Polari - Brish gay slang

Contents:

• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
• POLARI: THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• THIS SECRET LANGUAGE ALLOWED GAY MEN TO COMMUNITE WHEN HOMOSEXUALY WAS ILLEGAL | © ROBERT V. RUGGIERO / UNSPLASH PARRISH TURNER US BOOKS EDOR 10 MAY 2022 COPY LK FACEBOOK EMAIL TWTER PTERT IF YOU WERE A GAY MAN LIVG ENGLAND THE MID-20TH CENTURY, YOU MIGHT GREET YOUR IENDS WH ‘HOW BONA TO VARDA YOUR DOLLY OLD EEK.’ THIS SECRET LANGUAGE, OR CRYPTOLECT, SERVED TO HELP THOSE THE GAY MUNY WEED OUT WHO WAS ‘ THE LIFE’ AND WHO WAS NOT. VIEW ALL TRIPS THE CULTURE OF PRI CELEBRAT THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STONEWALL RTS. TAKE A SP TO FD YOUR PERFECT SMALL-GROUP TRIP STATN PASSPORTS READY? YOUR NEXT STATN IS... VIEW TRIP SP BALI ICELAND SPA CROATIA EGYPT GREECE SOUTH AI ECUADOR INDIA MEXI JAPAN TURKEY MOROC THAILAND POLARI – A TERM GIVEN TO AN ENGLISH DIALECT THAT B ELEMENTS OF ROMANY, LAT, RHYMG SLANG, CIRC BACKSLANG AND CRIMAL NT – ORIGATED AS FAR BACK AS THE 16TH CENTURY. BY THE 1800S, WAS THE LANGUAGE OF OUTSIRS AND THE DISENANCHISED ENGLAND, AND WAS MOSTLY SPOKEN LONDON’S SOHO NEIGHBOURHOOD. A GAY LIBERATN FRONT MEMBER TAK PART A MONSTRATN 1972 | © CLIVE DIX / SHUTTERSTOCK ITS D AND SECRETIVE NATURE LENDS SELF TO THE LABEL ‘CRYPTOLECT’, OR WHAT THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTNARY LLS “A SECRETIVE LANGUAGE ED TO NFE AND EXCLU OTHERS AND AFFIRM THE CHARACTER AND SOLIDARY OF A MARGALISED SUBCULTURE”. EDINBURGH AND THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS BY TRAIN TRAVERSE STLAND’S MOST SCENIC LANDSP, OM WT AST TO EAST, TRAVELLG BY RAIL VIEW TRIP “YOU’D BE STANDG THERE AT THE BAR, TALKG TO A GAY IEND, [AND] YOU’D NOTICE THE PERSON NEXT TO HIM MIGHT BE LISTENG. [IF YOU] DIDN’T KNOW WHO THEY WERE, YOU’D JT SLIP TO POLARI,” SAYS ACTOR, DRAG QUEEN AND ACTIVIST BETTE BOURNE A 2014 DISCSN WH THOR STUART FEATHER. BOURNE LEARNED POLARI AS A YOUNG MAN THE 1960S. TO THE SUAL ENGLISH-SPEAKG OBSERVER, WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO INTIFY THAT POLARI SPEAKERS WERE G ENGLISH. SOME MAY HAVE REGNISED THE DIALECT AS PART OF THE EFFEMATE GAY MALE STEREOTYPE, BUT THE ACTUAL MEANGS OF THE WORDS WERE CIPHERABLE TO THE UNIATED. MANY POLARI PHRAS MUNITE PRIVATE MATTERS THAT ONE WOULD RATHER THE TAXI DRIVER NOT PICK UP ON. ‘KERTERVER RTZO SO NANTI ARVA’, FOR STANCE, WOULD DITE THAT THE SPEAKER NNOT HAVE SEX BEE HE HAS AN STI. OR ONE MIGHT SAY ‘PUTTG ON THE DISH’ TO DITE THAT HE HAD PREPARED FOR ANAL SEX. BEE A CULTURE TRIPPER! SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO SAVE UP TO 40% ON OUR UNIQUE TRIPS. SIGN UP SEE PRIVACY POLICY. “IT WAS MUCH EASIER BEE THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT YOU TALKG ABOUT. YOU’D JT SAY ‘BONA DISH’ [GREAT BUTT] AND ALL THAT,” SAYS BOURNE. “AND PECIALLY IF WAS SEXUAL, YOU DIDN’T WANT THEM TO KNOW WHAT YOU WERE TALKG ABOUT. YOU JT SLIPPED TO WHOUT THKG.” IN THE 1960S, THE BBC RAD SHOW ROUND THE HORNE GAVE MASTREAM BRA A TASTE OF POLARI. CHARACTERS ED PHRAS DURG THE BROADST TO IMPLY THEIR HOMOSEXUALY, AND THE SHOW WAS ABLE TO PICT HAPPY GAY MEN LGHG ALONGSI THE DIENCE, STEAD OF BEG THE BUTT OF THE JOKE. IN ADDN, POLARI SPEAKERS WERE ABLE TO UNRSTAND THE DOUBLE AND TRIPLE NUENDOS THAT WOULD NOT HAVE MA THROUGH CENSORS IF THE JOK HAD BEEN WRTEN PLA ENGLISH. WHILE ROUND THE HORNE DID LEAD TO A SHORT POPULARISATN OF THE LANGUAGE, ULTIMATELY HURT S EXCLIVY. THIS, BED WH THE CRIMALISATN OF HOMOSEXUAL ACTS 1967, LED TO A CLE AGE. KENH WILLIAMS’S ‘ROUND THE HORNE’ GAVE MASTREAM BRA A TASTE OF POLARI | © GHW PRODS / KOBAL / SHUTTERSTOCK “THE YOUNGER GAY MEN WERE KD OF G OUT THE ’70S AND THEY HAD DIFFERENT VALU,” SAYS LGUISTIC REARCHER PL BAKER THE 2018 DOCUMENTARY POLARI – A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN. “THEY [DIDN’T] WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WH SECRECY AND HIDG. INSTEAD, THERE ARE THE NCEPTS LIKE GAY PRI AND GAY LIBERATN AND G OUT. AND POLARI IS SEEN AS TO THE TRIMENT OF THOSE THGS.” IN MORE RECENT S, EFFORTS TO PRERVE THE LANGUAGE HAVE SEEN MIXED SUCCS. ARTISTS HAVE CREATED WORKS THAT CELEBRATE POLARI, BUT ORR TO KEEP A LANGUAGE TLY ALIVE, REQUIR ERS. WH THE GROWTH ACCEPTANCE OF LGBTQ INTI, THE NEED FOR SECRECY, AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE E OF POLARI, HAS SHIFTED. POLARI IS NO LONGER SPOKEN DAY TO DAY, BUT DO EXIST ART AND CULTURAL ARTEFACTS. IN 1990, THE CHARY, PROTT AND STREET PERFORMANCE ANISATN THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE FOUND A LONDON CHAPTER AND QUICKLY ADOPTED POLARI AS THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR OFFICIAL CEREMONI, REPLACG LAT. THE SISTERS E DRAG AND RELIG INOGRAPHY THEIR PERFORMANC, SOME OF WHICH VOLVE PARODI OF THE CATHOLIC MASS THEIR IATN RUALS. “IT IS MORE THAN A MYSTIL LANGUAGE, HALF FOTTEN AND ONLY HALF UNRSTOOD,” SCRIBE ANNA LIVIA AND KIRA HALL QUEERLY PHRASED (1997), A BOOK EXPLORG THE WAYS THE LGBTQ MUNY RELAT TO LANGUAGE. “IT IS ALSO THE LANGUAGE OF IRONY AND PARODY, AS ARE THE SISTERS’ CELEBRATNS THEMSELV.” THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE FOUND A LONDON CHAPTER 1990 AND QUICKLY ADOPTED POLARI | © PL BROWN / SHUTTERSTOCK IN 2017, POLARI GARNERED ATTENTN AGA WHEN A TRAEE PRIT ATTEMPTED TO E THE CRYPTOLECT TO “QUEER THE LURGY OF EVENG PRAYER”. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ORDAND’S PLAN WAS TO MONSTRATE THAT THE CHRISTIAN SERVICE ULD BE LIVERED A WAY THAT HONOURED THE CULTURAL SPECIFICY OF THE LGBTQ MUNY DURG LGBT HISTORY MONTH. UNFORTUNATELY, THE PLAN BACKFIRED. MANY CHRISTIANS, GAY AND STRAIGHT ALIKE, WERE MA UNFORTABLE BY THE CHANG THAT TURNED “GLORY BE TO THE FATHER, AND TO THE SON, AND TO THE HOLY SPIR” TO “FABENS BE TO THE AUNTIE, AND TO THE HOMIE CHAVVIE, AND TO THE FANTABULOSA FAIRY”. BEE THIS CHANGE TO THE LURGY WAS NOT APPROVED BY THE CHURCH, A REPRENTATIVE LATER APOLOGISED FOR ANY OFFENCE ED. THE LEGACY OF POLARI HAS EVEN PERATED MASTREAM ENGLISH. IN LONDON, PL BURSTON MANAG THE POLARI LERARY SALON, A SHOWSE FOUND 2007 FOR LGBTQ WRERS AND PERFORMERS. WHILE THE SALON TAK S NAME OM POLARI, PERFORMERS DON’T ACTUALLY SPEAK . BURSTON NOT THE FLUENCE POLARI HAS. “I DON’T THK MOST NTEMPORARY LGBTQ NOVELISTS ARE NSCLY DRAWG ON POLARI AS A LANGUAGE,” HE TELLS CULTURE TRIP. “IT TENDS TO APPEAR MORE HISTORIL FICTN, E.G. THE WORK OF JAKE ARNOTT OR NEIL BARTLETT. BUT AS WH MANY DIALECTS, THERE IS A LEGACY – ELEMENTS OF THE LANGUAGE THAT HAVE ENTERED MON CURRENCY. WORDS LIKE ‘NAFF’ OR ‘ZHOOSH’, FOR EXAMPLE. PEOPLE E THEM WHOUT NECSARILY KNOWG THAT THEY WERE ONCE PART OF THIS UNRGROUND D LANGUAGE.” POLARI’S FLUENCE N STILL BE SEEN WORDS SUCH AS ‘DRAG’, ‘KIKI’ AND ‘MP’. IN POLARI, ‘MP’ MEANS ‘EXCSIVE OR SHOWY OR AFFECTG MANNERISMS OF THE OPPOSE SEX’, AND TODAY THE TERM IS ED TO REFER TO MANY FORMS OF THEATRICS THAT LEAN TO THE EXTREME, SUCH AS DRAG PERFORMANC. SOME DRAG QUEENS E POLARI TERMS THEIR PERFORMANC | © NILS JENSEN / SHUTTERSTOCK AS MUNI NTUE TO FORM AROUND LGBTQ INTI, POLARI EXEMPLIFI AN IMPORTANT MOMENT GAY HISTORY. IT WAS A LANGUAGE THAT BROUGHT GAY MEN TOGETHER AND NNECTED THEM TO A CULTURAL LEGACY, ONE THAT N STILL BE SEEN SLANG TODAY – EVEN IF MANY SPEAKERS DON’T REALISE .WANT TO LEARN POLARI? CHECK OUT THE POLARI APP OR FANTABULOSA: A DICTNARY OF POLARI AND GAY SLANG. PRI 2019 MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STONEWALL RTS NEW YORK CY AND THE BEGNGS OF THE TERNATNAL PRI MOVEMENT. TO CELEBRATE, CULTURE TRIP SPOTLIGHTS LGBTQ PNEERS CHANGG THE LANDSPE OF LOVE AROUND THE WORLD. WELE TO THE CULTURE OF PRI. VOLNIC ICELAND EPIC TRIP MEET OUR LOL INSIR HANNA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A GUIDE? 2 YEARS. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB? IT'S THE PERSONAL NTACT, THE PERSONAL EXPERIENC. I LOVE MEETG PEOPLE OM ALL OVER THE WORLD... I REALLY LIKE GETTG TO KNOW EVERYONE AND FEELG LIKE I'M TRAVELG WH A GROUP OF IENDS. WHAT DESTINATION IS ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET-LIST? I HAVE SO MANY PLAC ON MY LIST, BUT I WOULD REALLY LOBE TO GO TO AI. I NSIR MYSELF AN “ADVENTURE GIRL” AND AI FEELS LIKE THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE! EVERY CULTURE TRIP SMALL-GROUP ADVENTURE IS LED BY A LOL INSIR JT LIKE HANNA. SEE OUR CULTURE TRIPS KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?
• THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY
• POLARI, THE FOTTEN GAY LANGUAGE
• THE LOST GAY LANGUAGE OF BRA'S '60S
• WATCH: THE ALMOST EXTCT 'GAY LANGUAGE'
• POLARI - THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• GAY DICTNARY
• THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

Vada (“look at”), dolly eek (a pretty face), and chicken (a young guy) are all words om the lexin of Polari, a secret language ed by gay men Bra at a time when homosexualy was illegal. In the 1930s was spoken among the theater typ of the Wt End, om which crossed over to the cy’s gay pubs, gag s stat as the secret language of gay men. In England, homosexualy was officially nsired a crime until 1967, when the Sexual Offenc Act legalized private “homosexual acts” between nsentg adults over 21.

) The Act me a after the ernment’s Wolfenn Report, which igned bate by remendg the partial crimalizatn of homosexual acts. Durg the terim years, when beg openly non-straight brought the risks of social isolatn and crimal prosecutn, Polari provid gay men wh a subtle way to fd one another for pannship and sex.

The Hidn History of Gay Life at Sea, Pl Baker and Jo Stanley wre that Polari played a role “allowg gay men to nstct a humoroly performative inty for themselv. In the late ‘60s, as gay liberatn groups were fightg for regnn and equaly, Polari h mastream Brish pop-culture the form of Julian and Sandy, two flamboyant, not-officially-but-pretty-obvly gay characters on a BBC rad show lled Round the Horne. Julian and Sandy prented a nundm: as lovable gay characters on a very popular show, they enared themselv to Brish dienc an era of homophobia.

POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE

By the early ‘70s, as LGBT groups fought for rights beyond those granted by the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act, the image of the mp gay man had bee the target of ire. Many who were lobbyg for sexual equaly, says Dolan, “felt was about gay people prentg themselv as jt ordary folks. When Ecclton and Fairbairn posted the film onle, they were surprised by the enthiastic rponse—and the level of fascatn wh Polari, this myster, cipherable “gay language.

“The kds of nts still exist where opprsn is still entrenched, ” says Ecclton, cg Swardspeak, a language based on English and Tagalog that is ed among gay men the Philipp.

Dolan brgs up the pot that gay men shouldn’t have to be “straight-actg” orr to be accepted: “Might not be more fun to embrace a b more mp and actually have fun wh ourselv and wh each other?

POLARI: THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

”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. Maly gay men, although also lbians, female impersonators, theatre people, prostut and sea-queens (gay men the merchant navy).

Straight people who were nnected to the theatre also ed , and there are numero s of gay men teachg to their straight iends. 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 allowed s ers to nstct a view of realy based upon their own valu, or to give nam to thgs that mastream culture hadn't regnised (such as certa forms of gay sex). Then the early 1970s, gay liberatnists wanted to move away om mp stereotyp of gay men, and Polari was creasgly viewed as unattractive and old fashned.

THIS SECRET LANGUAGE ALLOWED GAY MEN TO COMMUNITE WHEN HOMOSEXUALY WAS ILLEGAL | © ROBERT V. RUGGIERO / UNSPLASH PARRISH TURNER US BOOKS EDOR 10 MAY 2022 COPY LK FACEBOOK EMAIL TWTER PTERT IF YOU WERE A GAY MAN LIVG ENGLAND THE MID-20TH CENTURY, YOU MIGHT GREET YOUR IENDS WH ‘HOW BONA TO VARDA YOUR DOLLY OLD EEK.’ THIS SECRET LANGUAGE, OR CRYPTOLECT, SERVED TO HELP THOSE THE GAY MUNY WEED OUT WHO WAS ‘ THE LIFE’ AND WHO WAS NOT. VIEW ALL TRIPS THE CULTURE OF PRI CELEBRAT THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STONEWALL RTS. TAKE A SP TO FD YOUR PERFECT SMALL-GROUP TRIP STATN PASSPORTS READY? YOUR NEXT STATN IS... VIEW TRIP SP BALI ICELAND SPA CROATIA EGYPT GREECE SOUTH AI ECUADOR INDIA MEXI JAPAN TURKEY MOROC THAILAND POLARI – A TERM GIVEN TO AN ENGLISH DIALECT THAT B ELEMENTS OF ROMANY, LAT, RHYMG SLANG, CIRC BACKSLANG AND CRIMAL NT – ORIGATED AS FAR BACK AS THE 16TH CENTURY. BY THE 1800S, WAS THE LANGUAGE OF OUTSIRS AND THE DISENANCHISED ENGLAND, AND WAS MOSTLY SPOKEN LONDON’S SOHO NEIGHBOURHOOD. A GAY LIBERATN FRONT MEMBER TAK PART A MONSTRATN 1972 | © CLIVE DIX / SHUTTERSTOCK ITS D AND SECRETIVE NATURE LENDS SELF TO THE LABEL ‘CRYPTOLECT’, OR WHAT THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTNARY LLS “A SECRETIVE LANGUAGE ED TO NFE AND EXCLU OTHERS AND AFFIRM THE CHARACTER AND SOLIDARY OF A MARGALISED SUBCULTURE”. EDINBURGH AND THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS BY TRAIN TRAVERSE STLAND’S MOST SCENIC LANDSP, OM WT AST TO EAST, TRAVELLG BY RAIL VIEW TRIP “YOU’D BE STANDG THERE AT THE BAR, TALKG TO A GAY IEND, [AND] YOU’D NOTICE THE PERSON NEXT TO HIM MIGHT BE LISTENG. [IF YOU] DIDN’T KNOW WHO THEY WERE, YOU’D JT SLIP TO POLARI,” SAYS ACTOR, DRAG QUEEN AND ACTIVIST BETTE BOURNE A 2014 DISCSN WH THOR STUART FEATHER. BOURNE LEARNED POLARI AS A YOUNG MAN THE 1960S. TO THE SUAL ENGLISH-SPEAKG OBSERVER, WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO INTIFY THAT POLARI SPEAKERS WERE G ENGLISH. SOME MAY HAVE REGNISED THE DIALECT AS PART OF THE EFFEMATE GAY MALE STEREOTYPE, BUT THE ACTUAL MEANGS OF THE WORDS WERE CIPHERABLE TO THE UNIATED. MANY POLARI PHRAS MUNITE PRIVATE MATTERS THAT ONE WOULD RATHER THE TAXI DRIVER NOT PICK UP ON. ‘KERTERVER RTZO SO NANTI ARVA’, FOR STANCE, WOULD DITE THAT THE SPEAKER NNOT HAVE SEX BEE HE HAS AN STI. OR ONE MIGHT SAY ‘PUTTG ON THE DISH’ TO DITE THAT HE HAD PREPARED FOR ANAL SEX. BEE A CULTURE TRIPPER! SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO SAVE UP TO 40% ON OUR UNIQUE TRIPS. SIGN UP SEE PRIVACY POLICY. “IT WAS MUCH EASIER BEE THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT YOU TALKG ABOUT. YOU’D JT SAY ‘BONA DISH’ [GREAT BUTT] AND ALL THAT,” SAYS BOURNE. “AND PECIALLY IF WAS SEXUAL, YOU DIDN’T WANT THEM TO KNOW WHAT YOU WERE TALKG ABOUT. YOU JT SLIPPED TO WHOUT THKG.” IN THE 1960S, THE BBC RAD SHOW ROUND THE HORNE GAVE MASTREAM BRA A TASTE OF POLARI. CHARACTERS ED PHRAS DURG THE BROADST TO IMPLY THEIR HOMOSEXUALY, AND THE SHOW WAS ABLE TO PICT HAPPY GAY MEN LGHG ALONGSI THE DIENCE, STEAD OF BEG THE BUTT OF THE JOKE. IN ADDN, POLARI SPEAKERS WERE ABLE TO UNRSTAND THE DOUBLE AND TRIPLE NUENDOS THAT WOULD NOT HAVE MA THROUGH CENSORS IF THE JOK HAD BEEN WRTEN PLA ENGLISH. WHILE ROUND THE HORNE DID LEAD TO A SHORT POPULARISATN OF THE LANGUAGE, ULTIMATELY HURT S EXCLIVY. THIS, BED WH THE CRIMALISATN OF HOMOSEXUAL ACTS 1967, LED TO A CLE AGE. KENH WILLIAMS’S ‘ROUND THE HORNE’ GAVE MASTREAM BRA A TASTE OF POLARI | © GHW PRODS / KOBAL / SHUTTERSTOCK “THE YOUNGER GAY MEN WERE KD OF G OUT THE ’70S AND THEY HAD DIFFERENT VALU,” SAYS LGUISTIC REARCHER PL BAKER THE 2018 DOCUMENTARY POLARI – A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN. “THEY [DIDN’T] WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WH SECRECY AND HIDG. INSTEAD, THERE ARE THE NCEPTS LIKE GAY PRI AND GAY LIBERATN AND G OUT. AND POLARI IS SEEN AS TO THE TRIMENT OF THOSE THGS.” IN MORE RECENT S, EFFORTS TO PRERVE THE LANGUAGE HAVE SEEN MIXED SUCCS. ARTISTS HAVE CREATED WORKS THAT CELEBRATE POLARI, BUT ORR TO KEEP A LANGUAGE TLY ALIVE, REQUIR ERS. WH THE GROWTH ACCEPTANCE OF LGBTQ INTI, THE NEED FOR SECRECY, AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE E OF POLARI, HAS SHIFTED. POLARI IS NO LONGER SPOKEN DAY TO DAY, BUT DO EXIST ART AND CULTURAL ARTEFACTS. IN 1990, THE CHARY, PROTT AND STREET PERFORMANCE ANISATN THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE FOUND A LONDON CHAPTER AND QUICKLY ADOPTED POLARI AS THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR OFFICIAL CEREMONI, REPLACG LAT. THE SISTERS E DRAG AND RELIG INOGRAPHY THEIR PERFORMANC, SOME OF WHICH VOLVE PARODI OF THE CATHOLIC MASS THEIR IATN RUALS. “IT IS MORE THAN A MYSTIL LANGUAGE, HALF FOTTEN AND ONLY HALF UNRSTOOD,” SCRIBE ANNA LIVIA AND KIRA HALL QUEERLY PHRASED (1997), A BOOK EXPLORG THE WAYS THE LGBTQ MUNY RELAT TO LANGUAGE. “IT IS ALSO THE LANGUAGE OF IRONY AND PARODY, AS ARE THE SISTERS’ CELEBRATNS THEMSELV.” THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE FOUND A LONDON CHAPTER 1990 AND QUICKLY ADOPTED POLARI | © PL BROWN / SHUTTERSTOCK IN 2017, POLARI GARNERED ATTENTN AGA WHEN A TRAEE PRIT ATTEMPTED TO E THE CRYPTOLECT TO “QUEER THE LURGY OF EVENG PRAYER”. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ORDAND’S PLAN WAS TO MONSTRATE THAT THE CHRISTIAN SERVICE ULD BE LIVERED A WAY THAT HONOURED THE CULTURAL SPECIFICY OF THE LGBTQ MUNY DURG LGBT HISTORY MONTH. UNFORTUNATELY, THE PLAN BACKFIRED. MANY CHRISTIANS, GAY AND STRAIGHT ALIKE, WERE MA UNFORTABLE BY THE CHANG THAT TURNED “GLORY BE TO THE FATHER, AND TO THE SON, AND TO THE HOLY SPIR” TO “FABENS BE TO THE AUNTIE, AND TO THE HOMIE CHAVVIE, AND TO THE FANTABULOSA FAIRY”. BEE THIS CHANGE TO THE LURGY WAS NOT APPROVED BY THE CHURCH, A REPRENTATIVE LATER APOLOGISED FOR ANY OFFENCE ED. THE LEGACY OF POLARI HAS EVEN PERATED MASTREAM ENGLISH. IN LONDON, PL BURSTON MANAG THE POLARI LERARY SALON, A SHOWSE FOUND 2007 FOR LGBTQ WRERS AND PERFORMERS. WHILE THE SALON TAK S NAME OM POLARI, PERFORMERS DON’T ACTUALLY SPEAK . BURSTON NOT THE FLUENCE POLARI HAS. “I DON’T THK MOST NTEMPORARY LGBTQ NOVELISTS ARE NSCLY DRAWG ON POLARI AS A LANGUAGE,” HE TELLS CULTURE TRIP. “IT TENDS TO APPEAR MORE HISTORIL FICTN, E.G. THE WORK OF JAKE ARNOTT OR NEIL BARTLETT. BUT AS WH MANY DIALECTS, THERE IS A LEGACY – ELEMENTS OF THE LANGUAGE THAT HAVE ENTERED MON CURRENCY. WORDS LIKE ‘NAFF’ OR ‘ZHOOSH’, FOR EXAMPLE. PEOPLE E THEM WHOUT NECSARILY KNOWG THAT THEY WERE ONCE PART OF THIS UNRGROUND D LANGUAGE.” POLARI’S FLUENCE N STILL BE SEEN WORDS SUCH AS ‘DRAG’, ‘KIKI’ AND ‘MP’. IN POLARI, ‘MP’ MEANS ‘EXCSIVE OR SHOWY OR AFFECTG MANNERISMS OF THE OPPOSE SEX’, AND TODAY THE TERM IS ED TO REFER TO MANY FORMS OF THEATRICS THAT LEAN TO THE EXTREME, SUCH AS DRAG PERFORMANC. SOME DRAG QUEENS E POLARI TERMS THEIR PERFORMANC | © NILS JENSEN / SHUTTERSTOCK AS MUNI NTUE TO FORM AROUND LGBTQ INTI, POLARI EXEMPLIFI AN IMPORTANT MOMENT GAY HISTORY. IT WAS A LANGUAGE THAT BROUGHT GAY MEN TOGETHER AND NNECTED THEM TO A CULTURAL LEGACY, ONE THAT N STILL BE SEEN SLANG TODAY – EVEN IF MANY SPEAKERS DON’T REALISE .WANT TO LEARN POLARI? CHECK OUT THE POLARI APP OR FANTABULOSA: A DICTNARY OF POLARI AND GAY SLANG. PRI 2019 MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STONEWALL RTS NEW YORK CY AND THE BEGNGS OF THE TERNATNAL PRI MOVEMENT. TO CELEBRATE, CULTURE TRIP SPOTLIGHTS LGBTQ PNEERS CHANGG THE LANDSPE OF LOVE AROUND THE WORLD. WELE TO THE CULTURE OF PRI. VOLNIC ICELAND EPIC TRIP MEET OUR LOL INSIR HANNA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A GUIDE? 2 YEARS. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB? IT'S THE PERSONAL NTACT, THE PERSONAL EXPERIENC. I LOVE MEETG PEOPLE OM ALL OVER THE WORLD... I REALLY LIKE GETTG TO KNOW EVERYONE AND FEELG LIKE I'M TRAVELG WH A GROUP OF IENDS. WHAT DESTINATION IS ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET-LIST? I HAVE SO MANY PLAC ON MY LIST, BUT I WOULD REALLY LOBE TO GO TO AI. I NSIR MYSELF AN “ADVENTURE GIRL” AND AI FEELS LIKE THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE! EVERY CULTURE TRIP SMALL-GROUP ADVENTURE IS LED BY A LOL INSIR JT LIKE HANNA. SEE OUR CULTURE TRIPS KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?

Therefore, wh creased globalisatn and fluenc on the Brish gay scene om Ameri the 1970s and 1980s, Polari was not somethg which was set to ntue.

THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY

Current attus towards are still agmented and ambivalent wh the gay scene, wh some people claimg to be silly, femisg and outdated, others wantg a revival and others thkg 's an important part of gay herage but shouldn't necsarily be brought back. In private, groups of gay men - particularly olr or middle-aged men ntue to e , and the late 1990s I had emails om people who said that they ed certa gay clubs London, havg merged wh other forms of slang (e.

(1994) "Gayspeak, the Lguistic Frge: Bona Polari, Camp, Queerspeak and Beyond" In The Margs of the Cy: Gay Men's Urban Liv, ed. If you were a gay man livg England the mid-20th century, you might greet your iends wh ‘How bona to varda your dolly old eek.

’ This secret language, or cryptolect, served to help those the gay muny weed out who was ‘ the life’ and who was not. EDINBURGH AND THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS BY TRAIN Traverse Stland’s most scenic landsp, om wt ast to east, travellg by rail View Trip “You’d be standg there at the bar, talkg to a gay iend, [and] you’d notice the person next to him might be listeng. Some may have regnised the dialect as part of the effemate gay male stereotype, but the actual meangs of the words were cipherable to the uniated.

POLARI, THE FOTTEN GAY LANGUAGE

Characters ed phras durg the broadst to imply their homosexualy, and the show was able to pict happy gay men lghg alongsi the dience, stead of beg the butt of the joke.

THE LOST GAY LANGUAGE OF BRA'S '60S

“The younger gay men were kd of g out the ’70s and they had different valu, ” says lguistic rearcher Pl Baker the 2018 documentary Polari – A Short Documentary About the Lost Language of Gay Men. Many Christians, gay and straight alike, were ma unfortable by the chang that turned “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spir” to “Fabens be to the Auntie, and to the Homie Chavvie, and to the Fantabulosa Fairy”. It was a language that brought gay men together and nnected them to a cultural legacy, one that n still be seen slang today – even if many speakers don’t realise to learn Polari?

” You and I have jt parlayed majtic Polari, the “lguistic mongrel” of thiev, travellg entertaers and homosexuals. In her dissertatn on the lost gay language, Heather Taylor explas that Polari likely grew out of nt slang: phras or tchwords passed among travellers, vagabonds and crimals. As gay scen began nsolidatg urban centr the 19th and 20th centuri, police actn agast them grew, necsatg the sular muny of which Polari was a key ponent.

WATCH: THE ALMOST EXTCT 'GAY LANGUAGE'

After England crimalized homosexualy 1967, public opn slowly started g around for the omi-palon and palone-omis (mannish women, ie lbians). Wh gay pri on the rise alongsi a zegeist of virile gay masculy, Polari, mp behavur and effemacy — seen as irreverent and rnal symbols of prr reprsn — were nigrated and rejected.

I didn’t even learn about Polari until late 2013, but I owe my newfound knowledge to the Polari Rosetta Stone program piled by Damien Atks for the Buddi Bad Tim productn of The Gay Herage Project.

POLARI - THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

Atks’s spoof retroduced Polari to many gays who might have gone their whole liv whout hearg nary a “d ttage” or a “zhooshy shh bag. Homosexualy was driven so far unrground the Uned Kgdom that many turned to a new, secretive yet exprsive form of munitn. Polari first me about the theatre and the gay subculture Bra the 1950s and 1960s, beg more wily known om s hidn e by mp rad characters a popular BBC rad show which ran om 1964 to 1969.

GAY DICTNARY

It grew up primarily to disguise homosexual activy om potentially hostile outsirs (such as unrver policemen), but also bee many gay men worked entertament (cludg circ, hence the many borrowgs om Romany Polari). It was also ed extensively the Merchant Navy, where many gay men joed cise ships (particularly P&O) as waers, stewards and entertaers. Polari had begun to fall to dise by the late 1960s, the populary of Julian and Sandy ensured that this secret language was public property, and the gay liberatnists of the 1970s viewed as rather gradg, divisive and polilly rrect (a lot of was ed to gossip about or cricise people, as well as discsg sexual explos).

THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

In 2002 two books on Polari were published, Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men, and Fantabulosa: A Dictnary of Polari and Gay Slang (both by Pl Baker). NPR's Stt Simon talks wh lguistics rearcher Pl Baker about Polari, a secret language spoken by gay men Bra the 1960s.