patois

May. 7th, 2021 08:08 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
patois (PAT-wah, PAH-twah, pa-TWA) - n., a regional dialect, esp. a rural dialect; non-standard speech, jargon, cant, argot.


In French, the strong connotation of non-standard is substandard: patois is the crude talk of lower-class provincials. In English, this connotation is not as strong, though there is a shading of being hard to understand. From French, of course, adopted around 1640, in the first meaning above, originally clumsy/incomprehensible speech, from Old French patoier, handle clumsily/treat roughly/gesticulate, apparently from pate, paw, of uncertain origin (suggestions include unattested words in Vulgar Latin and Old Franconian).


And that's a week of language words. Next week, it'll be the usual unsorted heap.

---L.

Date: 2021-05-07 04:50 pm (UTC)
minoanmiss: A detail of the Ladies in Blue fresco (Default)
From: [personal profile] minoanmiss
'Patois" (pronounced pat-wah) is how Jamaicans refer to our national dialect.

January 2026

S M T W T F S
     1 23
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 2nd, 2026 08:42 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios