Polari - English gay slang


Bona Contention - Gay Times
January 2001
Polari, the gay slang used by Julian and Sandy in Round The Horne, is to
gay men what Latin is to Catholics - a dead language. So why did it die
out? asks Paul Baker. And is there any point in remembering it now?
Round The Horne was tremendously popular, attracting about 9 million
listeners a week. And every week, thanks to Polari, Julian and Sand made a
mockery of the BBC's censors. For example, in one episode, they are
domestic helps and have been shown into a kitchen where they are expected
to get to work. "I can't work in 'ere," complains Julian. "All the dishes
are dirty!" "Ooh speak for yourself, ducky!" retorts Sandy.
This is a clever triple innuendo. The audience would probably get the use
of the word dish as an attractive young man, as in "Isn't he dishy?", but
hardened Polari speakers also know that dish means anus, which would afford
them an extra special laugh.
Julian and Sandy were subversive in other ways too. At a time when most of
the other fictional gay men and lesbians in the media usually ended up
killing themselves in the final reel, this cheerfully unapologetic pair of
queens made for a refreshing change.
Their use of Polari followed a long tradition - it had been known by gay
men in the U.K. for decades. But fast forward a few years and Polari has
almost vanished from gay circles. Mention it now and you'll more likely
than not to get a blank look, especially from anyone under 30. And those
who do profess to have heard of it are likely to only know a handful of
words.
It's impossible to pinpoint an exact date when Polari came into existence.
It most likely arose from a type of 19th century slang called Parlyaree
which was used by fairground and circus people as well as prostitutes,
beggars and buskers. Many of these travelling people worked all over
Europe, and as a result a fair number of the old Parlyaree words resembled
Italian. The music halls of the 19th Century eventually replaced these
wandering entertainers, and out of music halls developed the theatre.
Parlyaree gradually morphed into Polari (or Palare as it was earlier
known), being picked up by gay actors and dancers - who introduced it onto
London's gay scene.
But there were lots of other influences - The East End of London was full
of vibrant communities, and so we find bits of Yiddish (schwartzer: black
man, schnozzle: nose) coming into Polari. The docks were popular cruising
grounds, and gay men would go there to pick up sailors - who had their own
slang called Lingua Franca. As a result, bits of Lingua Franca appear in
Polari. Then throw in some Cockney Rhyming Slang and the less well-known
backslang - the practice of saying a word as if it's spelt backwards (hair
= riah, face=ecaf). Finally, in World War II add some American terms
(butch, cruise) as gay men befriended and entertained homesick American
G.I.s, and then throw in a few words stolen from 1960s drug culture (doobs:
drugs, randy comedown: a desire for sex after taking drugs) for good
measure. The result is a complex, constantly changing form of language
which appears slightly different to whoever uses it.
Polari flourished in the repressive 1950s, where the control of post-war
sexual morality was viewed as a priority and prosecutions against gay men
reached record levels. Under these unpleasant conditions, gay men were
subjected to a variety of horrors. Electroshock treatment, imprisonment,
blackmail, hormones that made men grow breasts - the medical and legal
professions got their knickers in such a twist trying to find newer and
more evil ways to torture gay men throughout the 50s. As being openly gay
was dangerous, the need for a language that protected gay men, and at the
same time acted as a kind of "gaydar" by allowing them to recognise others,
was extremely useful.
By the 1960s, the political situation had begun to change. Polari was used
less to cautiously "out" yourself, and more for chatting with friends. Its
vocabulary - full of words to do with clothing (lally-drags: trousers, ogle-
fakes: spectacles) and parts of the body (thews: arms, luppers: fingers)
and evaluative adjectives (bona: good, cod: bad), reflects what it was most
often used for - gossiping about potential sexual partners with your mates,
while your target was in earshot. "Vada that bona omee ajax - the one with
nanti riah!" translates to "Look at that nice man over there - the one with
no hair!" Use it in the club, or on the tube - you could spill all of the
details about what you got up to last night, without anyone being the
wiser.
However, in the 1970s, Polari started to fade from people's memories.
Julian and Sandy had represented a swan-song of sorts in any case. In 1967
(the same year that Round the Horne was at its peak, winning the award for
best comedy radio programme), the legal situation for the average gay man
was improved with the implementation of the Wolfenden Report’s
recommendations of ten years earlier. Homosexuality was partially
decriminalised (although there were still a variety of ways that men could
be prosecuted for having gay sex), and as a result, there was less of a
need for a secret language. In addition to that, Julian and Sandy gave
Polari a kind of doomed respectability - they had inadvertently blurted out
the secret via the radio, into 9 million homes a week. What was the point
of using Polari when Aunt Beryl listened to Round The Horne and was able to
get the gist of what you were saying?
And ultimately, there were political reasons for ditching Polari - it was
associated with oppression, and the early Gay Liberationists wanted to put
all of that behind them. It was rather easy to criticise Polari as being
sexist, racist and brimming over with internalised homophobia. Gay
magazines of the early 70s are quick to cast Polari as keeping gay men in a
ghetto. One writer warns that gay culture is going to become consumed by a
"language of body parts ". And Polari, with its camp bitchy overtones was
so last decade, don't you know? This was the era when harmless, much-loved
John Inman was picketed outside Brighton's Dome Hall by gay men for
"contributing to the television distortion of the image of homosexuals".
By the beginning of the 1980s, Polari had all but vanished from the gay
scene, and in place of the fey Polari speakers, were American influences -
butch was in, and the Malboro Man look - muscles, leather, denim, facial
hair, uniforms, big boots etc. became fashionable. The clone was born, and
with minor modifications still exists today. Suddenly going to the gym
became a popular pastime and the gay scene was in danger of becoming
populated with butch Marys who took their masculinity and muscle tone ever-
so seriously. Butch gay men aren't supposed to speak Polari - instead they
grunt and show you a coloured handkerchief so you know what they're into.
However, in the 1990s, the situation changes again. With more people
becoming relaxed about sexuality, Polari is undergoing a revival of
interest. It's now possible to view it as part of gay heritage - a weapon
that was used to fight oppression, and something that gay men can be proud
of again. Camp is no longer viewed as apolitical - for example, the London
branch of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence use "High Polari" in their
blessings, sermons and canonisations - adding a bit of religious mystique
while also acknowledging gay history within their ceremonies. And anyone
who wants to add some authentic mid-20th century atmosphere in their film,
book or play or pop song about gay men can drop a few words of Polari into
their script for instant credibility (see Love Is The Devil, The Velvet
Goldmine or Morrissey's Piccadilly Palare for examples). Polari has become
a short-hand to represent being gay in the '50s or '60s in the same way
that a hula hoop or a space-hopper represents the 1970s.
However, Polari still occupies a controversial position in the hearts of
contemporary gay men. Last year a phone debate in a gay free-sheet
unearthed a number of conflicting, and at times strange attitudes towards
it. Some callers were quick to dismiss Polari as camp nonsense, only spoken
by unfashionable people who lived "in the sticks" (i.e. outside London).
Such words are "neither useful, relevant or reflect the queer society we
live in today," complained one caller. Others argued that it was harmless
fun, and to ignore Polari is to do an injustice to the men and women who
lived through more oppressive times. The free-sheet joined in, labeling
Polari as "evil".
It's unlikely that Polari will ever be revived to the extent that it was
used in the 50s - but that's no shame. Without realising it, many of the
words that people consider to be "gay slang" were once part of Polari's
lexicon - chicken, trade, butch, camp, cottage etc. These words, which are
more useful in describing gay experiences because they don't have straight
equivalents, have survived while other words like lally: legs, poll: wig,
order: go etc. have fallen into disuse. That's not to say that it can't be
fun to use them occasionally. Speaking a few words of Polari is hardly
going to cause a pair of Larry Grayson glasses on a chain to magically
appear around your neck. And in any case, little bits of Polari have even
been incorporated into mainstream slang. For example - the word naff was
originally used as a Polari acronym meaning "Not Available For F..". Now it
simply refers to something that's tasteless. Clearly, those poor confused
straights must have heard it - "oh don't bother with him, he's naff!",
inferred it meant something bad, and started using it themselves - not
realising that the word was originally an insult hurled at them.
So while it's important that a situation never arises where gay men need to
use a secret language again, we do ourselves no favours by distancing
ourselves completely from Polari. From the initial 1960s media
representations of effeminate, camp gay man, through to the hyper-masculine
alternatives created by the gay subculture in the 1970s, the recent years
have seen a resurgence and a reappraisal of both identities. Distinctions
between the two, however, are now more blurred than ever. And while gay
still means something different from straight, there continues to be a
place for Polari.
____________________
Paul Baker, 2001
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