The Fotten Secret Language of Gay Men - Atlas Obscura

Contents:

• POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
• REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS GAY DIALECT IS A MAP OF FOTTEN SUBCULTUR
• DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG
• CATEGORY:ENGLISH GAY SLANG
• SPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MEN
• GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• THE SECRET GAY LANGUAGE YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF...
• HIDN PLA SIGHT: HOW GAY ARTISTS EXPRSED FORBIDN SIRE
• GAY BRA GLOSSARY
• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE

Forced to secrecy, gay and bisexual men veloped their own way of munitg wh each other safely.

By the 20th century, was beg ed by gay men workg London’s theatre district, the Wt End. As a gay man, you might slip a word or two of Polari to nversatn and look for a reactn, to see if someone was also a member of the is proment Polari, whether ed to sult someone or make people lgh, but orr to get the joke, you have to know the language and s one pot, Polari even featured promently on the BBC.

REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS GAY DIALECT IS A MAP OF FOTTEN SUBCULTUR

The crimalisatn of homosexualy 1967, between men aged over 21, rced the need for such vert munitns and so was ed ls equently the 1970s and 1980s.

Whilst female homosexualy was never technilly illegal the UK, was certaly still owned upon.

”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.

DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG

This secret gay dialect is a map of culture, and although has long sce died out, is an important part of LGBT herage. Dick Lesch, an early gay-rights activist, who is now his eighti, arranged to donate his old workg fil to the archiv of the New York Public Library. ”In 1959, when Lesch was twenty-four, he left his fay home, Kentucky, for New York Cy, where he found work as a pater, a bartenr, a rator, a journalist, and as the unpaid print of the Mattache Society, one of the first gay-rights anizatns.

When the Stonewall rts broke out, three years later, he was the only openly gay reporter on the scene, verg the event for a new gay-focsed magaze lled The a recent Friday eveng, Lesch’s buzzer rang. In 1959, he left Kentucky for New York Cy, where he beme the print of the Mattache Society, one of the first gay-rights anizatns. A py of a 1976 gay guibook, wrten by Lesch, along wh his origal typewrten mancript.

“This rd file is great, ” he said, flippg through a set of four-by-six x rds on which Lesch had neatly typed out gay slang terms om antiquy.

CATEGORY:ENGLISH GAY SLANG

” Some of the fns were more nuanced: an “ntie, ” Lesch had wrten, was “an ageg or middle aged homosexual, offtim effemate character, ” or “a person of settled meanor who utns agast temperate acts. Lesch ed to llect mentns of the “homophile movement, ” a term that preced the morn gay-rights vobulary. Lesch holds up a plastic toy school b, ma the neteen-sixti by the Gay Toy Company.

SPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MENSPOKEN POLARI 20TH CENTURY ENGLAND: LGUISTIC JARGON PATTERNS OBSERVED BRISH GAY MEN

Photograph by Rebec FudalaNext up was Lesch’s llectn of magaz and newsletters, cludg After Dark (“Oh, bls you—they’re real llector’s ems, ” Bmann said); Christopher Street (“We have the archiv”); Female Mimics (“That’s fabulo”); the 1969 Time issue on homosexualy (“Cute”); and the monthly bullet for the Mattache Society. A 1971 issue of Gay featured an terview that Lesch had nducted wh a twenty-five-year-old Bette Midler. I am prentg some pennt rearch I have done on Polari, a language jargon that was popularized 20th century Brish gay subculture.

This jargon style beme popularized durg a time perd which homosexualy was fed as crimal law.

GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE

The topic was chosen for this rearch out of tert prervg the history behd gay men and the abily to openly exprs sexualy.

Unfortunately, Polari’s orig story is fuzzy, as gay slang was not taken serly as a source of study until recently history.

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

” 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. Gay slang is culturally nsired to be a prime example of the power of anti-language. 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. The Black femme muny is a historilly powerful and fluential ntributor to the evolutn of gay slang.

THE SECRET GAY LANGUAGE YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF...

Gay slang, once a subversive exprsn of activism, has permeated the barriers of heteronormative culture time and time aga. Polari, and gay slang as is known and referenced today, exists bee s language is need as an act of fiance and cultural ristance agast the norm.

It’s nstantly evolvg d language formg durg hard tim when beg openly gay uld be dangero or crimalized.

HIDN PLA SIGHT: HOW GAY ARTISTS EXPRSED FORBIDN SIRE

The creatn and evolutn of gay slang are monumental bee of s radil lguistic rebellns. Gay slang n often hold levels of humor, w, irony, honty, and nuance, all a sgle turn of phrase.

GAY BRA GLOSSARY

Gay slang, origally born on the outskirts of society as a means of formg a secret nnectn between different members of varyg ostracized muni, is today rightly valued as a powerful cultural fluencer of how morn Wtern society evaluat and exam art, culture, and media. As gay slang be more and more graed to the heteronormative lexin, is imperative to pay rpect by takg the time to unrstand that there have been centuri of folx who helped give vobulary to what was prevly unfed.

Gay slang gave vobulary for nversatns that did the mastream lexin did not have the language tools for. Language is power, and gay slang is an important element of what is viewed as morn-day munitn and the validatn of the LGBTQ+ experience. (Defn of gay om the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictnary & Ths © Cambridge Universy Prs).

Before homosexualy was crimalised the UK 1967, the gay muny had to be a lot more discreet when me to fdg a partner, or even jt gossipg about a iend.

THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

Historilly, Polari wasn’t jt the chosen tongue of the reprsed gay muny; was very much a workg class language, too.

By the 1930s, most Wt End luvvi had claimed the dialect as their own, which naturally led to s e the many secret gay bars around London. It wasn’t until as recently as the 1990s that London had s first gay bar wh wdows you uld see to, fact fans.

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

BBCFeaturg stacks of phemisms, Polari provid gay men a subtle but liberatg way of munitg wh others for pannship or sex, or jt havg a bch about her next door. It was ls than fifty years ago Bra that engagg homosexual sex, lookg a b 'gay' or fallg love wh the wrong person ma you a were no legal protectns for gay people as there are now...