The LGBTQ+ muny is known for havg unique and creative ways of self-exprsn. One secret language began as an act of fiance agast an anti-gay society.
Contents:
- POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
- GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
- WHAT DO BBC STAND FOR GAY DATG
POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
On the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offenc Act Bra, Fna Macdonald looks at a gay slang that beme a form of fiance. * bbc gay lingo *
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.
GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
An troductn to Polari, the old Brish gay slang, cludg a word list. * bbc gay lingo *
”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. 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.
WHAT DO BBC STAND FOR GAY DATG
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.