The Fotten Secret Language of Gay Men - Atlas Obscura

Contents:

• REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS GAY DIALECT IS A MAP OF FOTTEN SUBCULTUR
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO
• REMEMBERG POLARI, THE FOTTEN LANGUAGE OF BRA'S GAY COMMUNY
• THE FETS AND JABS OF POLARI, BRA’S GAY SLANG
• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• POLARI: A GAY SLANG THAT FLOURISHED OUT OF PREJUDICE
• TALKG POLARI: HOW THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF POLARI WAS EMBRACED BY THE LGBT+ MUNY AND WHY 'S BEG KEPT ALIVE TODAY'IT WOULD BE AN ABSOLUTE SHAME FOR TO DIE OUT PLETELY AS ’S AN IMPORTANT PART OF HISTORY'MENBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYADAM MAIDMENTREPORTER18:35, 22 AUG 2020UPDATED14:32, 23 AUG 2020BOOKMARK55 YEARS AGO, EVENTS LIKE MANCHTER PRI WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE PLACE BUT MEMBERS OF THE GAY MUNY WERE STILL FDG A WAY OF BEG 'PROUD' (IMAGE: CARL SONIK/MANCHTER EVENG NEWS)THE WEEKLY EMAIL BRGS YOU ALL THE LATT NEWS OM THE LGBTQ+ MUNY PL EXCLIVE TERVIEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOXMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 THE WEEKLY EMAIL BRGS YOU ALL THE LATT NEWS OM THE LGBTQ+ MUNY PL EXCLIVE TERVIEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOXINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

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

This secret gay dialect is a map of culture, and although has long sce died out, is an important part of LGBT herage. But for Brish gay men (and sometim women) the first half of the 20th century, Polari wasn’t jt a cute jargon: It was a secret , one that was absolutely gay Bra before about 50 years ago was dangero bs, and even beg perceived as gay then uld st you a prison sentence (homosexualy was crimalized the UK 1967).

In fact, gay culture was discsed so rarely that newspapers would report on gay people who were arrted as beg guilty of "gross cency, " sce was nsired taboo to even wre (or speak) the words "gay" or "homosexual. " Gay people therefore need a way to munite about their relatnships (and gossip) whout beg unrstood by eavdroppers. As language profsor Pl Baker of the UK’s Lanster Universy wr his 2002 book Polari—The Lost Language of Gay Men, was a lgo of "fast put-downs, ironic self-parody and theatril exaggeratn.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO

" By other acunts, the roots of Polari are at least partially to be found the lgua an ed by Mederranean sailors and trars the Middle Ag and 's difficult to say when exactly Polari began, but at some pot performers—pecially actors, and pecially gay actors—began to e a distct argot to munite wh each other, often for the purpose of gossipg. An omi-palone, therefore, is an effemate man, or sometim jt a gay one, while a palone-omi is a lbian.

The cle of Polari was rapid: In his book, Baker wr that "many gay men unr the age of thirty have never heard of . But few regnized the menacg and erotic blend of fictnal and hidn languag embedd the lyrics of track "Girl Lov Me": Predomantly Nadsat, the language of Anthony Burgs' novel A Clockwork Orange, and Polari, the fotten Brish language of 20th century gay men. Meang "to talk" Italian, Polari was the hidn language ed by gay men England to navigate their sexual inti whout beg ught by police.

REMEMBERG POLARI, THE FOTTEN LANGUAGE OF BRA'S GAY COMMUNY

In the UK, homosexualy was crimalized until 1967, when the Sexual Offenc Act legalized private "homosexual acts" between nsentg adults over the age of 21 (although not Stland or Northern Ireland) to the amendments, beg ught havg gay sex uld rult a prison sentence of two years, or vasive and huiatg hormone therapy. Alan Turg, the gay Brish mathematician behd the famo WW2 "enigma " that cracked enciphered German msag, was given a urse of female hormon by doctors as an alternative to prison after beg prosecuted by the police bee of his a rult of the law and entrenched homophobia, gay men had to be reful not to get ught and outed. One Brish tabloid newspaper, the Sunday Mirror published an article 1962 lled "How to Spot a Possible Homo": "It is high time we had a short urse on how to pick a pervert… Basilly homos fall to two groups - the obv and the ncealed…They are everywhere, and they n be anybody.

In fact, "tra" (meang "sexual partner" both Cant and Polari) is still ed by many gay men today to mean the same thg. Polari proved popular amongst choir boys, dancers, and actors, many of whom were of a "cryptolect" (a form of slang or argot ed exclively avoid certa tectn or judgement om others) than a fully formed language, gay men would drop Polari terms to nversatn: If the listener rpond wh Polari turn, you uld intify each other's sexual orientatn The Last Lbian BarsThere are parallels between the rise of Polari the 20th century and the Victorian practice—famoly adopted by Osr Wil—of wearg green rnatns to secretly dite one's homosexualy. Police btaly the 50s, 60s, and 70s towards gay men was enmic, the realy of which is reprented the abundance of Polari slang for police officers; Betty Bracelets, Lillian Law, Jennifer Jtice.

THE FETS AND JABS OF POLARI, BRA’S GAY SLANG

Stanley and Baker argue that the gay muny rpond to the physil attacks wh verbal irony: It's no cince that the language ed to scribe the police ually terrogated their sense of masculy and bravado.

Meanwhile, life as a homosexual man 1960s London uld feel some ways like beg admted to a secret club. Gay men would pick up other men for sex g Polar, whether was cisg parks, the shadows of public toilets, or viss to the secret twilight unrground world of bars and clubs. Although was not so long ago that Polari was actively spoken on London's streets, 's now fallen out of wispread e—takg on a cult stat amongst gay men due to s historil signifince, rather than practil relevance.

THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

"It's more like a signifier of gay social history, " explas Pl Baker, a Polari expert at Lanster Universy.

"I've seen ed the nam of gay tablishments across the UK and Ireland, such as a Brighton rtrant, Bona Foodie, playg on the Polari term 'bona fi.

POLARI: A GAY SLANG THAT FLOURISHED OUT OF PREJUDICE

As changg social attus followg the crimalizatn of homosexualy allowed gay men to live more openly—and wh Brish rad edy seri Round the Horne popularizg the language to a mastream dience—the reason for s existence was lost.

Polari had bee may be gone, but gay languag ntue to exist muni and natns around the world wh stutnalized or enmic homophobia. And South Ai, two hidn gay languag exist; one for the whe gay muny and another for the black gay muny. Gayle—the whe variant—was the lexin of "koffie-moffi" (Aikaans for "ffee gay men, " a slang name for male flight attendant the 1970s), and parallels Polari heavily by borrowg terms om Brish slang.

IsiNgqumo is the black queer variant, though has Zulu and not Polari was an exprsn of muny, of a nascent sense of shared inty—'s mp, 's funny, 's over the if you don't live a untry where entrenched homophobia requir you to live secretly, many gay men ntue to e language as a marker of their inty.

TALKG POLARI: HOW THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF POLARI WAS EMBRACED BY THE LGBT+ MUNY AND WHY 'S BEG KEPT ALIVE TODAY'IT WOULD BE AN ABSOLUTE SHAME FOR TO DIE OUT PLETELY AS ’S AN IMPORTANT PART OF HISTORY'MENBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYADAM MAIDMENTREPORTER18:35, 22 AUG 2020UPDATED14:32, 23 AUG 2020BOOKMARK55 YEARS AGO, EVENTS LIKE MANCHTER PRI WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE PLACE BUT MEMBERS OF THE GAY MUNY WERE STILL FDG A WAY OF BEG 'PROUD' (IMAGE: CARL SONIK/MANCHTER EVENG NEWS)THE WEEKLY EMAIL BRGS YOU ALL THE LATT NEWS OM THE LGBTQ+ MUNY PL EXCLIVE TERVIEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOXMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 THE WEEKLY EMAIL BRGS YOU ALL THE LATT NEWS OM THE LGBTQ+ MUNY PL EXCLIVE TERVIEWS DIRECT TO YOUR BOXINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

The gay jargon of today reprents a playground of omo bodily tegorizatn and labellg, as displayed proudly Grdr bs: top, bottom, twk, twunk, otter, daddy, bear, cub, and even, dare I say , masc4masc. Our experienc and sir are also d lgo popularized through Ain-Amerin and drag culture: gagged, sickeng, slay, fierce, sha, and, of urse, explas how there are still "functnal" reasons for gay people to e their own slang. I thk gay men generally try to play down their mp si when lookg for sex, so there's very much a kd of performance of masculy.

"And while Polari isn't beg ed much today, n still serve a purpose helpg members of the gay muny navigate a sense of shared inty. Today's LGBTQ muny live liv far more tegrated than their 1960s peers uld possibly have imaged: A tth shown by the closure of gay venu across the UK. Puttg on the Dish (meang "lubg up preparatn for anal sex" Polari) shows two gay men swchg and out of the language orr to openly discs sex and gossip ont of obliv more: The Trans Lawyer Fightg to Keep His Communy Alive"We wanted to highlight Polari's sheer lguistic exuberance, " the directors tell Broadly.