You might spot a news or two of it in the odd minute of dad culture these twenty-four hour period — a Todd Haynes movie , a Morrissey song — normally include as a fun if arcane historical reference . But for British festal men ( and sometimes women ) in the first half of the 20th century , Polari was n’t just a cute jargon : It was a secret computer code , one that was utterly necessary .
Being gay in Britain before about 50 old age ago was life-threatening byplay , and even being perceived as homo then could be you a prison sentence ( homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK in1967 ) . In fact , gay civilization was discussed so rarelythat newspapers would report on gay the great unwashed who were arrested as being guilty of"gross indecency , " since it was deliberate taboo to even drop a line ( or speak ) the words " gay " or " homosexual . " festive people therefore needed a way to communicate about their relationships ( and gossip ) without being read by eavesdroppers . Polari came about as a pattern of insider argot , built from many different languages , shifting and switch as it evolved . As speech communication professorPaul Baker of the UK ’s Lancaster University writesin his 2002 bookPolari — The Lost Language of Gay Men , it was a lingo of " fast put - down , ironic ego - mockery and theatrical hyperbole . "
Although Polari saw the peak of its popularity in the mid-20th one C , its roots are much older . A similar argot squall Parlyareehad been spoken in grocery store and fairground at least as ahead of time as the 18th century , made up partly of Romany words with selections fromthieves ’ cantand backslang ( words that are spelled and utter phonemically back , such asyobfor " boy " orecaffor " side " ) . As this slang grow democratic , it picked up slice of French , Yiddish , Italian , Shelta ( spoken by Irish Travellers ) , London slang , and Cockney rhyming slang , among other tongue . This lexical potpourri was the word on the streets in England , used in fairground as well as Circus , menagerie , fish grocery , and the British Merchant Navy , among other locales . A version of it was used by outlaw and prostitutes , too .
Also incorporated into Polari , by way of the theatre association , was the " broken Italian " used by street puppeteers who put onPunch and Judy shows . These colourful , and often violent , creature production have inception in sixteenth century commedia dell’arte field and were especially popular in British seaside towns . Examples of " Punch Talk " tape in the 1850s includemunjare(food),bivare(drink ) , andlente(bed ) . Even the name Polari is an Anglicisation of an Italian word : parlare , " speak . " Byother accounts , the roots of Polari are at least partly to be found in thelingua francaused by Mediterranean sailors and traders in the Middle Ages and beyond .
It ’s difficult to say when exactly Polari began , but at some point performers — specially actors , and especially gay actors — began to apply a distinct argot to pass along with each other , often for the design of chatter . In addition to being useful for hash out familiar business concern , Polari could also be used as ashibboleth — if you fancied someone , you could drop a few words into a conversation to see if they pluck up what you ’d put down , and if not , no harm done . As such , the Polari glossary develop to admit a big number of gamy terms , so that masses could speak about hooking up without being picked up by the pig ( there werelots of euphemism for the pig , too).Tradeis a gay sex partner . Acottageis a public bathroom used for sexuality . TBHstands for " to be had , " which name that a person was sexually available . Akerterver cartzois a sexually send contagion . Adishis a butt , andother Word for anatomyincludecartes , lally column , pots , andpackets .
verbalise of synonyms , anomiin Polari is a adult male , and adonais a fair sex — but she can also be call in apalone . Anomi - palone , therefore , is an effeminate man , or sometimes just a festal one , while a palone - omi is a lesbian . Omiis sometimes spelledhomietoo , which might advise that it ’s the origin of the wordhomiein American urban slang , but it ’s not — the Americanhomiecomes from " homeboy , " a acquaintance from back abode .
Polari is n’t easy to research . Because the lingo was ever - change , there ’s no definitive gloss , and there is a wide variety of spelling . Many glossaries of Polari exist , but they ’re difficult to verify — and the parole let in can take issue hugely from collection to collection . So anything written magisterially on the subject should be taken with a metric grain of common salt , including this clause . Even the name of the jargon itself is sometimes title asparlare , in its original Italian form , and you might also see it spell aspalare — as in Morrissey ’s 1990 Sung " Piccadilly Palare"—or perhapspalari , parlary , orpalarie .
To complicate thing further , some say there were actuallytwo separate mutations of Polari within London : the East End version , which involve more Cockney rime slang , and a simplified West End version . Although there was a decent sized overlap between the two , it ’s been said that the East terminal denizen , who were located near the shoring and had exposure to dock workers and sometimes foreign languages , used such complicated cant that they were able to confuse the West End speakers , whose interpretation of Polari was link up with office workers and theatre type .
It was n’t until the 1960s that Polari started to become more wide known , thanks in with child part to the BBC radio receiver drollery programRound the Horne . Among other members of its casting , the show featured characters Julian and Sandy ( roleplay by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams ) , Shakespearean actors whose spoken language was munificently pepper with Polari countersign and phrases . Both Paddick and Williams were familiar with Polari in their real lives and patter improvised idiomatic expression into the program on the fly . Round the Hornewas unusual in that it was a program on a mainstream place with two principal characters who were more or less out of the closet , in a time and place when it was illegal to be gay .
After several years on the air , many of Julian and Sandy ’s slang terms had made their way of life into everyday speech in the United Kingdom , such asvada(to see or look ) andbona(good ) . One term in particular , naff , seems to have stuck firmly in the nation ’s minds — and mouths . Although various descent for the term have been given , some sources say it was originally a Polari term that initially may have have in mind " heterosexual , " and then " unavailable for sex , " which later became " uncool " or " boring . " ( Byother chronicle , it may amount from the Italiangnaffa , " a despicable person . " )
The perhaps - best - known Polarism , though , is a term you might not know was Polari in the first place . The worddrag , have-to doe with to women ’s vesture when worn by human race , comes to you through Polari , possibly staunch from one of various Romany words for skirt , andrakaorjendraka(which in turn come from Sanskrit ) . The use of the worddragwas also popularized byRound the Horne . There ’s another Polari parole that survives in today ’s idiom as well , with a fairly recent rebirth : Carson Kressley fromQueer Eye for the Straight Guylikes to throw in a dash of Polari when he tells someone tozhoosh uphis fuzz ( to fashion or to tidy up ) .
By the seventies , Polari began to fall out of function ; some consider it degrading , as it was often used to jaw about intimate exploits . Being festive was also no longer deplorable , so the need for a individual slang frivol away . The declivity of Polari was rapid : In his leger , Bakerwrites that " many gay men under the age of thirty have never hear of it . "
Polari is tenacious , though , and it still shows up in mainstream pappa culture here and there , such as in some of the lyrics to " Girl Loves Me " onDavid Bowie ’s 2016 swansong record album , Blackstar . The year prior , filmmaking duette Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston wrote and directedPutting on the Dish , a unforesightful film wherein the characters discourse whole in Polari , and in 2012 , the entire King James Bible wastranslated into Polariby figurer scientist Tim Greening - Jackson as part of a Manchester , England - based undertaking calledPolari Mission(the labor also included an app with a downloadable lexicon ) .
Although intentionally enshroud in whodunit during most of its development , this colourful lingo has a salacious prayer that ’s keep back it from vanishing entirely — at least if you screw where tovada .
A partial gloss of Polari :
ajax= nearby or next tobatt= shoebijou= smallBillingsgate= foul language ( named after a London fish market where profanity was often heard)bona to vada= nice to see youB - flat omi = juicy mancamp= unreasonable or showy or affecting mannerisms of the opposite sexcharper= to search ( hencecharpering omi= policeman)dolly= nice or pleasantcod = naff , viledry martini = left handfeely= child , hencefeely omi= a young homo , usually an underaged manfungus= sometime manlally= leglattie= room , house , flatlattie on water= shiplattie on wheels= taxiling grappling= sexmeese= plain , uglynaff= awesome , drab , uncoolnanti= not , noorderly daughters= the police ( one of many effeminate nicknames for the cops used in ordering to undermine their office ; others include Hilda Handcuffs and Betty Bracelets)ogle= eye ( henceogle filters= sunglasses , ogleriah= eyelashes)riah= hairriah - zhoosher= hairdressersharda!= what a pity!strillers= pianostimpcovers= stockingssweet martini= right handtober= roadtosheroon= half a crown / two shillings and sixpencetroll= take the air , wandervadavision = televisionvera= ginwalloper= dancer
Numbers 1 through 10 in Polari : una , duey , tercet , quater , chinker , sey , setter , otto , nobber , dacha
