parlance

"Legal parlance" means the kind of words and expressions lawyers usually use. It does not simply mean talking in general. It points to the usual way a group speaks or the terms that are common in a certain setting. You might hear "political parlance" during election season, with phrases like "grassroots movement" or "sound bite." It is the language people in that world naturally use with one another.

The word often appears in slightly formal writing, but it is not limited to experts. It can describe the usual wording of any group, field, or context. A detective might use police parlance when describing a crime scene, while a doctor uses medical parlance when discussing a patient's condition.

"Parlance" refers to a particular way of speaking or to the words and expressions commonly used by a certain group, field, or setting. It often points to the usual wording people choose in a shared context, whether that context is a profession, a social circle, or a subject area. The term can describe both a group's general style of expression and the familiar terms that come with it.

The word often has a slightly formal tone, which is why it commonly appears in phrases like "in legal parlance" or "in modern parlance." In those cases, it means "in the language usually used there" or "in the terms people now use." Sometimes it refers to insider language that may puzzle outsiders, as in the "parlance of Wall Street," but it does not always have to be technical or exclusive.

Historically, "parlance" comes from Old French and is tied to the idea of speech or talk. Over time, it came to suggest a recognizable kind of wording linked to a group or situation. You might hear about "diplomatic parlance" in international negotiations, "military parlance" in reports on warfare, or "everyday parlance" when someone wants to contrast ordinary speech with a more technical term.

Think of it like this: a carpenter has carpentry terms, a sailor has nautical terms, and a lawyer has legal parlance. In the same way, a phrase may sound natural in one world and unusual in another. So when you see "parlance," think of the language that fits a group or situation best: the words people there normally use, and the way those words reflect shared habits, knowledge, and point of view.