Remembering Polari, the Forgotten Language of Britain's Gay Community

[editor]

This is such a great article - and how cool was Bowie using it on his final album?

When David Bowie released his album Blackstar in January 2016, music critics were quick to heap praise on the cultural icon's final work. But few recognized the menacing and erotic blend of fictional and hidden languages embedded in the lyrics of track "Girl Loves Me": Predominantly Nadsat, the language of Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange, and Polari, the forgotten British language of 20th century gay men.

"Cheena so sound, so titi up this malchick, say party up moodge," sings Bowie, marrying the two languages to each other. To the uninitiatied, Bowie's lyrics are nonsensical—but on translation, with "titi" meaning "pretty" in Polari and "Cheena," "malchick," and "moodge" meaning "girl", "boy," and "man" in Nadsat—they read as 'Girl so sound, so pretty up this boy, say party up man.'"

Meaning "to talk" in Italian, Polari was the hidden language used by gay men in England to navigate their sexual identities without being caught by police. In the UK, homosexuality was criminalized until 1967, when the Sexual Offences Act legalized private "homosexual acts" between consenting adults over the age of 21 (although not in Scotland or Northern Ireland).

Prior to the amendments, being caught having gay sex could result in a prison sentence of two years, or invasive and humiliating hormone therapy. Alan Turing, the gay British mathematician behind the infamous WW2 "enigma code" that cracked enciphered German messages, was given a course of female hormones by doctors as an alternative to prison after being prosecuted by the police because of his homosexuality.

The history of Polari is murky, as Jo Stanley and Paul Baker explain in their book Hello Sailor!: The Hidden History of Gay Life At Sea. They trace Polari's origins back to Thieves' Cant, a secret language used by thieves. Gay men in London pubs and taverns would use Cant to socialize and make sexual contacts. In fact, "trade" (meaning "sexual partner" in both Cant and Polari) is still used by many gay men today to mean the same thing. As the years went on, Polari picked up words—usually Italian in origin—from circus and travelling communities, prostitution rings, sailors, beggars, and the theatre world, where the language was predominantly used for most of the early 20th century. Polari proved popular amongst choir boys, dancers, and actors, many of whom were gay.

Remembering Polari, the Forgotten Language of Britain's Gay Community

Once commonly spoken by gay men across London, Polari has largely fallen out of use. But its influence continues to endure to this day—even making a surprise appearance in Bowie's last album.

www.vice.com

Polari - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A brief history of Polari: the curious after-life of the dead language for gay men

While few people use the language today, many cherish its history.

theconversation.com

 

[editor]

Someone added a translation of the video text

I pretty basic summary/translation: they kind of confirm their shared sexuality with the vocab, scarf guy asks where trenchcoat lives and mentions he knows someone who lives nearby, apparently a mutual friend named "Pauline" (these are nicknames for gay men, likely so they don't know each others real names outside of the community for safety's sake). They gossip about Pauline, she had a bad dye job, she caught her partner cheating (although she's been pretty unfaithful too, including hooking up w/ male prostitutes), and that she's broke and on welfare (they also seem to say she pretty nuts in general). She's apparently done it with scarf guy a couple times, too. She's also recently been baited by a cop in a public toilet and thrown in jail for homosexuality. Scarf guy mentions he'd nearly been caught too: he had just finished blowing a guy in a public bathroom and ran into a cop outside, so in order to get the heat off of himself, he ratted on the guy he'd just blown and he got arrested instead. Trenchcoat is pissed scarf guy would betray a fellow gay man and leaves. Upon retrieving his book, scarf guy tells him "they cure him in the end (of the book)", alluding to the history of conversion therapy on homosexuals.

 

[The39thStep]

It was Kenneth Williams on Round the Horne that made Polari known to a wider audience at a time when being gay was illegal.

 

[spitfire]

I'm guessing you knew Andy Balcer editor , he could speak Polari and taught me a few words BITD. One of his nicknames was Vada which means look in Polari.

 

[Roadkill]

It was Kenneth Williams on Round the Horne that made Polari known to a wider audience at a time when being gay was illegal.

Yes, and used it to introduce a lot of outrageous double entendre which would never have been allowed if the BBC had understood it!

 

[discokermit]

bowie was a nonce.

 

[editor]

I'm guessing you knew Andy Balcer editor , he could speak Polari and taught me a few words BITD. One of his nicknames was Vada which means look in Polari.

Yes. Lovely chap and much missed.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Makes for quite uncomfortable listening for me now, Julian and Sandy. Yes, it was subversive to include such things in a show at a time when gay sex was criminal ('criminal acts' being one of their catchphrases), but it still comes across to my ears listening now as laughing at camp men cos they're camp. Roadkill's right though that they got through a lot of very dirty stuff.

 

[editor]

Pretty much unforgivable that the police employed officers to hang around in parks and public loos and pretend that they were gay just to arrest and criminalise people who were causing no harm to anyone. And it's tragic that homophobia is on the rise again in some countries around the world.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It was Kenneth Williams on Round the Horne that made Polari known to a wider audience at a time when being gay was illegal.

And Hugh Paddick, of course. A relation, I believe, of Brian.

 

[UrbaneFox]

Sorry, just read the opening post again

 

[The39thStep]

Makes for quite uncomfortable listening for me now, Julian and Sandy. Yes, it was subversive to include such things in a show at a time when gay sex was criminal ('criminal acts' being one of their catchphrases), but it still comes across to my ears listening now as laughing at camp men cos they're camp. Roadkill's right though that they got through a lot of very dirty stuff.

As a child it always came across to me as laughing with rather than at tbh . I always thought the language was clever and just loved Kenneth Hornes world in which their behaviour (and the other characters) were considered normal . I met some girls on a bus that could speak Polari and then used to bump into them but my mum said to keep away from them as the family were theives

 

[Sasaferrato]

bowie was a nonce.

Why?

 

[editor]

Why?

Please. Not on this thread. It's already been discussed to death elsewhere and discokermit is only interested in trolling.. Thanks.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

We used to speak it quite a lot where I used to work (theatrical publishers)

"Vada his dolly old eek!"
"Yes, and his bona lallys"

 

[mx wcfc]

The bar manager at my student union spoke Polari, and would entertain people with it from time to time. It was lovely to hear, but I didn't understand any of it.

 

[Serge Forward]

Aye, an ex of mine used to speak it, but he was 12 years older than me and came of age when it was still illegal.

Favourite bit of Polari... I was on the dole at the time and my ex used to refer to it as the National Handbag

 

[SheilaNaGig]

Polari - The Lost Language of Gay Men

Polari is a secret form of language mainly used by homosexual men in London and other cities during the twentieth century. Derived in part from the slang lexicons of numerous stigmatised and itinerant groups, Polari was also a means of socialising, acting out camp performances and reconstructing...

books.google.co.uk

 

[SheilaNaGig]

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Hidden gay lives

Hidden gay lives, from Polari to true crime stories.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[SheilaNaGig]

Fabulosa!

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year “Richly evocative and entertaining.”—Guardian “An essential book for anyone who wants to Polari bona!”—Attitude “Exuberant, richly detailed. . . . A delightful read.”—Tatler Polari is a language that was used chiefly by gay men in the first half...

books.google.co.uk

 

[William of Walworth]

We used to speak it quite a lot where I used to work (theatrical publishers)

"Vada his dolly old eek!"
"Yes, and his bona lallys"

Were I to have heard that or similar at any workplace I've been at, I'd have been absolutely lost!

 

[Roadkill]

longdog speaks Polari. He's been known to use a fair bit of it in his more surreal exercises in winding up 419 scammers, Freemen on the Land, anti-vaxxers and other assorted internet idiots!

 

[Poot]

I first heard it from Morrissey back when he was good. Bona Drag, Piccadilly Palare and so on. It's delightful and achingly sad that it exists at all, really.

 

[Lurdan]

Loved Round the Horne when it was first broadcast (I was in my early to mid teens) and loved it more when I got older and picked up the subtext which I was too young and ignorant to appreciate first time round. All credit to Williams and Paddick's performances but their use of polari and the deliberate gay subtext wasn't improvised. Credit should go to the shows original writers Marty Feldman and Barry Took.

I never saw Julian and Sandy as the butt of the jokes or as being held up for ridicule. Quite the opposite.

It's also true that camp has since become controversial in some male gay circles but that certainly isn't an uncontested viewpoint.

 

[Reno]

It's also true that camp has since become controversial in some male gay circles but that certainly isn't an uncontested viewpoint.

It used to be a reaction to the fact that until the 80s, camp gay men were the predominant representation we got in the media, when most gay men aren't particularly camp. I felt like that as well, there was the understanding that being gay in some way meant you really want to be a woman. That was the first thing my mother asked when I came out to her.

Now that representation has become far more diverse, there is no excuse for discriminating against camp/less masculine gay men (as in they are letting the side down), which still happens on the gay scene.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Were I to have heard that or similar at any workplace I've been at, I'd have been absolutely lost!

It was an amazing place to work for many reasons.

The majority of the male staff were gay and certainly for the first few years I was there they included a number of older gay men who had been in the theatre and so used Polari very freely

 

[butcher]

Hello Mr Horne, this is Bona Law, we have a criminal practice which takes up most of our time

 

[Reno]

Hello Mr Horne, this is Bona Law, we have a criminal practice which takes up most of our time

Apparently this was the end of Polari because after Julian and Sandy it wasn't a secret anymore.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Please. Not on this thread. It's already been discussed to death elsewhere and discokermit is only interested in trolling.. Thanks.

It was a genuine question, as it was not something that I'd previously seen.

 

[Sue]

Fabulosa!

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year “Richly evocative and entertaining.”—Guardian “An essential book for anyone who wants to Polari bona!”—Attitude “Exuberant, richly detailed. . . . A delightful read.”—Tatler Polari is a language that was used chiefly by gay men in the first half...

books.google.co.uk

Went to this at the British Library last year -- an interesting and fun evening.

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