Don Kulick, Gay and Lbian Language, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 29 (2000), pp. 243-285
Contents:
- POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
- THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
- GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
- SWARDSPEAK: THE COLORFUL LANGUAGE OF THE FILIPO GAY COMMUNY
- GAY LANGUAGE: DEFYG THE STCTURAL LIMS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE THE PHILIPP
- PHILIPPE GAY LANGUAGE: A PIDG
- A SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HAS GONE MASTREAM THE PHILIPP
- FILIPO GAY LGO EXPLAED FOR THE RT OF THE WORLD
- JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
- RSIAN GAY SLANG
POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
We round up the 10 hottt new beki terms that will make your gay iends proud to ll you "bh". * gay language of money *
() Wh a transgenr woman Congrs and the immense populary of shows like Queer Eye and RuPl's Drag Race, gay culture is currently at the foreont of mastream Filipo nscns a way has never been before. Provg jt how funny the evolutn of language n be, achoo is the newt eratn of the classic beki term "pamta, " which refers to gay men who seem like they're straight.
Wh words like "sha, " "tea, " and "kiki" proment queer culture, sometim feels like 's impossible for straights to unrstand gays... Called Polari, the gay slang is posed of back slang, circ slang, and broken Yiddish and Italian. The "secret language" was ed heavily by gays the circ, navy, and theater, and arose out of the need to discs gay matters unr a clever guise, due to homosexual acts beg illegal Bra until the passage of the Sexual Offens Act 1967.
THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
Heavily ed by Brish gays the 1920s bee of anti-homosexual laws, efforts are beg ma to prerve an entirely queer-based slang. * gay language of money *
Here's some of the amg slang: Basket - the bulge of male genals through clothFantabulos-wonrfulEf - face (backslang) DollyEf - pretty face Chicken - a young guySome Polari words still exist morn gay slang. As gays began to fight for acceptance and rights, they ma a ncentrated effort to remove the Brish society's one-dimensnal view of all gays as beg overly mpy and effemate.
Check out Atlas Obscura pots out, Polari was a great self-performative outlet for Brish gays to not only exprs themselv but also easily intify and n wh fellow memebers of the queer muny. ”That may seem like a strg of nonsense words om Dr Sss’s The Cat the Hat or Anthony Burgs’s A Clockwork Orange but ’s a real-life greetg gay men the UK would say to each other the 1950s and 60s.
To avoid imprisonment, gay men ed Polari, a language that the Oxford English Dictnary says is “ma up of Italianate phras, rhymg slang and nt terms. Vada (“look at”), dolly eek (a pretty face), and chicken (a young guy) are all words om the lexin of Polari, a secret language ed by gay men Bra at a time when homosexualy was illegal.
GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
The LGBTQ+ muny is known for havg unique and creative ways of self-exprsn. One secret language began as an act of fiance agast an anti-gay society. * gay language of money *
In the 1930s was spoken among the theater typ of the Wt End, om which crossed over to the cy’s gay pubs, gag s stat as the secret language of gay men.
In England, homosexualy was officially nsired a crime until 1967, when the Sexual Offenc Act legalized private “homosexual acts” between nsentg adults over 21. ) The Act me a after the ernment’s Wolfenn Report, which igned bate by remendg the partial crimalizatn of homosexual acts.
SWARDSPEAK: THE COLORFUL LANGUAGE OF THE FILIPO GAY COMMUNY
In the Philipp, the gay muny, specifilly the male gay muny, has s own unique slang lled gay speak or swardspeak. * gay language of money *
Durg the terim years, when beg openly non-straight brought the risks of social isolatn and crimal prosecutn, Polari provid gay men wh a subtle way to fd one another for pannship and sex. Among nfirmed gay men, however, there was nothg subtle about Polari nversatns. The Hidn History of Gay Life at Sea, Pl Baker and Jo Stanley wre that Polari played a role “allowg gay men to nstct a humoroly performative inty for themselv.
In the late ‘60s, as gay liberatn groups were fightg for regnn and equaly, Polari h mastream Brish pop-culture the form of Julian and Sandy, two flamboyant, not-officially-but-pretty-obvly gay characters on a BBC rad show lled Round the Horne.
But the ‘60s, they were the extent of gay men’s media reprentatn Bra.
GAY LANGUAGE: DEFYG THE STCTURAL LIMS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE THE PHILIPP
* gay language of money *
Julian and Sandy prented a nundm: as lovable gay characters on a very popular show, they enared themselv to Brish dienc an era of homophobia.
But some gay liberatn groups me to rent the image that they—and Polari—perpetuated. By the early ‘70s, as LGBT groups fought for rights beyond those granted by the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act, the image of the mp gay man had bee the target of ire.
Many who were lobbyg for sexual equaly, says Dolan, “felt was about gay people prentg themselv as jt ordary folks. When Ecclton and Fairbairn posted the film onle, they were surprised by the enthiastic rponse—and the level of fascatn wh Polari, this myster, cipherable “gay language. “The kds of nts still exist where opprsn is still entrenched, ” says Ecclton, cg Swardspeak, a language based on English and Tagalog that is ed among gay men the Philipp.
PHILIPPE GAY LANGUAGE: A PIDG
Gay language has achieved a higher gree of acceptance recent years the Philipp. Both gays and non-gays n be heard utterg gay exprsns. But the ma role of gayspeak for gay people the Philipp is to functn as an “armor” to shield themselv om the chasm and the social stigma ed by genr differenc. From a lguistic pot of view, this paper not only scrib the nature of this gay language and how exprsns are ed; also looks at how mixg (gayspeak + English language) is ma possible. This paper also exam how this -mixg creatively vlat the grammatil stcture of the e of the English language the Philipp. * gay language of money *
Given s associatns wh stereotypil reprentatns of gay men, Polari may not seem to have a place the 21st century. But the backlash agast mp has mellowed—’s not the way to be gay, but ’s one way among many.
Dolan brgs up the pot that gay men shouldn’t have to be “straight-actg” orr to be accepted: “Might not be more fun to embrace a b more mp and actually have fun wh ourselv and wh each other? When you thk of “gay slang, ” what particular phras first e to md? Polari is the secret language that walked, so gay slang today n n.
A SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HAS GONE MASTREAM THE PHILIPP
Inquiri about the meang of the gay language the Philipp have been raised cludg the orig of the terms ed. The Wikipedia Onle Encyclopedia f as “a vernacular language rived om Englog, and is ed by a number of gay Filipos. It elements om Tagalog, English, and Spanish, and some are om Niponggo, as well as celebri’ nam and tramark brands, givg them new meangs the ntext of this unique language” (Wikipedia). This is supported by studi which show that the terms have evolved due to the ntributn g om the different dialects and languag the untry troduced and ed by the speakers themselv, the ‘gays’. * gay language of money *
Polari beme popular durg the early 20th century amongst gay men Bra.
Unfortunately, Polari’s orig story is fuzzy, as gay slang was not taken serly as a source of study until recently history. ” Combg the vernaculars of sailors wh a mix of Cockney and Yiddish fluenc, gay men also began to throw a sprkle of classroom-level French to add eher sophistitn or an ironic tone of refement, whichever the speaker choos.
FILIPO GAY LGO EXPLAED FOR THE RT OF THE WORLD
An troductn to Polari, the old Brish gay slang, cludg a word list. * gay language of money *
Gay slang is culturally nsired to be a prime example of the power of anti-language.
JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
The ter is lerally lghg out loud over this electronic leave form ed at a Pasig pany that mak e of words om gay Filipo lgo. The leave form was posted by one of the employe of the pany, Mat Olavis, on his Facebook acunt on Tuday. In the form,… * gay language of money *
But if you were to drop the lgo “Sea Queen” a sual nversatn wh, say, some late 1800s gay sailors, is credibly likely that they will know exactly what you are talkg about. Humor is a potent munitn tool often ed gay slang as a good-natured and vert tactic of iatg new people to unrstandg the queer perspective. This is why gay slang is so often filled to the brim wh sexual nuendo.
RSIAN GAY SLANG
Swardspeak is more than gay lgo—'s a mon bridge between the credible diversy of languag to be found the natn of islands. * gay language of money *
The Important Influence Black Femm Have on The Evolutn of Gay Slang. The Black femme muny is a historilly powerful and fluential ntributor to the evolutn of gay slang.