Parley with Me: A Compendium of Fairground Speech

Fairground Travellers, known also as Showpeople or Carnival people, are part of the larger Irish Traveller community. They are the entertainers in fairgrounds and carnivals, the people who work the booths and the rides. In the medieval era and for long afterwards, they were renowned as dancers, musicians, acrobats, magicians, animal-exhibitors and trainers; they were an essential part of patterns, pilgrimages, harvest gatherings, weddings and sporting meetings. Irish Showpeople have their own distinctive language, known as Parley/Parlari. It vividly reflects their nomadic lifestyle, and the influences of Showpeople from other countries and cultures, with words derived from Italian, Romani, Yiddish, Cockney rhyming slang, non-standard English, Gaeilge (Irish) and Irish Traveller Cant or Gammon. Parley with Me introduces Parley/Parlari to a wider audience, listing over 400 words, with their English and Gaeilge equivalents. In the multicultural Ireland of today, this compendium is an invaluable resource for intercultural courses at all levels. The Author: Dr Mfcheal (!) hAodha lectures on Traveller History and Culture in the English and History Departments at the University of Limerick. He also works as a librarian in the University library. Cover painting and illustrations by Una C hAodha