Text

“Jawn” – slang term used to mean friend as in “That’s my Jawn.”

Context

Informant grew up in Philadelphia, and used this folk slang to refer to friends. They suggested that this slang word might be specific to Philadelphia.

Analysis

The term ‘Jawn’ appears to be the version of the name John filtered through the accent associated with the region of Philadelphia. This is reminiscent of the name ‘John Doe’ that is often used in place of an unknown name in the US. In this way, Jawn could be a version of John, which is being used in place of an unnamed person.