Polari - How Bona to Varda Your Dolly Old Eek
Strictly speaking Polari is not a language but more of a linguistic cipher or code as it replaces words rather than has its own set of grammar rules. But we're not interested in pedantry here and for all intents and purposes it is the language of the gay subculture.
It is said to have its roots in the eighteenth century and was used by gay men as a means of communicating with each other to disguise their homosexuality from anyone overhearing, especially undercover policemen. It reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s but the code was revealed to the wider world during the regular Julian And Sandy sketches in the radio programme 'Round The Horne'. But perhaps the main reason for its decline in the 1960s was the fact that homosexual activity was decriminalised in 1967 and so a secret language was no longer needed.
Polari (also Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie, Palari,) is mainly a spoken language and when written down leads to the several variations in spelling. It has taken words from many sources, Italian, Romany, rhyming slang and backslang, among several others. The language was mainly influenced by Parlyaree, the language spoken by Carny folk in fairgrounds but this was never a gay language.
Polari is now only spoken by a few old queens, but many of the terms have entered standard English, words such as naff, bevvie, bijou, camp, mincing and drag. There is also an increased interest in Polari by a new batch of gays, me included. It is no longer seen as a divisive language but our language and there has been a resurgence of some terms in recent years. Screeve for one, a website for gay writing, but also Bona Togs (a clothes shop in Jersey) and both Morrissey, the singer/songwriter and Will Self, the author have used Polari in their lyrics/writing.
Sit back, zhoosh yer riah, put up yer lallies and varda the polari below. You'll be fluent in no time.
Polari - Glossary Of Terms
Sit back, zhoosh yer riah, put up yer lallies and varda the polari. You'll be fluent in no time.
|
Word |
Definition |
|---|---|
|
AC/DC |
a couple |
|
ajax |
nearby (from adjacent?) |
|
alamo |
hot for you/him |
|
aunt nell |
listen, hear |
|
aunt nells |
ears |
|
aunt nelly fakes |
earrings |
|
aunt nell danglers |
earrings |
|
bagadga |
baggage, male genitals |
|
barkey |
sailor |
|
barney |
a fight |
|
basket |
the bulge of male genitals through clothes |
|
batts |
shoes |
|
bevvy |
drink |
|
bevvy omee |
drunkard |
|
bibi |
bisexual |
|
bimbo |
dupe |
|
bitch |
effeminate or passive gay man |
|
bijou |
small/little (means "jewel" in French) |
|
blag |
pick up |
|
blue |
code word for "homosexual" |
|
bod |
body |
|
bodega |
grocery store |
|
bold |
daring |
|
bona |
good - bona nochy - goodnight (from Italian - buona notte) |
|
bonaroo |
wonderful, excellent |
|
bungery |
pub |
|
butch |
masculine; masculine lesbian |
|
buvare |
a drink (from Italian - bere or old-fashioned Italian - bevere or Lingua Franca bevire) |
|
cackle |
talk/gossip |
|
camisa |
shirt |
|
camp |
effeminate (possibly from Italian campare "exaggerate, make stand out") |
|
capello/capella |
hat (from Italian - cappello) |
|
carsey |
toilet, also spelt khazi |
|
carts/cartso |
penis (from Italian - cazzo) |
|
cats |
trousers |
|
charper |
to search (from Italian - chiappare - to catch) |
|
charpering omi |
policeman |
|
charver |
to shag/a shag (sexual intercourse) (from Italian - chiavare) |
|
chicken |
young boy |
|
clobber |
clothes |
|
cod |
naff, vile |
|
cottage |
public toilet (particularly with reference to cottaging) |
|
cottaging |
having or looking for sex in a cottage |
|
cove |
friend |
|
crimper |
hairdresser |
|
cull |
testicle |
|
dally |
sweet, kind. Possibly an alternate pronunciation of dolly. |
|
dilly boy |
a male prostitute |
|
dinarly |
money (thought to be derived from "Dinari") |
|
dish |
butt(ocks) |
|
dolly |
pretty, nice, pleasant |
|
dona |
woman (perhaps from Italian donna or Lingua Franca dona) |
|
dorcas |
term of endearment, 'one who cares'. The Dorcas Society was a ladies' church association of the nineteenth century, which made clothes for the poor. |
|
drag |
clothes, esp. women's clothes (prob from Romani - indraka - skirt) |
|
doss |
bed |
|
ecaf |
face (backslang) |
|
eek |
face (abbreviation of ecaf) |
|
ends |
hair |
|
esong |
nose (backslang) |
|
fantabulosa |
fabulous/wonderful |
|
feele/freely/filly |
child/young |
|
fogle |
handkerchief |
|
fruit |
queen |
|
funt |
pound |
|
gelt |
money (Yiddish) |
|
handbag |
money |
|
hoofer |
dancer |
|
HP (homy polone) |
effeminate gay man |
|
jarry |
food, also mangarie (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria) |
|
jogger |
play, entertain |
|
joggering omee |
street musician |
|
jubes |
breasts |
|
kaffies |
trousers |
|
khazi |
toilet, also spelt carsey |
|
lacoddy |
body |
|
lallies (lylies) |
legs |
|
lallie tappers |
feet |
|
latty/lattie |
room, house or flat |
|
lills |
hands |
|
lilly |
police (Lilly Law) |
|
lyles |
legs (prob. from "Lisle stockings") |
|
lucoddy |
body |
|
luppers |
fingers (Yiddish - lapa - paw) |
|
mangarie |
food, also jarry (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria) |
|
martinis |
hands |
|
measures |
money |
|
meese |
plain, ugly (from Yiddish "meeiskeit, in turn from Hebrew מָאוּס repulsive, loathsome, despicable, abominable) |
|
meshigener |
nutty, crazy, mental (from Yiddish, in turn from Hebrew מְשֻׁגָּע crazy) |
|
metzas |
money (Italian -mezzi "means, wherewithal") |
|
mince |
walk (affectedly) |
|
naff |
awful, dull, hetero |
|
nanti |
not, no, none (Italian - niente) |
|
national handbag |
dole, welfare, government financial assistance |
|
nochy |
night |
|
nishta |
nothing, no (from Yiddish נישטא - "there isn't") |
|
ogle |
look, admire |
|
ogles |
eyes |
|
oglefakes |
glasses |
|
omi |
man (from Romance) |
|
omi-palone |
effeminate man, or homosexual |
|
onk |
nose (cf "conk") |
|
orbs |
eyes |
|
palare pipe |
telephone ("talk pipe") |
|
palliass |
back |
|
park, parker |
give |
|
plate |
feet; to fellate |
|
palone |
woman (Italian paglione - "straw mattress", [viz. old Cant "hay-bag" = woman]) |
|
palone-omi |
lesbian |
|
pogy |
(a) little |
|
pots |
teeth |
|
proxy-ook |
autobiographical book that is especially revealing about people other than the main subject |
|
remould |
sex change |
|
riah/riha |
hair (backslang) |
|
riah zhoosher |
hairdresser |
|
scarper |
to run off (from Italian scappare, to escape or run away or from rhyming slang Scapa Flow, to go) |
|
schlumph |
drink |
|
schmutter |
clothes (maybe from Yiddish "schmatte" - rag) |
|
scotch |
leg (scotch egg=leg) |
|
screech |
mouth, speak |
|
screeve |
write |
|
sharpy |
policeman (from - charpering omi) |
|
sharpy polone |
policewoman |
|
shush |
steal (from client) |
|
shush bag |
hold-all |
|
shyker/shyckle |
wig (mutation of the Yiddish sheitel) |
|
slap |
makeup |
|
so |
homosexual (e.g. "Is he 'so'?") |
|
stimps |
legs |
|
stimpcovers |
stockings, hosiery |
|
strides |
trousers |
|
strillers |
piano |
|
switch |
wig |
|
thews |
thighs |
|
tober |
road |
|
todd (Sloanne) |
alone |
|
tootsie trade |
sex between two passive homosexuals (as in: 'I don't do tootsie trade') |
|
trade |
sex, sex-partner, potential sex-partner |
|
troll |
to walk about (esp. looking for trade) |
|
varda/vada/varder |
to see (from Italian - dialect vardare = guardare - look at) vardered - vardering |
|
vera (lynn) |
gin |
|
vogue |
cigarette (from Lingua Franca - fogus - "fire, smoke") |
|
vogueress |
woman smoker |
|
willets |
breasts |
|
yews |
(from French "yeux") eyes |
|
zhoosh |
style hair, tart up, mince (Romani - "zhouzho" - clean, neat) zhoosh our riah - style our hair |
|
zhooshy |
showy |
