A Secret Gay Language Has Gone Mastream the Philipp

Contents:

• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• THIS SECRET LANGUAGE ALLOWED GAY MEN TO COMMUNITE WHEN HOMOSEXUALY WAS ILLEGAL
• REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HELPED CREATE LGBT CULTURE
• GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
• A SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HAS GONE MASTREAM THE PHILIPP
• GAYLE: THE LANGUAGE OF APARTHEID SOUTH AI’S GAY UNRGROUND

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.

Among nfirmed gay men, however, there was nothg subtle about Polari nversatns. 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.

THIS SECRET LANGUAGE ALLOWED GAY MEN TO COMMUNITE WHEN HOMOSEXUALY WAS ILLEGAL

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. But the ‘60s, they were the extent of gay men’s media reprentatn Bra.

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.

But some gay liberatn groups me to rent the image that they—and Polari—perpetuated. 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.

REDISVERG POLARI: HOW THIS SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HELPED CREATE LGBT CULTURE

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.

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

Given s associatns wh stereotypil reprentatns of gay men, Polari may not seem to have a place the 21st century. But the backlash agast mp has mellowed—’s not the way to be gay, but ’s one way among many.

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? Though largely fotten, some of s words n be found dictnari today.“Bona to vada your dolly old eek!”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. It means “Good to see your nice face.”Until 1967, homosexual sex was illegal England and Wal.

A SECRET GAY LANGUAGE HAS GONE MASTREAM THE PHILIPP

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.” It had spng up the 1700s and 1800s as a secret language vagrants, erant performers, sailors and “gypsi” – many of s words, fact, rive om the Romany people sttered across Europe.Brish edian Kenh Williams often spoke Polari his performanc on BBC rad and TV programm the 1950s and 60s, some of which had up to 20 ln listeners at a time, troducg the language to a much wir dience.

Wh words like "sha, " "tea, " and "kiki" proment queer culture, sometim feels like 's impossible for straights to unrstand gays... Called Polari, the gay slang is posed of back slang, circ slang, and broken Yiddish and Italian. 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.

GAYLE: THE LANGUAGE OF APARTHEID SOUTH AI’S GAY UNRGROUND

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. Spoken mostly by gay men this language is a victim of progrs, but some words have survived.

In this atmosphere secretive queer venu like the women-only Gateways Club opened up to ter to people takg advantage of the slippg of social norms durg the 1950s Polari was spoken predomantly - although not exclively - a gay muny facilated by this perd who ed as a way to both intify each other and disguise themselv. “Homosexual acts were illegal, you were likely to be beaten up, attacked or arrted.