Once monly spoken by gay men across London, Polari has largely fallen out of e. But s fluence ntu to endure to this day—even makg a surprise appearance Bowie's last album.
Contents:
- REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HELPED CREATE LGBT CULTURE
- POLARI: THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
- REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS GAY DIALECT IS A MAP OF FOTTEN SUBCULTUR
- POLARI, THE FOTTEN GAY LANGUAGE
- REMEMBERG POLARI, THE FOTTEN LANGUAGE OF BRA'S GAY COMMUNY
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO
REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HELPED CREATE LGBT CULTURE
Heavily ed by Brish gays the 1920s bee of anti-homosexual laws, efforts are beg ma to prerve an entirely queer-based slang. * polari gay *
Wh words like "sha, " "tea, " and "kiki" proment queer culture, sometim feels like 's impossible for straights to unrstand gays...
But once upon a time, that was exactly what Brish gays wanted. Called Polari, the gay slang is posed of back slang, circ slang, and broken Yiddish and Italian.
POLARI: THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
The word "ferridooza" is a perfect example of how Polari, a secret language for gay men, was created out of many subculture dialects. * polari gay *
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. 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.
REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS GAY DIALECT IS A MAP OF FOTTEN SUBCULTUR
When homosexualy was illegal up until 1967 the Gay Communy had to e our very own language. Polari first me about the theatre and the gay subculture Bra the 1950s and 1960s * polari gay *
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. Such is the story of Polari, the secret d language ed by gay men the UK om the 1920s-70s.
Comg to s own the late 1940s, Polari was the secret dialect of the unrground gay scene, allowg men to nverse eely about themselv and their sexual activi a time when they uld be imprisoned for their sexualy. In Queer London, a book documentg the history of gay culture the cy, thor Matt Houlbrook scrib Polari as “a way of creatg a space which to be queer, ” and nothg uld be more te. Lally-drags are troers, and sheh — adapted om the French chichi — means showy, overly affected and gay.
POLARI, THE FOTTEN GAY LANGUAGE
* polari gay *
“Fsy” also lacks the nuance of sheh, an adjective that scrib the troers both visually and culturally, bee if somethg is sheh is also herently gay. * Although the term “drag” (meang men drsg women’s clothg) dat back to 1800s theatre termology, by bg wh the word “queen” or “quean” (which was a self-intifier for gay men London the mid 1800s-mid 1900s), Polari speakers created the current meang of the term “drag queen”: Queer men/people who drs women’s clothg for entertament.
REMEMBERG POLARI, THE FOTTEN LANGUAGE OF BRA'S GAY COMMUNY
Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men. Maly gay men, although also lbians, female impersonators, theatre people, prostut and sea-queens (gay men the merchant navy). It was not limed to gay men, however.
Straight people who were nnected to the theatre also ed , and there are numero s of gay men teachg to their straight iends. bch - tty gay man or to pla. omi-palone - gay man.
Polari - to talk, or the gay language self.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO
tra - a gay sex partner, often one who don't nsir himself to be gay.
Most monly, the 1930s-1970s, private gay drkg tablishments, particularly London. There are numero reasons: as a form of protectn and secrecy - exclud outsirs who wouldn't be able to tell what you were talkg about, and allowed gay people to nceal their sexualy.
It was a form of humour and mp performance, and also a way of iatg people to the gay or theatre subculture.