Words & TermsEveryday lifeShortening
parma
Also: parmi, parmy, chicken parma
A shortening of chicken parmigiana, especially the pub meal.
In a sentence
I’ll have the parma with chips and salad.
Where it came from
Parma shortens chicken parmigiana and is strongly associated with Victorian pub speech. Other regions often prefer parmi, making the variation a familiar marker of local identity.
- Initial era
- 1950–1999
- Where used
- Especially Victoria; parmi predominates in NSW and much of the rest of Australia