Polari

Polari (from Italian parlare 'to talk') is a form of cant slang used in Britain by some actors, circus and fairground showmen, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals, sex workers, and the gay subculture. There is some debate about its origins,[2] but it can be traced back to at least the 19th century and possibly as far as the 16th century.[3] There is a long-standing connection with Punch and Judy street puppet performers, who traditionally used Polari to converse.[4]

Polari
Palare, Parlary, Palarie, Palari
RegionUnited Kingdom and Ireland
Native speakers
None[1]
English-based cant
Language codes
ISO 639-3pld
Glottologpola1249

Terminology

Alternate spellings include Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie, and Palari.

Description

Polari is a mixture of Romance (Italian[5] or Mediterranean Lingua Franca), Romani, London slang,[5] backslang, rhyming slang, sailor slang, and thieves' cant. Later it expanded to contain words from the Yiddish language and from 1960s drug subculture slang. It was a constantly developing form of language, with a small core lexicon of about 20 words, including: bona (good[6]), ajax (nearby), eek (face), cod (bad, in the sense of tacky or vile), naff (bad, in the sense of drab or dull, though borrowed into mainstream British English with the sense of the aforementioned cod), lattie (room, house, flat, i.e. room to let), nanti (not, no), omi (man), palone (woman), riah (hair), zhoosh or tjuz (smarten up, stylize), TBH ("to be had", sexually accessible), trade (sex), and vada (see), and over 500 other lesser-known words.[7] According to a Channel 4 television documentary,[8] there was once (in London) an "East End" version which stressed Cockney rhyming slang and a "West End" version which stressed theatrical and Classical influences. There was some interchange between the two.

Usage

From the 19th century on, Polari was used in London fishmarkets, the theatre, fairgrounds, and circuses, hence the many borrowings from Romani.[9] As many homosexual men worked in theatrical entertainment it was also used among the gay subculture, at a time when homosexual activity was illegal, to disguise homosexuals from hostile outsiders and undercover policemen. It was also used extensively in the British Merchant Navy, where many gay men joined ocean liners and cruise ships as waiters, stewards, and entertainers.[10]

William Shakespeare used the term bona (good, attractive) in Henry IV, Part 2, part of the expression bona roba (a lady wearing an attractive outfit).[11] However, "there's little written evidence of Polari before the 1890s," according to Peter Gilliver, associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. The dictionary's entry for rozzer (policeman), for example, includes this quote from an 1893 book (P. H. Emerson's Signor Lippo – Burnt Cork Artiste):[12] "If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun." (If the police were to see him dressed in this fine manner, they would know that he is a thief).[11]

The almost identical Parlyaree has been spoken in fairgrounds since at least the 17th century[13] 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 Romany, as well as other languages and argots spoken by travelling people, such as cant and backslang.

Henry Mayhew gave a verbatim account of Polari as part of an interview with a Punch and Judy showman in the 1850s. The discussion he recorded references the arrival of Punch in England, crediting these early shows to a performer from Italy called Porcini (John Payne Collier's account calls him Porchini).[14] Mayhew provides the following:

Punch Talk

"'Bona Parle' means language; name of patter. 'Yeute munjare' – no food. 'Yeute lente' – no bed. 'Yeute bivare' – no drink. I've 'yeute munjare,' and 'yeute bivare,' and, what's worse, 'yeute lente.' This is better than the costers' talk, because that ain't no slang and all, and this is a broken Italian, and much higher than the costers' lingo. We know what o'clock it is, besides."[4]

There are additional accounts of particular words that relate to puppet performance: "'Slumarys' – figures, frame, scenes, properties. 'Slum' – call, or unknown tongue"[4] ("unknown" is a reference to the "swazzle", a voice modifier used by Punch performers, the structure of which was a longstanding trade secret).

Decline in use

Polari had begun to fall into disuse amongst the gay subculture by the late 1960s. The popularity of Julian and Sandy, played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams (introduced in the radio programme Round the Horne, in the 1960s) ensured that some of this secret language became public knowledge.[15] The need for a secret subculture code declined with the partial decriminalization of adult homosexual acts in England and Wales under the Sexual Offences Act 1967.

  • Polari was popularised in the 1960s on the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne starring Kenneth Horne. Camp Polari-speaking characters Julian and Sandy were played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams.[16]
  • In the Doctor Who serial Carnival of Monsters from 1973, Vorg, a showman, believing the Doctor to also be a showman, attempts to converse with him in Polari. The Doctor states that he does not understand him.[17]
  • In 1987 character Ralph Filthy, a theatrical agent played by Nigel Planer in the BBC TV series Filthy, Rich & Catflap regularly used Polari.
  • In 1990, Morrissey released the single "Piccadilly Palare" containing a number of lyrics in Polari and exploring a subculture in which Polari was used. "Piccadilly Palare" is also the first song appearing on Morrissey's compilation album Bona Drag, whose title is itself taken from Polari.
  • In 1990, in Issue #35 of Grant Morrison's run of Doom Patrol, the character Danny the Street is introduced; they speak English that is heavily flavored with Polari, with "bona to vada" ("good to see [you]") being their favorite way of greeting friends.
  • In the 1999 film Velvet Goldmine, two characters speak Polari while in a London nightclub. This scene contains subtitles for viewers not familiar with the language.
  • In 2015, filmmakers Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston made Putting on the Dish, a short film entirely in Polari.[18]
  • In 2017, a service at Westcott House, Cambridge (a Church of England theological college) was conducted in Polari; the service was held by trainee priests to commemorate LGBT History Month; following media attention, Chris Chivers, the Principal, expressed his regret.[19][20][21][22]
  • In the 2017 EP Ricky, Sakima sang about heteronormativity and Polari.[23]
  • In 2019, the first ever opera in Polari, The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (based on the book of the same title), premiered at Espacio Turina in Seville (Spain). The libretto was entirely written in Polari by librettist and playwright Fabrizio Funari (b. 1991) while the music was composed by Germán Alonso (b. 1984) with cantaor Niño de Elche (b. 1985) in the main role. The opera was produced and performed by instrumental ensemble Proyecto OCNOS, formed by Pedro Rojas-Ogáyar and Gustavo A. Domínguez Ojalvo, with the support of ICAS Sevilla, Fundación BBVA and The Librettist.[24]
  • The same year, the English-language localisation of the Japanese video game Dragon Quest Builders 2 included a character called Jules, who spoke in Polari with non-standard capitalisation.[25]
  • In the 2020 Roald and Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse a young Roald Dahl, running away from home, meets a man (played by Bill Bailey) who speaks in Polari.

References

James Thomson added a glossary of words he thought "obsolete" in his 1825 work The Seasons and Castle of Indolence. He chose to write Castle of Indolence "In the manner of Edmund Spenser". Two words he by then thought needed explaining were: "Eke", meaning "also", pronounced like Polari's "Eek", (face); and "Gear or Geer", meaning "furniture, equipage, dress". This last usage being maintained to this day in slang, and being then-contemporary, too, by 1960's Polari-users, avoiding Thomson's stated complete obsolescence.

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). In 2019 Reaktion Books published Fabulosa!: The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language, also by Paul Baker.[26][27]

In 2012, artists Jez Dolan and Joseph Richardson created an iPhone app which makes available the Polari lexicon and a comprehensive list of etymologies.[28][29]

Entry into mainstream slang

Bona Togs, a shop named in Polari.

A number of words from Polari have entered mainstream slang. The list below includes words in general use with the meanings listed: acdc, barney, blag, butch, camp, khazi, cottaging, hoofer, mince, ogle, scarper, slap, strides, tod, [rough] trade.

The Polari word naff, meaning inferior or tacky, has an uncertain etymology. Michael Quinion states that it is probably from the sixteenth-century Italian word gnaffa, meaning "a despicable person".[30] There are a number of false etymologies, many based on acronyms— 'Not Available For Fucking' , 'Normal As Fuck', etc. —though these are 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 násfalo, meaning ill. The phrase "naff off" was used euphemistically in place of "fuck off" along with the intensifier "naffing" in Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse (1959).[31] Usage of "naff" increased in the 1970s when the television sitcom Porridge employed it as an alternative to expletives which were not considered broadcastable at the time.[30] Princess Anne famously told a reporter, "Why don't you just naff off" at the Badminton horse trials in April 1982.[32]

"Zhoosh" (/ˈʒʊʃ/, /ˈʒʃ/ or /ˈʒʊʒ/[33]) meaning to smarten up, style or improve something, became commonplace more recently, having been used in the 2003 United States TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and What Not to Wear.

Polari glossary

Numbers:

Number Definition Italian numbers
medzahalfmezza
una, oneyoneuno
dooeytwodue
traythreetre
quarterfourquattro
chinkerfivecinque
saysixsei
say oney, settersevensette
say dooey, ottereightotto
say tray, nobberninenove
daituretendieci
long dedger, leptaelevenundici
kenzatwelvedodici

Some words or phrases that may derive from Polari (this is an incomplete list):

Word Definition
acdc, bibibisexual[34]:49
ajaxnearby (shortened form of "adjacent to")[34]:49
alamo!they're attractive! (via acronym "LMO" meaning "Lick Me Out!)[34]:52,59
arvato have sex (from Italian chiavare, to screw)[35]
aunt nelllisten![34]:52
aunt nellsears[34]:45
aunt nelly fakesearrings[34]:59,60
barneya fight[34]:164
bat, batts, batesshoes[34]:164
bevvydrink (diminutive of "beverage")[6]
bitcheffeminate or passive gay man
bijousmall/little (from French, jewel)[34]:57
bitainewhore (French putain)
blagpick up[34]:46
boldhomosexual[35]
bonagood[34]:26,32,85
bona nochygoodnight (from Italian – buona notte)[34]:52
butchmasculine; masculine lesbian[34]:167
buvarea drink; something drinkable (from Italian – bere or old-fashioned Italian – bevere or Lingua Franca bevire)[34]:167
cackletalk/gossip[34]:168
campeffeminate (possibly from Italian campare "exaggerate, make stand out") (possibly from the phrase 'camp follower' those itinerants who followed behind the men in uniform/highly decorative dress)
capello, capella, capelli, kapellahat (from Italian – cappello)[34]:168
carsey, karsey, khazitoilet[34]:168
cartespenis (from Italian – cazzo)[34]:97
catstrousers[34]:168
charperto search or to look (from Italian acchiappare, to catch)[34]:168
charpering omipoliceman
charversexual intercourse[34]:46
chickenyoung man
clevievagina[36]
clobberclothes[34]:138,139,169
codbad[34]:169
corybungusbackside, posterior[36]
cottagea public lavatory used for sexual encounters (public lavatories in British parks and elsewhere were often built in the style of a Tudor cottage)
cottagingseeking or obtaining sexual encounters in public lavatories
covetaxi[34]:61
dhobi / dhobie / dohbiewash (from Hindi, dohb)[34]:171
Dilly boya male prostitute, from Piccadilly boy
Dilly, thePiccadilly, a place where trolling went on
dinarimoney (Latin denarii was the 'd' of the pre decimal penny)[37]
dishbuttocks[34]:45
dollypretty, nice, pleasant, (from Irish dóighiúil/Scottish Gaelic dòigheil, handsome, pronounced 'doil')
donawoman (perhaps from Italian donna or Lingua Franca dona)[34]:26
ecafface (backslang)[34]:58,210
eekface (abbreviation of ecaf)[34]:58,210
endshair[6]
esong, sedonnose (backslang)[34]:31
fambleshands[36]
fantabulosafabulous/wonderful
farting crackerstrousers[36]
feele / feely / fillychild/young (from the Italian figlio, for son)
feele omi / feely omiyoung man
flowerylodgings, accommodations[36]
fogustobacco
fortunigorgeous, beautiful[36]
fruitgay man
funtpound £ (Yiddish)
fungusold man/beard[36]
geltmoney (Yiddish)
handbagmoney
hooferdancer
HP (homy palone)effeminate gay man
irishwig (from rhyming slang, "Irish jig")
jarryfood, also mangarie (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria)
jubesbreasts
kaffiestrousers
khazitoilet, also spelt carsey
lacoddybody
lallies / lylieslegs, sometimes also knees (as in "get down on yer lallies")
lallie tappersfeet
latty / lattieroom, house or flat
laulay or place upon[38]
lavswords[39] (Gaelic: labhairt to speak)
lillshands
lillypolice (Lilly Law)
lyleslegs (prob. from "Lisle stockings")
lucoddybody
luppersfingers (Yiddish — lapa — paw)
mangariefood, also jarry (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria)
mankyworthless, dirty (from Italian mancare – "to be lacking")[40]
martinishands
measuresmoney
medzerhalf (from Italian mezzo)
medzereddivided[41]
meeseplain, ugly (from Yiddish mieskeit, in turn from Hebrew מָאוּס repulsive, loathsome, despicable, abominable)
meshigenernutty, crazy, mental (from Yiddish 'meshugge', in turn from Hebrew מְשֻׁגָּע crazy)
meshigener carseychurch[39]
metzasmoney (Italian -mezzi "means, wherewithal")
mincewalk affectedly
mollyinginvolved in the act of sex[42]
moguedeceive
mungedarkness
naffawful, dull, hetero
nanaevil
nantinot, no, none (Italian — niente)
national handbagdole, welfare, government financial assistance
nishtanothing[6]
oglelook admiringly
ogleseyes
oglefakesglasses
omiman (from Romance)
omi-paloneeffeminate man, or homosexual
onknose (cf "conk")
orbseyes
orderly daughterspolice
ovenmouth (nanti pots in the oven = no teeth in the mouth)
palare / polari pipetelephone ("talk pipe")
palliassback
park, parkergive
platefeet (Cockney rhyming slang "plates of meat"); to fellate
palonewoman (Italian paglione – "straw mattress"; cf. old Cant hay-bag – "woman"); also spelled "polony" in Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock
palone-omilesbian
potsteeth
quongstesticles
reeftouch
remouldsex change
rozzerpoliceman[11]
riah / rihahair (backslang)
riah zhoosherhairdresser
rough tradea working class or blue collar sex partner or potential sex partner; a tough, thuggish or potentially violent sex partner
scarperto run off (from Italian scappare, to escape or run away or from rhyming slang Scapa Flow, to go)
schardashame (from German schade, "a shame" or "a pity")
schlumphdrink
schmutterapparel[43]
schoonerbottle
scotchleg (scotch egg=leg)
screechmouth, speak
screevewrite[43] (from Irish scríobh/Scottish Gaelic sgrìobh, Scots scrieve to write)
sharpypoliceman (from — charpering omi)
sharpy polonepolicewoman
shushsteal (from client)
shush baghold-all
shyker / shycklewig (mutation of the Yiddish sheitel)
slapmakeup
sohomosexual (e.g. "Is he 'so'?")
stimpslegs
stimpcoversstockings, hosiery
stridestrousers
strillerspiano
switchwig
TBH (to be had)prospective sexual conquest
thewsthighs
toberroad (a Shelta word, Irish bóthar); temporary site for a circus, carnival
todd (Sloan) or todalone
tootsie tradesex between two passive homosexuals (as in: 'I don't do tootsie trade')
tradesex, sex-partner, potential sex-partner
trollto walk about (esp. looking for trade)
vada / varderto see (from Italian — dialect vardare = guardare – look at)

vardered — vardering

vera (lynn)gin
voguecigarette (from Lingua Franca fogus – "fire, smoke")
vogueressfemale smoker
wallopdance[44]
willetsbreasts
yeuteno, none
yews(from French "yeux") eyes
zhooshstyle hair, tart up, mince
(cf. Romani zhouzho – "clean, neat")

zhoosh our riah — style our hair

zhooshyshowy

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 Round The Horne sketch written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman

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 Morrissey

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 Parallel Lives, the memoirs of renowned gay journalist Peter Burton

Translation: "As young men...we would style our hair, powder our faces, climb into our great new clothes, don our shoes and wander/walk off to some great little bar. In the bar we would stand around with our gay companions, look at the great 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."

In the Are You Being Served? episode "The Old Order Changes", Captain Peacock asks Mr Humphries to get "some strides for the omi with the naff riah" (i.e. trousers for the fellow with the unstylish hair).[45]

See also

References

  1. Polari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Quinion, Michael (1996). "How bona to vada your eek!". WorldWideWords. Archived from the original on 7 September 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2006.
  3. Collins English Dictionary, Third Edition
  4. Mayhew, Henry (1968). London Labour and the London Poor, 1861. 3. New York: Dover Press. p. 47.
  5. "British Spies: Licensed to be Gay." Time. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  6. "The secret language of polari - Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool museums". Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  7. Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum ISBN 0-8264-5961-7
  8. David McKenna, A Storm in a Teacup, Channel 4 Television, 1993.
  9. 1957-, Jivani, Alkarim (January 1997). It's not unusual : a history of lesbian and gay Britain in the twentieth century. Bloomington. ISBN 0253333482. OCLC 37115577.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. "Gay men in the Merchant Marine". Liverpool Maritime Museum. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  11. Beverley D'Silva (10 December 2000). "Mind your language". The Observer. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  12. "Historical Origins of English Words and Phrases". Live Journal. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  13. Partridge, Eric (1937) Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
  14. Punch and Judy. John Payne Collier; with Illustrations by George Cruickshank. London: Thomas Hailes Lacey, 1859.
  15. Richardson, Colin (17 January 2005). "Colin Richardson: Polari, the gay slang, is being revived". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  16. Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
  17. Baker 2003, p. 161.
  18. J. Bryan Lowder (28 July 2015). "Polari, the gay dialect, can be heard in this great short film "Putting on the Dish". Slate. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  19. "Church 'regret' as trainees hold service in gay slang". BBC News. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  20. Sherwood, Harriet (3 February 2017). "C of E college apologises for students' attempt to 'queer evening prayer'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  21. Flood, Rebecca (4 February 2017). "Church expresses 'huge regret' after Cambridge LGBT commemoration service held in gay slang language". The Independent. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  22. Robb, Simon (4 February 2017). "Priests delivered a service in gay slang and the church weren't happy". Metro. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  23. Crowley, Patrick (9 October 2017). "Sakima's Dirty Pop: Meet Music's New Queer Voice". Billboard. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  24. Sevilla, Diario de (26 May 2019). "Pornografía bruitista". Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  25. Square Enix (20 December 2018). Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Nintendo Switch). Square Enix.
  26. Baker, Paul (2019). Fabulosa!: The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781789142945.
  27. "Fabulosa! by Paul Baker from Reaktion Books". www.reaktionbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  28. "Take a Polari safari". Neurope.eu. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  29. Polari on iTunes
  30. Quinion, Michael. "Naff". World Wide Words. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  31. Waterhouse, Keith (1959). Billy Liar. Michael Joseph. pp. 35, 46. ISBN 0-7181-1155-9. p35 "Naff off, Stamp, for Christ sake!" p46 "Well which one of them's got the naffing engagement ring?"
  32. The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Dalzell and Victor (eds.) Routledge, 2006, Vol. II p. 1349
  33. "Definition for zhoosh – Oxford Dictionaries Online (World English)". Oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  34. Baker 2003.
  35. "What is Polari All About?". Polari Magazine. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  36. Grose, Francis (2012). 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. tebbo. ISBN 978-1-4861-4841-7
  37. C. H. V. Sutherland, English Coinage 600-1900 (1973, ISBN 0-7134-0731-X), p. 10
  38. "A Polari Christmas". Polari Magazine. 12 December 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  39. "The Polari Bible". .josephrichardson.tv. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  40. "Manky". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  41. "Let There Be Sparkle". Polari Magazine. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  42. D'Silva, Beverley (10 December 2000). "The way we live now: Mind your language". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  43. "Polari Bible". josephrichardson.tv/home.html. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  44. "World Wide Words: How bona to vada your eek!". World Wide Words. Archived from the original on 7 September 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  45. "The Old Order Changes". Are You Being Served?. 18 March 1977.

Bibliography

  • Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum: ISBN 0-8264-5961-7
  • Baker, Paul (2003). Polari – The Lost Language of Gay Men. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-50635-4.
  • Elmes, Simon & Rosen, Michael (2002) Word of Mouth. Oxford University Press: ISBN 0-19-866263-7

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