parrot-fashion

(British & Australian)

if you learn something parrot-fashion, you are able to repeat the words, but you do not understand their meaning

Usage notes: A parrot is a bird that can repeat words and noises it has just heard.

When I went to Sunday school, we had to recite passages from the Bible parrot-fashion.

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Nessa (1)	NES-ə	English
Milda	-	Lithuanian, Baltic Mythology
Adams	['ædəmz]
Jaron (2)	-	English (Modern)
Beatrix	BE-ah-triks (German), BAY-ah-triks (Dutch), BEE-ə-triks (English)	German, Hungarian, Dutch, English (Rare), Late Roman
Bruno	BROO-no (German), BRUW-naw (Polish)	German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Croatian, Polish, Ancient Germanic