The Racist Roots of Parler’s Weirdly French Name
From par-lay to par-lor, it’s deeply symbolic that right-wing extremists have found refuge in the app
Following the attack on the U.S. Capitol last week, and President Donald Trump’s removal from Twitter and Facebook, downloads of the “free speech” app Parler have reportedly surged by more than 500%. Parler is a last bastion for the kind of dreck that mainstream social platforms are finally banning: anti-Semitism, hate speech, calls for violence, and the like.
If you’re confused as to why an app that caters to rabidly nationalist far-right Americans has a French-sounding name, you’re not alone. Technologist Sara Watson recently posed the question on Twitter, writing, “I can’t be the only one pronouncing Parler in my head as french, non?” A quick perusal of the network shows hundreds of people who are similarly confused about the app’s name.
It turns out Watson isn’t wrong: Parler’s name was originally intended to be pronounced the French way, “par-lay.” As Ars Technica reports, “The service takes its name from the French verb parler, meaning ‘to speak’ (or sometimes, ‘to talk’) as in the examples ‘Parlez-vous français?’ or ‘Je veux parler avec ton gérant.’” (The latter translates to “I want to speak to your manager.”)
