DC-area "joning"

[Wilson Gray]

Thanks for the info, Ben. Good catch! BTW, if anybody else watches the
re-runs of That '70's Show, what's called a "burn" on that sitcom
corresponds quite closely to what is / was called a "jone" in Saint
Louis and, presumably, in DC.

-Wilson

On 7/23/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      DC-area "joning"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In a thread a year ago about "the dozens" and related terms, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> -----
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0607C&L=ADS-L&P=R687
> In my day, "front off" was originally the most commonly-used term.
> But, for some reason, it rather quickly fell out of use and was
> replaced by a word that I heard as "jawing." Shortly thereafter, the
> term of choice became "joning." Even back in that day, the '50's,I was
> aware of the possibility that "jawing" was some kind of mishearing on
> my part, and that the term always was "joning."
> "Front off" still lives, with a variety of meanings, none matching the
> one peculiar to St. Louis, in other parts of the country. I read
> somewhere or other that "joning" is, or was, also the term of choice
> in DC.
> -----
>
> In an article in today's Washington Post about the recruitment of
> Filipino teachers in the Prince George's County (Md.) school system,
> there's some proof that "joning" is indeed still current in the
> greater DC area.
>
> -----
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072200824.html
> Perez, who is 35 and teaches special education at Oxon Hill
> Elementary, said she and the other Filipino teachers spent their first
> two years overcoming cultural challenges, such as learning the lingo.
> She often asked her American co-workers to translate such words as
> "joning," slang for making fun of someone.
> -----
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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