Polari
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| Polari | ||
|---|---|---|
| Palare, Parlary, Palarie, Palari. | ||
| Spoken in | United Kingdom and Ireland | |
| Total speakers | no estimate available | |
| Language family | based on English, Italian and Romany, with variations | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | mis | |
| ISO 639-3 | pld | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Polari (or alternatively Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie, Palari; from Italian parlare, "to talk") was a form of cant slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, criminals, prostitutes, and latterly by the gay subculture. It was popularised in the 1950s and 1960s by camp characters Julian and Sandy in the popular BBC radio shows Beyond our Ken and Round the Horne. There is some debate about its origins, but it can be traced back to at least the 19th century, and possibly the 16th century. There is a longstanding connection with Punch and Judy street puppet performers who traditionally used Polari to converse.
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Description
Polari is a mixture of Romance (Italian or Mediterranean Lingua Franca), Romany, London slang, backslang, rhyming slang, sailor slang, and thieves' cant. Later it expanded to contain words from the Yiddish language, from the US forces (present in the UK during World War II) and from 1960s drug users. It was a constantly developing form of language, with a small core lexicon of about 20 words (including bona, ajax, eek, cod, naff, lattie, nanti, omi, palone, riah, zhoosh (tjuz), TBH, trade, vada), and over 500 other lesser-known words.
Usage
Polari was used in London fishmarkets, the theatre, and fairgrounds and circuses, hence the many borrowings from Romany. As many gay men worked in theatrical entertainment it was also used amongst the gay subculture, at a time when homosexual acts were illegal, to disguise homosexual activity from hostile outsiders and undercover policemen. It was also used extensively in the Merchant Navy, where many gay men joined cruise ships as waiters, stewards and entertainers. On one hand, it would be used as a means of cover, to allow gay subjects to be discussed aloud without being understood; on the other hand, it was also used by some, particularly the most visibly camp and effeminate, as a further way of asserting their identity.
The almost identical Parlyaree has been spoken in fairgrounds since at least the 17th century 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 (see also John Payne Collier's account of Porsini (Payne Collier calls him Porchini), in Punch and Judy 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."
There are additional accounts of particular words that relate to puppet performance: "'Slumarys' – figures, frame, scenes, properties. 'Slum' – call, or unknown tongue." ("unknown" is a reference to the "swazzle", a voice modifier used by Punch performers, the composition 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 the Julian and Sandy characters ensured that this secret language became public property, and the gay liberationists of the 1970s viewed it as rather degrading, divisive and politically incorrect as it was often used to gossip about, or criticise, others, as well as to discuss sexual exploits. In addition, the need for a secret subculture code declined with the legalisation of adult homosexual relationships in England and Wales in 1967.
Contemporary usage
Since the mid-1990s, with the redistribution of tapes and CDs of Round The Horne and increasing academic interest, Polari has undergone something of a revival. New words are being invented and updated to refer to more recent cultural concepts – .
In 1990 Morrissey titled an album Bona Drag – Polari for "nice outfit" – and released the single "Piccadilly Palare" that same year.
Also in 1990, comic book writer Grant Morrison created the Polari-speaking character Danny the Street (based on Danny La Rue), a sentient transvestite street, for the comic Doom Patrol.
The 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, which chronicles a fictional retelling of the rise and fall of glam rock, contains a 60s flashback in which a group of characters converse in Polari, while their words are humorously subtitled below.
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). Also in 2002, hip hop artist Juha released an album called Polari, with the chorus of the title song written entirely in the slang.
Characters in Will Self's story, Foie Humain, the first part of Liver, use Polari.
Polari is still in everyday use amongst a new wave of London fashionistas; examples can be found in fashion blogs such as 'Bona Drag Boys'
Entry into standard English
Many words from Polari have entered mainstream slang; some recent examples are:
Naff
 |
Look up naff in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
The Polari word naff, meaning inferior or tacky has an uncertain etymology. Michael Quinion states that it is probably from the 16th-century Italian word gnaffa, meaning "a despicable person".
There are a number of folk etymologies, many based around acronyms – Not Available For Fucking, Normal As Fuck – 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).
Usage of "naff" increased in the 1970s when television sitcom Porridge employed it as an alternative to expletives which were not considered broadcastable at the time. In 1982 Princess Anne was reported as telling news photographers to "naff off!" after falling from her horse at the Badminton Horse Trials, although possibly this was self-censorship by the reporters and she actually used "Fuck off!".
Zhoosh
"Zhoosh" has entered English more recently, especially through the TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. It has been used at least once by Stacy London on What Not to Wear, when advising a subject of makeover to enhance their clothing choice. Its initial consonant has led new users to generate variant spellings such as "zoosh", "soozh", ""tszuj." ""zhoozh"" etc. The word begins and ends with the same phoneme, the voiced postalveolar fricative, which can be heard as the "s" sound in the words "television" and "pleasure".
Polari glossary
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For a list of words relating to Polari, see the Polari category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary |
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 sketch from Round The Horne, 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 the memoirs of renowned gay journalist Peter Burton, Parallel Lives)
(Translation: "As young men...we would style our hair, powder our faces, climb into our fabulous new clothes, don our shoes and wander/walk off to some fabulous little bar. In the bar we would stand around with our gay companions, look at the fabulous 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.")
See also
- African American Vernacular English (sometimes called Ebonics)
- Caló (Chicano)
- Carny, North American fairground cant
- Fairground
- Gail language
- Lavender linguistics
- Lunfardo and Vesre
- Rhyming slang
- Rotwelsch
- Thieves' cant
- Verlan
Bibliography
- Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum: ISBN 0-8264-5961-7
- Baker, Paul (2002) Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men. London: Routledge: ISBN 0-415-26180-5
- Elmes, Simon & Rosen, Michael (2002) Word of Mouth. Oxford University Press: ISBN 0-19-866263-7
References
- ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pld Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition (online version)
- ^ Quinion, Michael (1996). "How bona to vada your eek!". WorldWideWords. http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/polari.htm. Retrieved February 20 2006.
- ^ Collins English Dictionary, Third Edition
- ^ Henry Mayhew, London Labor and the London Poor, [1861] Vol3, Dover Press, New York, 1968 p47
- ^ a b c "British Spies: Licensed to be Gay." Time. August 19, 2008
- ^ Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum ISBN 0-8264-5961-7
- ^ Partridge, Eric (1937) Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
- ^ Punch and Judy. (with Illustrations by George Cruickshank). Thomas Hailes Lacey, London, 1859
- ^ Henry Mayhew, London Labor and the London Poor, [1861] Vol. 3, Dover Press, New York, 1968 p47
- ^ Ibid, Mayhew.
- ^ http://www.bonadragboys.blogspot.com
- ^ a b Quinion, Michael. "Naff". World Wide Words. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-naf1.htm. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
- ^ Waterhouse, Keith (1959). Billy Liar. Michael Joseph. pp. 35, 46. p35 "Naff off, Stamp, for Christ sake!" p46 "Well which one of them's got the naffing engagement ring?"
- ^ Ed Buziak, one of the photographers, states that "she certainly burned our ears with that or a very similar sounding couple of words"
External links
- Chris Denning's article on Polari with bibliography
- Hugh Young's Lexicon of Polari
- "World Wide Words" column on the use of Polari in Round the Horne
- The Polari Bible compiled by The Manchester Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
- Colin Richardson, The Guardian, 17 January 2005, "What brings you trolling back, then?"
- BBC - Voices, An interview with four members of a project for older gay men. (In voice clip 2, Polari is spoken)
- Polari FAQ
- Juha's Polari album
- Audio slang excerpt from VicLit novel The Worms of Euston Square
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