# Scissor Sisters: Who is "the old Joanna"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843 "2007-07-31T17:35:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/1 "2007-07-31T17:35:07Z")
In the Scissor Sisters’ song “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing,” one of the lyrics is “I don’t feel like dancin’ when the old Joanna plays.” Who is Joanna? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/2 "2007-07-31T17:38:00Z")
Cockney rhyming slang: Joanna = piano. ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/3 "2007-07-31T17:48:01Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Cockney rhyming slang: Joanna = piano. [/QUOTE] But that doesn’t rhyme? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/4 "2007-07-31T18:08:07Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Cockney rhyming slang: Joanna = piano. [/QUOTE] Sounds good. The song has a great piano accompaniment. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/5 "2007-07-31T18:10:25Z")
\ Sending Joanna over to Cafe Society. \ ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/6 "2007-07-31T18:10:39Z")
[QUOTE=ChicanoRojo] But that doesn’t rhyme? 😕 [/QUOTE] It does if you pronounce it ‘pianna’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/7 "2007-07-31T18:22:56Z")
[QUOTE=ChicanoRojo] But that doesn’t rhyme? 😕 [/QUOTE] Cockney slang is this kooky thing that’s usually a couple times removed from the original word. “Fancy a Butcher’s?” = “Fancy a look?” because hook rhymes with look, so it becomes “fancy a hook” and then eventually “fancy a butcher’s?” Weirdos. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/8 "2007-07-31T18:26:31Z")
[QUOTE=ChicanoRojo] But that doesn’t rhyme? 😕 [/QUOTE] Don’t tell that to Cecil. ([Skip to last line.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_011.html)) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/9 "2007-07-31T23:56:51Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] Cockney slang is this kooky thing that’s usually a couple times removed from the original word. “Fancy a Butcher’s?” = “Fancy a look?” because hook rhymes with look, so it becomes “fancy a hook” and then eventually “fancy a butcher’s?” Weirdos. [/QUOTE] Not quite. The rhyme was originally the full “butcher’s hook” which then got shortened to “butcher’s”. That’s probably what you meant anyway but other people might be confused. But “joanna” is not a case like this, anyway. It simply rhymes with the usual Cockney pronunciation of “piano”, which is roughly “pee-ANN-a”. ---
**Author:** ![peakey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@peakey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peakey)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scissor-sisters-who-is-the-old-joanna/413843/10 "2023-01-23T00:54:58Z")
In Australia, it’s “goanna”! See also large predatory lizard ([Goanna - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goanna))