Jawn is a slang term local to Philadelphia and, by extension, the Delaware Valley that may refer to a thing, place, person, or event, substituting for a specific 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", "that new jawn", "this jawn is packed".
Jawn is believed to be derived from the word "joint". 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'.
Culture
- In a scene in the 2015 Philadelphia-based feature film Creed, the character Bianca explains to Adonis Creed the meaning of jawn.
- Skate Jawn is a skateboard magazine, founded in 2010 in Philadelphia, PA. The original name of the magazine was Skate Jawn Mag Jawn.
See also
- Philadelphia English
- Da kine
References
External links
- The Enduring Mystery of ‘Jawn,’ Philadelphia’s All-Purpose Noun
