General
joanna
What does joanna mean?
Affectionately, any battered upright instrument, especially one in a boozer.
"That Joanna's three keys short but it still does the job."
Origin
Late-Victorian East End rhyming slang resting on the Cockney pronunciation of 'piano' as 'pianna'; the pub piano was central to working-class London entertainment, and the term sits among the music-hall-era coinages following Hotten's 1859 record of London slang.
Frequently asked questions
What does Joanna mean in Cockney?
It means a piano. 'Joanna' rhymes with 'pianna', the Cockney way of saying 'piano'.
Why does the rhyme work?
It only rhymes if you say 'piano' the old London way — 'pianna' — which is exactly how Cockneys pronounced it.
Where would you hear Joanna used?
Around the pub, where the upright piano powered singalongs; it's a music-hall-era survival.
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