Faggots, punks, and prostut: the evolvg language of gay men

Contents:

• GAY BRA GLOSSARY
• THE SECRET GAY LANGUAGE YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF...
• 15 EVERYDAY WORDS ED AS GAY SLURS DIFFERENT LANGUAG

GAY BRA GLOSSARY

In much of my lifetime, Brish English, "fag" was more monly ed to refer to a cigarette than was ed as a slur to refer to gay men; fact, I have only begun to hear "fag" and "faggot" beg ed by native Brish English speakers a rogatory manner the last 12 or so years. Brish English speakers, or any English speakers who have lived the UK sce at least the 90's: when do you remember the terms "faggot" and "fag" beg more monly ed as a slur agast gay men Brish English?

This is not patible wh what I was observg my qutn, for I only observed that, my experience, "faggot" and "fag" ed to be que unmon Brish English as rogatory terms for gay men.

Ntie – bear – benr – bottom – bum band – bum chum – bumr – bummer – butch – butt hugger – rpet muncher – tcher – chaser – chickenhawk – chicken hawk – cub – drag kg – dyke – fag – faggot – Fairy – femme – flamer – u – fudge packer – gay – gaylord – girliend – GLBT – hasbian – homo – homo thug – the closet – jobby jabber – lemon – lez – lipstick lbian – mge muncher – mo – nellie – nelly – Peter Puffer – pole smoker – poof – Poofter – power top – puff – queer – shirt lifter – sister – versatile – wasbian.

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

(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 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.

15 EVERYDAY WORDS ED AS GAY SLURS DIFFERENT LANGUAG

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”. The street ns parallel to the Rochdale Canal and me to s own as an tablished gay district the 1990's wh the onset of greater tolerance for gay life and bs, pecially Manchter. Homosexual - term first ed 19th century Germany and taken up the UK by Havelock Ellis the early 20th century to scribe same sex attractn.

Homosexual Law Reform Society - (HLRS) an anisatn that mpaigned the UK for chang the laws that crimalised homosexual relatns between men.

Jack Sl - psdonym of the thor of The Ss of the Ci of the Pla - one of the first pornographic, homoerotic novels published England 1881. Lbians and Gays Support the Mers (LGSM) - was a an alliance of lbians and gay men who supported the Natnal Unn of Meworkers durg the 1984-1985 mer's strike. Outed - when a lbian, gay, bi or trans person's sexual orientatn is revealed to someone else whout their wh Pri, Greater Manchter Police Mm & Archiv, ManchterP.

The 2017 Policg and Crime Act implements what is known rmally as the "Alan Turg Law" which pardoned 50, 000 men who for homosexual acts that were no longer nsired offenc. The Calls and Lower Briggate - the ma gay area Leeds and home to the New Penny pub and Charlie's, inic and long-standg gay venu the cy.

Alan Turg Statue - a statue of Alan Turg Sackville Park near the Gay Village Manchter honours the mathematil geni who helped to crack the German Enigma s World War II. Wolfenn Report - aka the Report of the Departmental Commtee on Homosexual Offenc and Prostutn published 1957 after a number of proment dividuals cludg John Gielgud, Alan Turg, Lord Montagu of Beli, Michael Pt-Rivers and Peter Wilblood were tried and nvicted of homosexual offenc.

Many untri around the world have their own versn of queer slang, om Brish gay slang rived om the rhymg slang Polari to beki – the Philipp’ queer language that borrows om a slew of sourc, cludg pop culture, Japane, Spanish, and the untry’s lol languag. But the Onle Slang Dictnary c 1960s gay male culture as the earlit known source, particularly rtoonist Joe Johnson’s characters “Miss Thg” and “Big Dick”, which appeared early issu of The Advote.

Homosexualy remaed illegal across the Uned Stat the mid-twentieth century – that is, until Illois beme the first state to crimalize same-sex relatns 1962. In the 60s and 70s, gay men even had a “hanky ” – a system that volved wearg bandanas wh lors that signified whether you were a top, bottom, to BDSM, etc. In the 60s, Lesch was the print of a gay rights anizatn lled the Mattache Society and me up wh the “Sip-In” – a monstratn held at New York Cy bars that banned service to out gay people.