# A Britishism? What does it mean if the weather is "parky"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791 "2005-04-29T21:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/1 "2005-04-29T21:43:04Z")
My mom asked me this. She is listening to a book on tape, so she is uncertain of the spelling. Parky weather? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/2 "2005-04-29T22:02:42Z")
Cold. Chilly. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/3 "2005-04-29T22:20:15Z")
Gotta be a localism. Never heard that one myself. (Any idea where the reader is from, or where the book/scene is based?) ---
**Author:** ![oliverar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dbc845/32.png) [@oliverar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliverar)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/4 "2005-04-29T22:52:19Z")
‘It’s a bit parky’. Yeah. Cold. I’m British and I know that one, but I wouldn;t use it myself. Not all that common. Don’t know where it derives from. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/5 "2005-04-29T22:59:40Z")
It’s more of a northern English thing, I believe. (Yorkshire?). Nobody seems to know the origins, at least none of the usual sites I checked. One said “occasionally altered to ‘parquet’ (as in flooring) by upper-class speakers”, but I have never heard that one. (Parquet floor = raw? Nah, maybe not) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/6 "2005-04-29T23:04:06Z")
I tried googling this one for an etymology, too…normally this brings up plenty of ludicrous explanations, but not in this case. Hmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/7 "2005-04-29T23:06:05Z")
This [Usenet thread](http://tinyurl.com/c7ppb) is pretty unhelpful too. Bets guess is that it comes from “park”, i.e. if you stand out in a park all day in northern Britain, you might get a bit chilly :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/8 "2005-04-30T02:52:50Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > [Best] guess is that it comes from “park”, i.e. if you stand out in a park all day in northern Britain, you might get a bit chilly :rolleyes: So wouldn’t “northern-Britishy” be a more apt term? (“Better wear a sweater; it’s looking northern-Britishy out there.” “Gaaah!”) Funny that other word catching on instead. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/9 "2005-04-30T04:25:01Z")
> [@carlotta](#): > > She is listening to a book on tape… Could be one of the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O’Brian. This word occasionally appears, meaning the same thing as “nippy” or “chilly”. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/10 "2005-04-30T04:41:27Z")
I’ve heard it used on British television shows (that \*Summer Wine \* one?) set in the north or the Midlands where a character will say “it’s right parky” when it’s cold. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/11 "2005-04-30T05:40:36Z")
> [@carlotta](#): > > My mom asked me this. She is listening to a book on tape, so she is uncertain of the spelling. > > Parky weather? > > Thanks! perky? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/12 "2005-04-30T06:04:27Z")
In NZ, a light, wind proof, water resistent jacket is called a parker (parka, I just realised I have only ever said that word not spelt it). I’d imagine that the term came from came from Britain at some stage. So parky weather is weather that requires a parker (parka?)?. Just a wild guess 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/13 "2005-04-30T06:09:51Z")
I doubt that that’s anything other than coincidence - ‘parka’ comes from Alaska, and I don’t see how a word from there would become localised in the north of England. (We also have ‘parka jackets’, but they’re a thick coat, with a big fur-lined hood.) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/14 "2005-04-30T07:32:20Z")
In the South they would say the weather was a bit ‘King Billy’ - chilly but around here its always parky. Usually its parky when there is a bit of a cold wind blowing around, the sort that gets into your rheumatism. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/15 "2005-04-30T07:37:17Z")
Perhaps we should call in anorak weather instead. It’s a great day for trainspotting! ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/16 "2005-04-30T11:00:36Z")
OED says _parky_ British colloquialism, “chilly”, origin unknown. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/17 "2005-04-30T11:10:19Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I doubt that that’s anything other than coincidence - ‘parka’ comes from Alaska, and I don’t see how a word from there would become localised in the north of England. (We also have ‘parka jackets’, but they’re a thick coat, with a big fur-lined hood.) Ok so Parka comes from Alaska (OH I learned a new thing) but does it seem outrageous to equate parka-Alaska-cold-parky? Call me nuts but that makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/18 "2005-04-30T11:27:55Z")
Can’t even guess at the origins but **casdave** has it. A very commonly used term in Yorkshire, particularly North Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/19 "2005-04-30T11:44:12Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > Ok so Parka comes from Alaska (OH I learned a new thing) but does it seem outrageous to equate parka-Alaska-cold-parky? > > Call me nuts but that makes sense to me. Makes sense to me, too. I’m not from England or anything, but we have a lot of immigrants from the British Isles - I had a teacher from Essex once, and she would make fun of us young girls in our nylon, winter-heavy coats, and call us a bunch of trainspotters (this was long before the movie, and at 12 years old, I’d never heard of Irvine Welsh), standing in our “parkas”, often as we were lined up outside along the side of the road, pretending we weren’t smoking, huddled together in the freezing cold. She never used the phrase “parky weather” to my knowledge, however. But a parka was a heavy nylon coat. Worn in chilly weather. I don’t see how it would be a big leap. (She wasn’t the _only_ British person who called heavy coats “parkas”, but she’s the first person I’d heard it from, and she used it this way… other times I heard it, it was simply someone asking me if I could grab their parka for them, or to ask where they put it last, etc - since it’s winter most of the damn time where I’m from, they were aways after their heavy coat). ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791/20 "2005-04-30T11:52:57Z")
I’ve heard it used once or twice (normally by old people), but it’s not common in Lancashire / Greater Manchester. Must be very specific to Yorkshire or the elderly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-britishism-what-does-it-mean-if-the-weather-is-parky/301791.md?page=2)