PATOIS

PATOIS is a name the French give to a corrupt dialect of a language spoken in a remote province of a country.

The term “patois” is used to refer to a variety of non-standard languages, including provincial dialects, pidgin languages, and creole languages. Some people also mistakenly use the word to refer to specialized slang or jargon; this is technically incorrect, as slang or jargon is part of a larger language. One well known example is the variety of English spoken in Jamaica, which is known as Jamaican patois or simply patois.

This word entered the English language from the original French in 1643. It is believed to be derived from patoier, which means “to paw or handle clumsily,” in a reference to the fact that the language can sound very rough and imperfect. The French originally used the term to refer to native dialects, and later to regional French dialects, such as that spoken in parts of Canada, differentiating them from the French spoken in France.