jawn: A word used in Philadelphia to describe any noun whose appropriate word could not be recalled by the brain in the necessary time. You can tell the general education level of the user of said word by how many times they use it in a sentence.
In today’s Daily Times, editor Phil Heron wrote of his desire to eradicate the F-word.
It’s not cool; it’s not hip. It’s lazy...
That editorial reminded me of the word I desire to eradicate, the J-Word.
My daughter called me from Atlanta last week and asked me what a Jawn was? Some lady was using it repeatedly and no one knew what she was talking about. My answer was almost identical to the definition found above from Urban Dictionary.
How many times have you heard something like this...
Yo, dat Jawn over there is the Jawn. I’m going to take my Jawn to the Jawn before the Jawn gets crowded with the rest of the Jawns.
Other terms nominated for eradication are:
C I’m Sayin.
You got dat Right.
Ja Mean.
N-shit.
What would you like to see go away?
ebonics.....Lamont2086
ReplyDeletecome on stuffy how many times did we say THAT WAS THE JAWN when growing up LOL
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, I spoke as a child. It's the grown folks that need to stop using that jawn.
DeleteI would like black people to speak correct English at the appropriate time and place. Not on a job interview . Not at work . Only with friends and family. You are not a
ReplyDeleteSell out.
I agree with you. There is nothing wrong with using a dialect in its proper place. When you go to a foreign country, you speak their language, so why not learn and use the language of the setting you're in.
DeleteI have to say that thought I don't use it as frequently, I totally understood the example sentence as I was reading it.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear/see "pronouns used correctly. Sometimes it is correct to use "him/me", as in "It was given to him and me", not "It was given to he and I". If you take time to eliminate one person, then you will use the proper pronoun; "It was given to me" or "It was given to him, not "It was given to he" or It was given to I". It truly surprises me how often journalists/linguists/educators misuse these pronouns.
ReplyDeleteI got a big one... Stop using Nigger!!! I'm white, so if I say it, I'm a racist bastard. If a couple blacks throw it around, somehow that's Ok?
ReplyDeletePeople today beat the English language up so badly, it's no wonder that when people come here from other countries they decide to speak their own language, ours has become such a trainwreck.
How about folks that constantly inject "you know" or "you know what I mean" or "like" into all of their sentences.
Phrases and sayings and made up words will always continue to be used, it's up to us as a society to continue them or get rid of them.
As for kids... well, they talk like their parents and their friends. If I dropped an "F-Bomb" when I was a kid, I would have gotten the belt, and had to apologize to everyone who heard it. Now, I hear kids throw that word around like it's nothing, and adults laugh.
Just think of how we look on the world stage. A country that used to be held to such a high standard, a country whose people were considered the best and brightest. Those were the days.
'Ja Mean' is the lazy 'You know what I mean'.
Delete'Like' does get annoying if used too much.
I can't stand when a person starts a sentence with the word 'So'.
Folks been trying to get Nigger out of the vocab for ages. It seems to only get stronger with time.
Used to be that cursing was adult language. Now, kids curse more than adults.