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Interesting linguistics but as someone who spent a few years living in Philly I think the use of "jawn" is a little overstated here. I lived in both black and w

Interesting linguistics but as someone who spent a few years living in Philly I think the use of "jawn" is a little overstated here. I lived in both black and white working class areas, as well as gentrified/young professional areas such as nolibs and (to a lesser extent) fishtown. You know who says "jawn" the most? The kids of the upper middle class who grew up in ardmore/wynnwood/bala cynwyd/merion/etc. and moved to the city and now employ working class affectations to prove their authenticity.

schnable 7y ago
It definitely jumped the shark and is now fetishized by white millennials.
- dfxm12 7y ago
  After Creed came out, it has become part of the English lexicon, more or less. Kinda like what Rocky did for "yo".
  - moron4hire 7y ago
    I moved to Philly in 2008. It was around 2010 that my white, suburban friends started using "jawn" and acting like they had always been using it. By the time I left in 2012, I had not heard any other types of people else use it.
    - fintler 7y ago
      As someone who grew up in the area, I mostly recall it being used in the late 90s, then not really that often afterwards.
  - novacole 7y ago
    I’ve been using Jawn since I was a child in the early 90s. I remember my grandfather who was born in the 30s using it.
    - MisterOctober 7y ago
      yep -- first time I heard it was on Dj Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's "I'm All That" circa 1991. "...set my sights on making a record that people thought was a hype jawn." I was living in New England at the time and all the middle school kids [including me] started saying it shortly thereafter. We generally assumed it was a synonym for "joint" [as described in the linked article] in the sense of "unit of work," e.g. "A Spike Lee Joint" [p.s. for the record, "Homebase" is an outstanding LP that still sounds great today]
- auto 7y ago
  Which, negative implications aside, is objectively a legitimate evolution of language, right?
  - j88439h84 7y ago
    What's a non-legitimate evolution of language?
    - auto 7y ago
      Good question. I think if you declared that instead of saying "red", we now all said "butterfinger", it's not that it would be illegitimate, but if it didn't gain any momentum you'd be hard pressed to say that it was part of the language. However, the appropriation of jawn (which is implied to be working class vernacular) by white hipsters or whatever the original comment said could cause some consternation, but if it catches on, than I'd argue it's now just part of the language (what I called 'legitimate' in my original post).
      - mgsouth 7y ago
        Congratulations, Sir or Madam, you've just created a meme. Caught butterfinger-handed.
- swebs 7y ago
  Black millennials too
dfxm12 7y ago
to prove their authenticity. Ironically, it makes them stand out as obviously being from out of town.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Trying to proves one's authenticity is generally a great way to come across as being inauthentic.
JustSomeNobody 7y ago
> Interesting linguistics but as someone who spent a few years living in Philly I think the use of "jawn" is a little overstated here. This is like a Canadian who says he doesn't say "eh". Eh. NB: This is meant to be light-hearted based on experience.
caymanjim 7y ago
I grew up in South Jersey, spent most of my life there, and I've never heard of "jawn". I don't doubt that it exists, but it certainly seems overstated. I've spent some time in Philly proper, Manayunk, working class neighborhoods, college neighborhoods, and with large groups of Philly transplants in New York. Maybe it was said around me and just got lost in conversation, but I have no recollection of it at all, so I wonder how ubiquitous it really is.
- defen 7y ago
  I grew up near Millville / Vineland in South Jersey in the 90s and the kids on my soccer team (we're talking from the age of like 13 up to 18) would say "jawn" at least 100 times a day. Never heard it from adults though.
novacole 7y ago
As a black Philadelphian I have to disagree. I use Jawn all the time (in non professional all settings). And so does every other black person I know. Most of the black people I know are working class and they from my estimation use Jawn the most. Now to proper usages. It’s true you can use Jawn as a replacement for “thing”. However, you can also you it (as bad as it sounds) for women. So a common phase is “Did you get the Jawn from the Jawn?” Meaning “did you get the thing from the woman?” Or “The Jawn told me to come up to the Jawn down the street” meaning “the woman told me to go to the place down the street”. Succinctly Jawn is a person, place, thing or woman. There is no way you can overstate the usage of Jawn. I’ve used it and heard it my entire life from almost everyone I know.
- gist 7y ago
  Zero usage that I remember having grown up very close to a suburb but still in the city. I literally would not even know how to pronounce this 'jawn'. I do remember 'jit' and until a few years ago was not even aware that it's not apparently used elsewhere.
swebs 7y ago
Go to Rhawnhurst. People won't stop saying it. Oddly enough, it's rare to hear in Mayfair or Tacony.
compliance_data 7y ago
I live in Kensington and don't hear it much at all up there from either UMC or working class folks, both white and black (+ Latino + Asian for that matter). I've heard it 100% from black folks in West Philly (can't tell socioeconomic if UMC or working class though). I haven't heard it much from UMC white folks but I don't spent a lot of time with them so might just be sample bias.
king_panic 7y ago
This comment nails it. I lived in Kensington and never heard it. In early adulthood, I lived with upper/middle-class whites from the outskirts of Philadelphia and heard it regularly. This is an affection adopted by those on the periphery to signal they are not on the periphery.
southphillyman 7y ago
Don't think this is even remotely true. Native Philadelphians, of all races, have been using jawn pretty heavily since at least the early/mid 90s. I'd be interested in which working class neighborhoods you lived in, nolibs/fishtown kind of suggests you may have been surrounded by a lot of other transplants. edit: There is a generational aspect to it as my parents and grandparents never said it. 80s/90s babies for sure. Maybe the people you encountered were relatively young (or old)
alexbanks 7y ago
Yeah this is not at all correct.

schnable 7y ago

It definitely jumped the shark and is now fetishized by white millennials.

dfxm12 7y ago
After Creed came out, it has become part of the English lexicon, more or less. Kinda like what Rocky did for "yo".
- moron4hire 7y ago
  I moved to Philly in 2008. It was around 2010 that my white, suburban friends started using "jawn" and acting like they had always been using it. By the time I left in 2012, I had not heard any other types of people else use it.
  - fintler 7y ago
    As someone who grew up in the area, I mostly recall it being used in the late 90s, then not really that often afterwards.
- novacole 7y ago
  I’ve been using Jawn since I was a child in the early 90s. I remember my grandfather who was born in the 30s using it.
  - MisterOctober 7y ago
    yep -- first time I heard it was on Dj Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's "I'm All That" circa 1991. "...set my sights on making a record that people thought was a hype jawn." I was living in New England at the time and all the middle school kids [including me] started saying it shortly thereafter. We generally assumed it was a synonym for "joint" [as described in the linked article] in the sense of "unit of work," e.g. "A Spike Lee Joint" [p.s. for the record, "Homebase" is an outstanding LP that still sounds great today]
auto 7y ago
Which, negative implications aside, is objectively a legitimate evolution of language, right?
- j88439h84 7y ago
  What's a non-legitimate evolution of language?
  - auto 7y ago
    Good question. I think if you declared that instead of saying "red", we now all said "butterfinger", it's not that it would be illegitimate, but if it didn't gain any momentum you'd be hard pressed to say that it was part of the language. However, the appropriation of jawn (which is implied to be working class vernacular) by white hipsters or whatever the original comment said could cause some consternation, but if it catches on, than I'd argue it's now just part of the language (what I called 'legitimate' in my original post).
    - mgsouth 7y ago
      Congratulations, Sir or Madam, you've just created a meme. Caught butterfinger-handed.
swebs 7y ago
Black millennials too

dfxm12 7y ago

to prove their authenticity. Ironically, it makes them stand out as obviously being from out of town.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Trying to proves one's authenticity is generally a great way to come across as being inauthentic.

JustSomeNobody 7y ago

> Interesting linguistics but as someone who spent a few years living in Philly I think the use of "jawn" is a little overstated here. This is like a Canadian who says he doesn't say "eh". Eh. NB: This is meant to be light-hearted based on experience.

caymanjim 7y ago

I grew up in South Jersey, spent most of my life there, and I've never heard of "jawn". I don't doubt that it exists, but it certainly seems overstated. I've spent some time in Philly proper, Manayunk, working class neighborhoods, college neighborhoods, and with large groups of Philly transplants in New York. Maybe it was said around me and just got lost in conversation, but I have no recollection of it at all, so I wonder how ubiquitous it really is.

defen 7y ago
I grew up near Millville / Vineland in South Jersey in the 90s and the kids on my soccer team (we're talking from the age of like 13 up to 18) would say "jawn" at least 100 times a day. Never heard it from adults though.

novacole 7y ago

As a black Philadelphian I have to disagree. I use Jawn all the time (in non professional all settings). And so does every other black person I know. Most of the black people I know are working class and they from my estimation use Jawn the most. Now to proper usages. It’s true you can use Jawn as a replacement for “thing”. However, you can also you it (as bad as it sounds) for women. So a common phase is “Did you get the Jawn from the Jawn?” Meaning “did you get the thing from the woman?” Or “The Jawn told me to come up to the Jawn down the street” meaning “the woman told me to go to the place down the street”. Succinctly Jawn is a person, place, thing or woman. There is no way you can overstate the usage of Jawn. I’ve used it and heard it my entire life from almost everyone I know.

gist 7y ago
Zero usage that I remember having grown up very close to a suburb but still in the city. I literally would not even know how to pronounce this 'jawn'. I do remember 'jit' and until a few years ago was not even aware that it's not apparently used elsewhere.

swebs 7y ago

Go to Rhawnhurst. People won't stop saying it. Oddly enough, it's rare to hear in Mayfair or Tacony.

compliance_data 7y ago

I live in Kensington and don't hear it much at all up there from either UMC or working class folks, both white and black (+ Latino + Asian for that matter). I've heard it 100% from black folks in West Philly (can't tell socioeconomic if UMC or working class though). I haven't heard it much from UMC white folks but I don't spent a lot of time with them so might just be sample bias.

king_panic 7y ago

This comment nails it. I lived in Kensington and never heard it. In early adulthood, I lived with upper/middle-class whites from the outskirts of Philadelphia and heard it regularly. This is an affection adopted by those on the periphery to signal they are not on the periphery.

southphillyman 7y ago

Don't think this is even remotely true. Native Philadelphians, of all races, have been using jawn pretty heavily since at least the early/mid 90s. I'd be interested in which working class neighborhoods you lived in, nolibs/fishtown kind of suggests you may have been surrounded by a lot of other transplants. edit: There is a generational aspect to it as my parents and grandparents never said it. 80s/90s babies for sure. Maybe the people you encountered were relatively young (or old)

alexbanks 7y ago

Yeah this is not at all correct.