7 ms·
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 pur
by apalmer 11y ago
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...
- covercash 11y agoCurious, what are the other all purpose slang words?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- apalmer 11y agoThe 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...
- JohnBooty 11y agoI think "jumpoff" carried a positive connotation? Like if you failed a test, you wouldn't say "I failed that jumpoff." But "jawn" would definitely be used there.
- theoh 11y agoNot 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?"'
- brownbat 11y agoSee also "wossname."
- ihm 11y agoI knew a group of friends who would use the word "donkey" for many many things.
- JonnieCache 11y agoIn parts of the west of england you can replace pretty much any word with "badger" and get away with it.
- michael_h 11y agoWait, did 'Badger, Mushroom, Snake' have an actual plot that the rest of us just didn't understand?
- ars 11y agoWho-zee-dingle (not sure how it's spelled) Thingy Thing-Ummy_Bob whatchmacallit
- rroblak 11y agoAgreed. I was surprised that the article didn't mention the Hawaiian Pidgin expression "da kine"[1], which functions similarly to "jawn". Funnily enough, the da kine Wikipedia page makes the same claim regarding uniqueness of expression. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_kine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_kine
- SerLava 11y agoI came here looking for a mention of da kine. >According to experts, it's unlike any word, in any language. Some experts. I kept reading looking for a reason why it was substantially different from da kine, and the more I read, the more familiar the description sounded.
- ludamad 11y agoA big problem I have with news articles: Usually they correctly state that an expert has an opinion (sure, someone thinks jawn is different for $FOO reason), but it usually has no real bearing on expert consensus, nulling the value of asking an expert.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- cpa 11y agoAs far as I can tell, "machin", "truc" and "bidule" (which all mean "stuff" in french) have the same meaning as "jawn". I wonder what's so different about "jawn", maybe it's just used more?
- JohnBooty 11y agoThe "mystery" in the title is just utter clickbait. The article itself (which is pretty good if you enjoy this sort of thing) explains precisely where the term came from! No mystery at all. It's an offshoot of "joint" which has been around in various forms for decades.
- tdumitrescu 11y agoThe mystery is why it is so imbued with elitism, secrecy, and tradition
- JohnBooty 11y agoThere's no secrecy. One could say "Fancy a jawn, bro?" and the other would know that "jawn" meant "corn dog."