Polari - Brish gay slang

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

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. ”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.

GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE

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.

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”. “Words relatg to gay sex or evaluatg male bodi – but also monstrat an alternative value system. “It was sometim tght by olr, more tablished people on the gay scene as a way of iatg newer people to a mp worldview, ” says Baker.

WHAT DO BBC STAND FOR GAY DATG

“Some gay men ed socially, to make one another lgh, sometim by nductg humoro arguments which volved clever sults Polari. “A word like ‘bona’ didn't jt mean good, meant good by the valu of the gay subculture.