadelphia slang jawn. 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. Hey NYC, 24 Hours til the coolest Jackson Jawn ever. My introduction to graduate work was being asked about jawn, says Jones. 9 Alazypanda 4 yr. ago Finally, you might like to check out the growing collection of curated slang words for different topics over at Slangpedia. You can tell the general education level of the user of said word by how many times they use it in a sentence. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Becoming Respectable 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. If you're a scraper, please click the link below :-) A question you ask someone to determine if "Jawn" is a part of their regular vocabulary, and thus whether they speak in an Eastern Pennsylvanian dialect. Jones says that its possible that Philadelphias segregation encouraged the changing and adoption of jawn; black Philadelphians and white Philadelphians dont mingle nearly as much as, say, black New Yorkers and white New Yorkers, so a word created or altered in the black community can develop without outside influence. Also jaun. Last edited on Nov 20 1997. 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. I have heard different explanations of the phrase: either it's because supposedly you hold a metro ticket down and wax round the edges, or it's a reference to the thin black strip on the back of the tickets. Examples of jawn Zombie movie based in Philly "JAWN OF THE DEAD" A jawn billboard by Visit Philly from years past. 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. But as jawn has gained some national prominence, even showing up in regional ads, some Philadelphians are declaring it dead. According to Taylor Jones, a PhD student who has researched the origins of jawn and worked with Labov's Philadelphia Neighborhood Corpus, the young man used joint to refer to a bag, a place, women, and his own genitalia. 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. The power and reach of jawn is a result of black peoples creative command of language. There are a few instances where jawn can be used but joint, in, say, New York, cannot. Hip-hop culture and rap popularized the term joint which spread beyond New York Citys borders all along the east coast. 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). Related words: doodad someshit thingamajig whatever Where does jawn come from? A girl? We don't need a dictionary telling us what we already know to be true: Jawn is a versatile jawn. The classic example is the sound in the middle of the word uh-oh. Many Brits, and some New Yorkers, will also throw a glottal stop in the middle of words like button and mountain, so the former becomes buh-uhn., Eliminating the final consonant and turning it into a glottal stop is something that happens in AAVE with certain combinations of sounds; you can hear it here when noted Canadian idiot Nardwuar asks rapper Travis Scott how he keeps his pants up. Were proud of that jawn around here. Wicked (adv. 3. jawn, city, fan, lover, pennsylvania, philadelphia, philly, slang, urban. Sorry, Angry; jawn doesnt seem stoppable. If that jawn y'all is any indication, jawn will be in up in this Philly jawn for a while. Definitions include: a cold-blooded or frigid woman. Jawn might be in the dictionary soon but its always been official to Philly. Or, rather, meanings. Its been dissected by bloggers, pro sports teams, sports fans and Questlove, as well as would-be scholars. A racist dominant culture took, and in some cases still takes, aspects associated with Black culture and twists it to create a fictitious boogie man (side note see how boogie woogie dance music morphed into boogie man, which can be a disparaging word for Black Americans). It's likely because of the phonetics of Philadelphia, and possibly because the way that the word joint changed as it moved south. These are uses that joint did not have in New York City. What is a JAWN Urban Dictionary? Please note that Urban Thesaurus uses third party scripts (such as Google Analytics and advertisements) which use cookies. Yet, itspecifically, Houston, Memphis, Atlanta, and New Orleanshas some of the richest and most prolific online record-keeping of their regional terms. Theres no sense fighting it; smarter to just give in. Urban Dictionary Screenie or Screeny means "Screen Shot". According to linguists, jawn comes ultimately from the word joint via New York City. adjective. Logged-in users can add themselves to the map. These indexes are then used to find usage correlations between slang terms. Wooder. How to use the term JAWN: There are no example uses of JAWN at this time. Another element: African-American English often, but not always, does a thing where final P, T, and K become a glottal stop, says Jones. Definitions include: miscellaneous things, typically given away free. 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. Noun. 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.. 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.. When I asked my father, who was born and raised in Philly, about his relationship to the word, he said that he remembers also using similar words like jam and joint in the 70s. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. Jawn is used as an all encompassing substitute for any person, place, or thing. The official Urban Dictionary API is used to show the hover-definitions. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Definitions include: interjection of disappointment. Photograph by raymondclarkeimages/Flickr. 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. Check out this jawn. This is the joint recorded by bandleader Cab Calloway in his 1939 Hepcat Dictionary, under the entry for "joint is jumping" (Calloway defines that phrase as "the place is lively"). How dare you called me a ninnyhammer you pillock! These recordings eventually turned into an important sociolinguistic corpusand also help us pinpoint the development of jawn from joint. on Jul 24 2018. The word is mostly heard in the eastern part of Philly, but the entire city and state have adopted it. a word used by Philly cats to describe anything and everything.NY cats interject with the word "joint" but it doesn't convey the same feelings.jawn definitio. She is also a strong advocate for equal opportunity, and she works tirelessly to ensure that all students have access to quality education regardless of their socioeconomic status or race. Region: Greater Philadelphia. Say your texting your friend and say I saw this dude girl he. Thanks to a few key linguists, we have some actual hard data on the very important era in Philadelphia when jawn began to take hold. William Labov, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania interested in dialects, began making field recordings of Philadelphians back in the 1970s. 4, Rare and Amusing Insults: Cockalorum, Snollygoster, and More, 'Couple,' 'Few,' and 'Several': The (Mostly) Definitive Guide. As you've probably noticed, the slang synonyms for "term" are listed above. But jawn had the least parameters and specifically belonged to Philly. The concept of a joint as a place expanded a bit, and is still in use today; think of a pizza joint. Jawns is fine, but you can also modify jawn elsewhere. It can mean anything. His answer? boul (plural bouls) A curved handle. As in, "Ill have a wooder." If its hot out, be sure to order an ice wooder. Flickr / Miranda. The acknowledgment of the words validity is decent, but this larger recognition makes me a little weary about the future of jawn. A certain mainstream embrace or semantic commandeering has happened with other words from black culture thatve reached the mouths of white people across the country and ended up in one dictionary or another. Laws that perpetuated separate but equal policies werent the only ways in which segregation was enforced. 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. Philadelphians have a sense of humor about their jawn, though, and may joke about its useor overuse. Save the date. The Child-Eating Bunyip Haunts Australias Wetlands, Places You Can No Longer Go: New Australia, The Deseret Alphabet, a 38-Letter Writing System Developed by Mormons, 'Miami English' and the Linguistic Oddness of South Florida, The Mystery and Occasional Poetry of, Uh, Filled Pauses, Whether You Say Freakin', Friggin', Or Frickin' Depends On Where Youre From, Hawaiis Native-Language Newspaper Archive. 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. 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. 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. "Jawn" is a noun can be . Part of it is understood by most people in the region, even the folks who hang jawnaments up for the holidays, eat something off the jawn menu, or wear jawn T-shirts (I own two). A Bare Jawn has no condiments, cheeses, vegetables, or toppings of any sort. A smooth-drinking cream ale, this beer joins Cat Nap IPA and Fireside as a brew you can enjoy year-round. Shop Slang Term Teddy Bears at TeeShirtPalace. Definitions include: "here" or "this place". It can refer to a single thing: My last iPhone gonna be the 10 Im keep that jawn until it breaks down, https://twitter.com/GnaarlyCharlie/status/913811670073511936. jawn 1-another word for joint; a marijuana cigarette . : to talk to in a scolding or boring manner. See. noun Slang. bae). Thanks lol. 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.. Philadelphia, "youse"should listen to this "jawn.". A more recent nickname Memphis has adopted is Grind City, which is mostly attributed to the city's NBA team, the Grizzlies. A part of me is protective of jawn because sometimes our greatest creations make it out only to perish too soon. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. A guy might say, Man, did you see that jawn over there? Seaborough said. Its hard to overstate the importance of that study. You can say jawns, but more often its going to be, like, Whered you get them jawn, says Jones. 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). Share. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. Think about what happened to twerk, and bling, and fleek. I cringed when Tessa Mae Thompsons character Bianca deployed it in the movie Creed. In Philly, that final -t was dropped, giving the city jawn. 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. The word point, for example, isnt pronounced pawn in black Philadelphia. Words, phrases, and structures have just about the same geographical span as a peanut chew or a Tastykake. Friend: Yoo you see that girl?? JAWN What does JAWN mean? Its kind of a very soft consonant made by the closing of your throat. 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. Jawn is a context-dependent substitute noun, a noun that substitutes for any other noun. These occasions always remind us of the citys single greatest contribution to the American lexicon: jawn. 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. And this is where the story goes jawn-ward. It is a magical word, and did not come about in a vacuum. Thats the $64,000 question, Jones laughs. 2-any type of thing. Definitions include: promotional material. Definitions include: miscellaneous things. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the worlds hidden wonders. Still reading RAVEN ROCK (it's a 400 page non-fiction. Do We Really Care What Mark Ruffalo Thinks About Helen Gym? By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Still, it was an insular hometown gem. Joint is an old word: it dates back to the 1200s and referred initially to the point where two bones meet. Put the snowballs down, Philly. Comes from Boo meaning love and Jawn meaning thing. It's a noun. using jawn if youre not from philly is cultural appropriation, I just needta get outta this jawn and into my jawn. In fact, according to the experts that I spoke to, its unlike any other word in any other language. Its time for Philadelphia to invest in solutions that will make our citys public spaces safer, more equitable, and enjoyable for all, writes Ariel Ben-Amos. Check out this jawn: The Nationals are 10-4 against Philadelphia this season. The definition broadened in the American South around the time of emancipation, with the prominence of juke joints, bars and clubs that served as safe spaces for black Americans to come together and hang out. In other words, the way black people speak isnt wrong or lesser; its just a different dialect, as legitimate as any other. Find another word for jaw-dropping. So lets start at the beginning: Where does jawn come from? Note that this thesaurus is not in any way affiliated with Urban Dictionary. : to talk especially abusively, indignantly, or long-windedly jawing with the referee. How every letter can be (annoyingly) silent. It is a completely acceptable statement in Philadelphia to ask someone to remember to bring that jawn to the jawn., It is a word without boundaries or limits. What is a revolute joint? Like this definition, an informative jawn. What it means everywhere else: National park in South Dakota full of awesome rocks. Region: Greater Philadelphia. Joh-ee-nt? All rights reserved. According to linguists, jawn comes ultimately from the word joint via New York City. Reserved for romantic relationships. If you say that someone is green, you mean that they have Last edited on May 13 2005. The Enduring Mystery of 'Jawn,' Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun. Together we can reach 100% of WHYYs fiscal year goal. "We went to Chickie's and Pete's last night. 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. Or, as Dan Nosowitz of Atlas Obscura has described it: The word jawn is unlike any other English word. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). #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. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her work, including being named one of the "Top 10 Educators to Watch" by Education Week magazine. What is a JUNT Memphis? 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. It is an all-purpose noun, a stand-in for inanimate objects, abstract concepts, events, places, individual people, and groups of people. the study of yawning is called chasmology. https://t.co/e9Ux87wkA4. Jawn is a slang term local to the Philadelphia Delaware Valley metropolitan area. "Jawn" can be singular: "pass me that jawn." It can be plural, and in a couple of different ways. Rocking music from ALL @jacksons (#Rebbie https://t.co/MTOr4DKpLf, https://twitter.com/Sashalafoxx/status/913789717610713088.