polari:

The lost language of gay men.

Recently I became aware of Polari, a supposedly 'homosexual' language used in the 1970s-80s. Today, Polari is more of a novelty, presenting a style of discourse we would probably consider stereotypical of a very enthusiastic or hyperbolic gay man. There is even a Polari dictionary, written by Paul Baker, aptly named 'Fantabulosa'.

I came across this interesting and highly amusing language in a Self and Other lecture that focused on the identification of gender and sexuality through discourse. What particularly piqued my interest was an example of this 'gayspeak' in the lecture, and then the translated comparison:

"As feely homies, when we launched ourselves on the gay scene, Polari was all the rage. We would zhoosh our riahs, 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 parlyaring with our sisters, varda the bona cartes on the butch homie ajax who, if we fluttered our ogleriahs, might just troll over to offer a light."

Which, when 'translated', means something a bit more like this:

"As young men, when we launched ourselves on the gay scene, Polari was all the rage. We would fix our hair, powder our faces, climb into our nice new clothes, don our shoes and cruise to some nice small bar. In the bar, we would stand around chatting with our gay friends, admiring the nice bulge in the pants of the butch man nearby who, if we fluttered our eyelashes, might just wander over to offer a light."

My favourite word would have to be ogelriahs. It just seems so logical.

Well. I hope you enjoyed my departure into the distinctive lingo of the 'gay male'. I should go finish cleaning my room now.