Regional dialects and accents can make otherwise ordinary words sound a bit silly, and these strange pronunciations become the stuff of legend as people from other areas puzzle over the odd word's meaning.
In the case of "Jawn" Philadelphians have turned "joint" into an all purpose noun that is used to describe everything from locations and people to inanimate objects and abstract concepts.
The origin of "Jawn" is still a bit of a mystery, and as new generations of Philadelphians grow up replacing as many words as they can with this silly slang the history of "Jawn" has begun to fade away.
Paige has a lot of jawn to do @Paige_Conti pic.twitter.com/bTEwjaeTJs
— bean (@DenaParmigiani) November 10, 2014
But thanks to the efforts of University of Philadelphia Ph.D student Taylor Jones the story of "Jawn" will live on forever, as he uncovers the word's connection to hip hop, New York and semantic bleaching.
Read more about The Enduring Mystery Of 'Jawn'- Philadelphia's All-Purpose Noun here