The secret gay language you’ve probably never heard of... - BBC Three

Contents:

• POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
• THE SECRET GAY LANGUAGE YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF...
• WHE GAYS, PLEASE STOP INCLUDG BBC YOUR GRDR PROFILE
• WHAT DO BBC STAND FOR GAY DATG
• GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
• BLACK GAY SLANG, EXPLAED TO SUBURBAN WHE PEOPLE

POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE

Polari was spoken to skirt the UK’s strict anti-homosexualy laws. ”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. ”Until 1967, homosexual sex was illegal England and Wal.

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. (Image cred: Alamy)Fifty years ago, the Sexual Offenc Act beme law, crimalisg homosexual acts that took place private between two men over the age of 21.

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

Fna Macdonald looks at a gay slang that beme a form of fiance. The secret language beme a kd of verbal wk between gay men Bra durg the early 20th Century – allowg them to hi and to reveal at the same time.

Yet the years when homosexualy was illegal, was a way of munitg public whout riskg arrt – as well as a chance to challenge the stat was a secret language that beme a kd of verbal wk between gay men Bra durg the early 20th Century (Cred: Alamy)Layerg upon layerg of different fluenc ensur that there is no one sgle versn of Polari but many versns – Pl Baker“It was a secret, spoken form of language, ed maly by groups of people who were on the margs of society and associated wh crimaly, ” says Pl Baker, a lguistic history expert at the Universy of Lanster and thor of Fantabulosa: A Dictnary of Polari and Gay Slang.

” Some of the words are what’s been lled ‘backslang' – hair is ‘riah’, and face is ‘eek’ (om ‘ef’) was taken up mic halls, Palarie beme associated wh gay men at the start of the 20th Century. To make thgs more plited, Baker has seen a few ‘backronyms’, or fns applied after a word’s meang has evolved – such as ‘mp’ as g om ‘Known As Male Prostute’ 1967, the Sexual Offenc Act beme law, crimalisg homosexual acts that took place private between two men over the age of 21 (Cred: Alamy)Polari has s own vobulary for elements that mastream society is not terted – Pl BakerBaker believ Polari is a form of ‘anti-language’ – a term ed by the lguist Michael Halliday 1978 that Baker f as “a language ed by people who are on the ‘outsi’ of mastream society”. “Words relatg to gay sex or evaluatg male bodi – but also monstrat an alternative value system.

WHE GAYS, PLEASE STOP INCLUDG BBC YOUR GRDR PROFILE

“It was sometim tght by olr, more tablished people on the gay scene as a way of iatg newer people to a mp worldview, ” says Baker. “Some gay men ed socially, to make one another lgh, sometim by nductg humoro arguments which volved clever sults Polari.

“A word like ‘bona’ didn't jt mean good, meant good by the valu of the gay subculture. 30 Kky Terms Every Gay Man Needs to Know.

If gay life was a giant ballroom (and kd of is), kky leathermen have been lgerg the back, the shadows, for generatns. Long before hookup apps like Grdr and Scff, gay and bisexual men seekg sual sex wore lored handkerchiefs their pant pockets ditg what kd of sex they were seekg and whether they were a domant/top or submissive/bottom.

WHAT DO BBC STAND FOR GAY DATG

The lor is pretty extensive and clus var kks and fetish, and is still ed today by gay clothg brands like Nasty Pig and CellBlock 13 — and, obvly, by kky gay men.

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

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. But how uld you discs all thgs homo-leang right the face of a police officer? 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. 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... If a gay person lled the police pre-1960s, the officer qutn may have arrted that person, focg on the homosexualy rather than the crime.

BLACK GAY SLANG, EXPLAED TO SUBURBAN WHE PEOPLE

Polari was the only way for the gay muny to munite at a time when thori were actively seekg to arrt and make exampl of high profile homosexuals. Hugh Paddick and Kenh Williams starred as Julian and Sandy, a uple of mp, out-of-work actors who threw around Polari and sexual nuendos wh gay abandon. Whe gays, we need to talk about somethg, actually, we need to talk about several somethgs, but for today I want to foc on a particularly vexg tenncy that I’ve been seeg wh alarmg regulary.

”I n’t tell you how many tim I’ve logged onto Grdr — this seems to happen there more than on Scff; I’m not sure why —and seen someone wh the l right there their profile, wh not a b of self-nscns about gays, this needs to stop., for those who aren’t nversant wh gay slang, BBC is an abbreviatn meang “big black ck. ” It’s one of those thgs that has bee so normalized wh gay male disurse that ’s almost ubiquo. It partak of a long history of objectifyg black men, both wh gay male culture and wh Amerin culture at large.