parliari

n

British

the strong Italian influence on the thea-tre, dance, music and the humbler enter-tainments of the streets from the late 17th to the late 19th centuries gave rise to an Italianate jargon. This terminology was adopted by English speakers (including vagabonds, street traders and the like), with resulting deformation of the original Italian words. This code, later known as parlyaree or parliari (itself a corruption of the Italian parlare, meaning to speak), died out slowly during the 20th century. Certain terms remain in limited use, among them nanty, omi, khazi and bona.