Polari: Orig Of Gay Slang (Read It, Mary!) - Queerty

Contents:

• A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO
• POLARI… A MI GUI TO THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF THE GAY MUNY
• POLARI: ORIG OF GAY SLANG (READ IT, MARY!)
• GAY HISTORY: HOW BONA TO VADA YOUR EEK! POLARI – THE GAY LGO
• THS:GAY MAN
• 12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!
• POLARI: THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLARI, GAY ENGLAND’S ONCE-SECRET LGO

But for Brish gay men (and sometim women) the first half of the 20th century, Polari wasn’t jt a cute jargon: It was a secret , one that was absolutely gay Bra before about 50 years ago was dangero bs, and even beg perceived as gay then uld st you a prison sentence (homosexualy was crimalized the UK 1967).

In fact, gay culture was discsed so rarely that newspapers would report on gay people who were arrted as beg guilty of "gross cency, " sce was nsired taboo to even wre (or speak) the words "gay" or "homosexual. " Gay people therefore need a way to munite about their relatnships (and gossip) whout beg unrstood by eavdroppers.

POLARI… A MI GUI TO THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF THE GAY MUNY

As language profsor Pl Baker of the UK’s Lanster Universy wr his 2002 book Polari—The Lost Language of Gay Men, was a lgo of "fast put-downs, ironic self-parody and theatril exaggeratn. " By other acunts, the roots of Polari are at least partially to be found the lgua an ed by Mederranean sailors and trars the Middle Ag and 's difficult to say when exactly Polari began, but at some pot performers—pecially actors, and pecially gay actors—began to e a distct argot to munite wh each other, often for the purpose of gossipg. The cle of Polari was rapid: In his book, Baker wr that "many gay men unr the age of thirty have never heard of .

Polari is a form of historil slang ed by the gay muny as well as theatre people and circ folk, and attracted media notice the swgg sixti but seems to have been around sce the 19th century and possibly earlier. Brish police were keen to prosecute the ‘crime’ of homosexualy the mid 20th century – jt look at poor Alan Turg, the wonrful cryptanalyst who cracked the Enigma but was ught havg a relatnship wh a man 1952, tried for gross cency, forced to take female hormone jectns agast his will and ultimately took his own life 1954. Pri, formerly known as Gay Pri, is a regnn of LGBTQ inty, affirmatn of equal rights, and celebratn of visibily, digny, and diversy the LGBTQ muny.

POLARI: ORIG OF GAY SLANG (READ IT, MARY!)

While the word homosexual is still ocsnally ed some ntexts, you might have noticed that don’t make an appearance any versn of the LGBTQ acronym. As our age note on the term stat, “up until 1973, homosexualy was listed The Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM), psychiatry’s standard reference on the classifitn of mental illns. And many feel that this word plac undue emphasis on sexual activy, or that sounds overly clil.” In fact, the term homosexual was liberately rejected by early gay rights activists bee, acrdg to The New York Tim, “they did not want to be intified as exclively sexual begs.”.

Gay, on the other hand, n be ed to scribe a person of any genr who experienc same-sex attractn, although is most often ed to scribe a man who is attracted to men. On June 28, 1969, the New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a bar equented by gay and genr-nonnformg people (at a time when terms like LGBTQ didn’t yet exist).

Partially rponse to Stonewall, 1970, queer activists New York Cy anized a march to Central Park wh the theme “Gay Pri.” A more prehensive history of the Stonewall Rt or the Stonewall Uprisg n be found our Pri Month explaer.

GAY HISTORY: HOW BONA TO VADA YOUR EEK! POLARI – THE GAY LGO

Queer lerally means “strange or odd om a nventnal viewpot,” and by at least by the late 1800s, queer was ployed as a rogatory term for an effemate or gay man. Queer was seen as a way to refer to gays and lbians whout beg genr-sentialist or g divisns wh the muny.

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.

While the gay slang terms and languag serve jt as much attentn, one article wouldn’t be enough to ver everythg. To hi their inti pla sight of other queer people, gay and bisexual men would refer to each other wh nam.

THS:GAY MAN

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. Judy Garland, who played Dorothy the film, was also a queer in who patronized gay bars and often surround herself wh queer iends. 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.

12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!

Lesch scribed nti as “agg or middle-aged homosexuals, offtim effemate character” and people of “settled meanor who utns agast temperate acts”. Another siar term, “light the loafers”, is a somewhat rogatory phrase that is ed to scribe someone who acts or appears to be gay. The drag fai beme a refuge for gay, trans, and genr non-nformg youth who were turned away by their own fai or experienced homelsns due to poverty.

POLARI: THE LOST LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

When searchg the ter for pictur of ourselv travel tips for our upg voyage across this great land, we stumbled upon the most tertg b of rmatn: the Polari, gay slang words and their origs. Polari–much like a “gay Ebonics, ” if you will–is the unrground language created amongst London’s “Confirmed Bachelor” set, cir the late 1800’s, as the boys mixed wh the gypsi, tramps and theiv search of a nghty good time. They picked up words here and there om the var languag around them, put a gay sp on all, and formed their own method of speech; as the Indtrial Revolutn drove men to crowd all-male boardg ho to search for work the ci, Polari beme a handy method of discsg “sensive” issu whout their heterosexual unterparts ever knowg any better.

Polari (or alternatively Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie, Palari; om Italian parlare, “to talk”) is a form of nt slang ed Bra by actors, circ and fairground showmen, merchant navy sailors, crimals, prostut, and the gay subculture. As many homosexual men worked theatril entertament was also ed among the gay subculture, at a time when homosexual activy was illegal, to disguise homosexuals om hostile outsirs and unrver policemen.

It was also ed extensively the Brish Merchant Navy, where many gay men joed ocean lers and cise ships as waers, stewards and entertaers. [9] On one hand, would be ed as a means of ver to allow gay subjects to be discsed aloud whout beg unrstood; on the other hand, was also ed by some, particularly the most visibly mp and effemate, as a further way of assertg their inty. The populary of the Julian and Sandy characters played by Hugh Paddick and Kenh Williams ensured that some of this secret language beme public property, [12] and the gay liberatnists of the 1970s viewed as rather gradg and divisive as was often ed to gossip about, or cricise, others, as well as to discs sexual explos.