Polari (or alternatively Parlare, Parlary, Palarie, Palari, Parlyaree^[1], from Italian parlare, "to talk") was a form of cant slang used in the gay subculture in Britain. It was revived in the 1950s and 1960s by its use by camp characters Julian and Sandy in the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne, but its origins can be traced back to at least the 19th century. There is some debate about how it originated.^[2] A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Romany (or Romani) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. The Indo-Aryan Romany language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... Cant is an example of a cryptolect, a characteristic or secret language used only by members of a group, often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group. ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... GAY can mean: Gay, a term referring to homosexual men or women The IATA code for Gaya Airport Category: ... In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a set of behaviors and beliefs, culture, which could be distinct or hidden, that differentiate them from the larger culture to which they belong. ... Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value. ... Julian and Sandy were characters on the BBC radio programme Round the Horne, played by Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick, with scripts written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman. ... Round the Horne was one of the most influential BBC Radio comedy programmes, comparable to The Goon Show in its influence on other comedy programmes. ...

Description

Polari is a mixture of Romance (Italian or Mediterranean Lingua Franca), Romany, backslang, rhyming slang, sailor slang, and thieves' cant. Later it expanded to contain words from the Yiddish language of the Jewish subculture which settled in the East End of London, the US forces (present in the UK during World War II) and 1960s drug users. It was a constantly developing form of language, with a small core lexicon of about 20 words (including bona, ajax, eek, cod, naff, lattie, nanti, omi, palone, riah, zhoosh, TBH, trade, vada), with over 500 other lesser-known items.^[3] The Lingua franca of the Mediterranean or Sabir (know) was a pidgin language used as a Lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th century. ... Romany (or Romani) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. The Indo-Aryan Romany language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages. ... Pig Latin (Igpay Atinlay in Pig Latin) is a language primarily used in English, where the syllables of English words are spoken in inverse order and an ay is affixed, to both obfuscate the encoding and to indicate for the intended recipient the encoding as Pig Latin. ... Cockney rhyming slang is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London. ... Thieves cant was a secret language (or cryptolect) formerly used by thieves, beggars and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries. ... Yiddish (Yid. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...

Usage

Polari was used in London fishmarkets, the theatre, and the gay subculture. As Polari, it was used to disguise homosexual activity from potentially hostile outsiders (such as undercover policemen), but also because many gay men worked in theatrical entertainment where the lingo originated (including fairgrounds and circuses, hence the many borrowings from Romani in Polari). The almost identical Parlyaree has been spoken in fairgrounds since at least the 17th century^[4] and continues to be used by show travellers in England and Scotland. As theatrical booths, circus acts and menageries were once a common part of European fairs it is likely that the roots of Polari/Parlyaree lie in the period before both theatre and circus became independent of the fairgrounds. The Parlyaree spoken on fairgrounds tends to borrow much more from Romani, as well as other languages and argots spoken by travelling people, such as cant and backslang. See labrys, black triangle. ... Cant is an example of a cryptolect, a characteristic or secret language used only by members of a group, often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group. ... Two forms of slang are known as Backslang. ...

It was also used extensively in the Merchant Navy, where many gay men joined cruise ships as waiters, stewards and entertainers. It was mainly used by camp or effeminate gay men, who tended to come from working class backgrounds. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Merchant Navy. ... Legend of the Seas moored at San Diego, California A cruise ship, or less commonly cruise liner, is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the amenities of the ship are considered an essential part of the experience. ... Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...

On one hand, it would be used as a means of cover, to allow gay subjects to be discussed aloud without being understood; on the other hand, it was also used by some, particularly the most visibly camp and effeminate, as a further way of asserting their identity.

Decline in use

Outside of fairgrounds and circuses (where Parlyaree was never associated with gay subculture) Polari had begun to fall into disuse by the late 1960s. The popularity of Julian and Sandy ensured that this secret language was public property, and the gay liberationists of the 1970s viewed it as rather degrading, divisive and politically incorrect (a lot of it was used to gossip about or criticise people, as well as discussing sexual exploits). Politically Incorrect was a late-night, half-hour political talk show hosted by Bill Maher that ran from 1993 to 2002. ...

Contemporary usage

Since the mid-1990s, with the redistribution of tapes and CDs of Round The Horne and increasing academic interest, Polari underwent a slight revival. It will probably never die out completely, but new words are continually being invented and updated to refer to more recent cultural concepts – for example, the recent term "Madonna claw" means an old withered hand. Round the Horne was one of the most influential BBC Radio comedy programmes, comparable to The Goon Show in its influence on other comedy programmes. ...

In 1990 Morrissey titled an album Bona Drag – Polari for "nice outfit" – and the title of his "Piccadilly Palare" single that same year is an alternative spelling of what would be "Piccadilly Polari." For other uses, see Morrissey (disambiguation). ...

Also in 1990, comic book writer Grant Morrison created the character Danny the Street (based on Danny La Rue), a sentient transvestite street for the comic Doom Patrol. Danny speaks largely in Polari. A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Grant Morrison (born January 31, 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer and artist. ... Danny the Street. ... Danny La Rue, OBE was born on 26 July 1927 as Daniel Patrick Carroll in County Cork. ... The Doom Patrol is an idiosyncratic DC Comics superhero team. ...

The 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, which chronicles a fictional retelling of the rise and fall of glam rock, contains a 60s flashback in which a group of characters converse in Polari, while their words are humorously subtitled below. Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Velvet Goldmine is a 1998 film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. ... Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a style of rock and pop music, which initially surfaced in the post-hippie early 1970s. ...

In 2002, two books on Polari were published, Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men, and Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang (both by Paul Baker). Also in 2002, hip hop artist Juha released an album called Polari, with the chorus of the title song written entirely in the slang. Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Juha as a duo in 2003 This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Entry into standard English

A great many words from Polari have entered mainstream slang.

Naff

This word became famous in the television sitcom Porridge in the 1970s, which employed it as an alternative to expletives which were not at the time considered broadcastable. This article is about a genre of comedy. ... Porridge is a British BBC television sitcom (1974–1977), written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and starring Ronnie Barker. ...

There are a number of folk etymologies of the term "naff", many based around acronyms – Not Available For Fucking, Normal As Fuck – though these are probably backronyms. More likely etymologies include northern UK dialect naffhead, naffin, or naffy, a simpleton or blockhead; niffy-naffy, inconsequential, stupid, or Scots nyaff, a term of contempt for any unpleasant or objectionable person. An alternative etymology may lie in the Romany naflo, itself rooted in nasvalo, meaning no good, broken, or useless. Folk etymology is a term used in two distinct ways: A commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word, a false etymology. ... A backronym (or bacronym) is a phrase that is constructed after the fact from a previously existing abbreviation, the abbreviation being an initialism or an acronym. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ... Romany (or Romani) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. The Indo-Aryan Romany language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages. ...

A later use, from the 1980s, refers dismissively to heterosexual people. Porridge also introduced a verb sense: "naff off!", later famously used by Princess Anne in 1982 [1]. The Princess Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British Royal Family and the only daughter of Elizabeth II. She is the seventh holder of the title Princess Royal, and is currently ninth in the line of succession to the British...

Zhoosh

"Zhoosh" has entered English more recently, especially through the TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Its initial consonant, unique in that position in English, has led new users to generate variant spellings such as "zoosh", "soozh", ""tszuj." etc. The word begins and ends with the same phoneme, the "zh" sound as in the word "measure". Queer Eye (originally Queer Eye for the Straight Guy)[1] is an hour-long American Emmy award-winning television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network on July 15, 2003, and promptly became both a surprise hit and one of the most talked-about television programs of 2003. ...

Cottaging

The word cottaging (anonymous sex in a public lavatory) has also entered mainstream English, thanks to some high profile cases. This article is about the sexual behavior. ...

Balonie

This term for rubbish has not only become common in the UK, but also to an extent in America (where it is almost always spelled "baloney"). For example, "That guy talks a load of balonie!" where the inference is of an externally attractive product actually produced from inferior materials.

Bevvy

Derived from drink or beverage, has again become common English slang, although it is debatable just how directly related to Polari this is, as "bevvy" is a simple abbreviation of beverage.

Polari glossary

Polari in use

"Omies and palones of the jury, vada well at the eek of the poor ome who stands before you, his lallies trembling." (Taken from "Bona Law", a sketch from Round The Horne, written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman) For jury meaning makeshift, see jury rig. ... Round the Horne was one of the most influential BBC Radio comedy programmes, comparable to The Goon Show in its influence on other comedy programmes. ... Barry Took (June 19, 1928 – March 31, 2002) was an English comedian, writer and television presenter. ... Martin Alan Marty Feldman (8 July 1934[1] – 2 December 1982) was an English writer, comedian and BAFTA award winning actor, notable for his bulging eyes, which were the result of a thyroid condition known as Graves Disease. ...

(Translation: "Men and women of the jury, look well at the face of the poor man who stands before you, his legs trembling.")

"So bona to vada...oh you! Your lovely eek and your lovely riah." (Taken from "Piccadilly Palare", a song by musician Morrissey) For other uses, see Morrissey (disambiguation). ...

(Translation: "So good to see...oh you! Your lovely face and your lovely hair.")

"As feely ommes...we would zhoosh our riah, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar. In the bar we would stand around with our sisters, vada the bona cartes on the butch omme ajax who, if we fluttered our ogle riahs at him sweetly, might just troll over to offer a light for the unlit vogue clenched between our teeth." (Taken from the memoirs of renowned gay journalist Peter Burton, Parallel Lives)

(Translation: "As young men...we would style our hair, powder our faces, climb into our fabulous new clothes, don our shoes and wander/walk off to some fabulous little bar. In the bar we would stand around with our gay companions, look at the fabulous genitals on the butch man nearby who, if we fluttered our eyelashes at him sweetly, might just wander/walk over to offer a light for the unlit cigarette clenched between our teeth.") Two unlit filtered cigarettes. ...

Is Polari a language?

Careful search and enquiry has failed to find any grammatical structures of Polari that are different from those of English. Therefore it would seem more accurate to refer to Polari as a linguistic cipher, replacement lexicon or an argot than a language or dialect. Since it is used in free variation with English, it might also be called a jargon. This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. ... Look up lexicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Argot (French for slang) is primarily slang used by various groups, including but not limited to thieves and other criminals, to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ... For the glossary of hacker slang, see Jargon File. ...

However, some Polari speakers produced expressions that would leave the realm of simple substitution of English words: for example, palone vadas omi-palone very cod, literally WOMAN LOOKS MAN-WOMAN VERY BAD, for "that woman is giving this gay man a dirty look."

See also

• Cockney rhyming slang
• Fairground
• Gail language
• Verlan
• Lunfardo and Vesre
• Caló (Chicano)
• List of United Kingdom-related topics
• Newspeak

Cockney rhyming slang is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London. ... Ferris wheel Amusement park is the more generic term for a collection of amusement rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a fairly large group of people. ... Gail, or Gayle, is an English/Afrikaans-based argot used by Indo-European speaking male homosexuals in urban communities of South Africa, similar in some respects to Polari in England, from which some lexical items have been borrowed. ... In the French language, verlan is the inversion of syllables in a word which is found in slang and youth language. ... Lunfardo was a colorful, slangy argot of the Spanish language which developed at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in the lower classes in and around Buenos Aires. ... Vesre (reversing the order of syllables within a word) is one of the features of the Rioplatense Spanish. ... This article is about the Chicano idiom. ... This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ... Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...

References

1. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pld Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition (online version)
2. ^ Quinion, Michael (1996). How bona to vada your eek!. WorldWideWords. Retrieved on February 20, 2006.
3. ^ Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum ISBN 0-8264-5961-7
4. ^ Partridge, Eric (1937) Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Julian and Sandy feature on Kenneth Williams Website
• Chris Denning's article on Polari with bibliography
• Hugh Young's Lexicon of Polari
• "World Wide Words" column on the use of Polari in Round the Horne
• The Polari Bible compiled by The Manchester Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
• Colin Richardson, The Guardian, 17 January 2005, "What brings you trolling back, then?"
• BBC - Voices, An interview with four members of a project for older gay men. (In voice clip 2, Polari is spoken)
• [2] Polari FAQ
• Juha's Polari album
• [http://www.auditionspace.com/The_Worms_of_Euston_Square/invitation.html Audio slang excerpt from VicLit novel The Worms of Euston Square

Bibliography

• Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum: ISBN 0-8264-5961-7

• Baker, Paul (2002) Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men. London: Routledge: ISBN 0-415-26180-5

• Elmes, Simon & Rosen, Michael (2002) Word of Mouth. Oxford University Press: ISBN 0-19-866263-7