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Shawnee residents stay true to Philly roots through slang

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SHAWNEE, Kan. — Despite having lived in Shawnee for the past 15 years, Keith and Laurie Kremer still maintain their Philadelphia roots.

Keith even jokingly defends Philly fans' salty reputation.

"We’re terrible. We booed Santa. We threw snowballs at him," he said. "But I’ll tell you this, he was a replacement Santa. He was a fake Santa, not the real Santa.”

The Kremers make sure to keep their Philly slang alive and well, too.

"We take our words and condense them," Laurie said.

Words like "jeet," which is a combination of, "Did you eat?"

"I would say, 'Yo, Mick, it's 6 p.m. Jeet yet?'" Keith said.

Then there are others like "wudder."

"An example would be, 'If you don't wudder my plants when I'm in Philly this summer, you're going to be in hot wudder," Laurie said.

But the most popular Philly slang word might be "jawn."

Jawn can be a person, place, thing, event or anything, really.

"It could be a table. It could be a shoe. It could be Cheese Whiz," Keith said.

His wife explained the word by pointing to Keith and saying she's "been married to that jawn for 25 years."

Even Andy Reid, who was head coach of the Eagles for 14 years, has his own Philly slang words.

"I know how to order the cheesesteaks. That was good. That was an effort," Reid said. "Wit."

"Wit" means with onions, "witout" means without them.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is in on the lingo, too. He married a Philadelphia native and says his favorite is "yous guys."

Non-Philly native Travis Kelce shared a popular slang word with the world on stage after the AFC Championship Game: "jabroni."

In the end, with fond memories of Philly as well as Shawnee, the Kremers will be a house divided come Sunday.

Keith says he'll "be cheering for the 'Iggles,'" but his wife Laurie says she's "kind of fallen in love with the Chiefs."

To celebrate the game, the Kremers will be hosting a party. Of course, a uniquely Philly delicacy is on the menu.

"Scrapple is, actually, we don't know what scrapple is," Keith joked.