#Polari language

[amanufacturedheaven]

Rare Language Learning: Polari

If you have ever used the words:

- Naff

- Butch

- Camp

You have unknowingly been speaking the sociolect known as Polari, the language of queer people primarily used in the 30s to the 70s. Polari is now an endangered language, as labelled by the University of Cambridge

Something of note: Many resources out there imply (or state) that Polari was a language invented and used solely by white cis gay men, which is decidedly untrue. Many words of Polari come from drag culture, lesbians, and the Romani people and their language. The use of ‘the language of British gay men’ may be a more palatable title to the general public, but it is not to me. I did my best to curate a variety of resources, but unfortunately much of queer history has been lost many more decades than I’ve been alive, if you have any other resources for studying Polari I would love to read them, message me or leave a link in the replies.

Articles

Learn Polari, the Secret Language of the Gays ⚢ Out Magazine

Polari: The code language gay men used to survive ⚢ BBC

Polari and the Hidden History of Gay Seafarers ⚢ National Museums Liverpool

The Story of Polari, Britain’s Secret Gay Language ⚢ Fabulosa!

Polari People ⚢ Fabulosa!

Polari: a language born from prejudice ⚢ Englishpanish

The secretive gay language that gave LGBTQ people a voice ⚢ GAYTIMES

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

Study Material

The Polari Bible ⚢ Internet Archive

Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang ⚢ Internet Archive

Sociolinguistics / Polari ⚢ StudySmarter

FlashCards ⚢ Quizlet

New Polari Translator ⚢ LingoJam

Polari: A sociohistorical study of the life and decline of a secret language. ⚢ Dissertation, University of Manchester

Polari: a language born from prejudice ⚢ Englishpanish

Simon Bowkett: a short blog in Polari for LGBT+ History Month ⚢ Civil Service LGBT+ Network

[flwrkid14]

Take My Heart, Take My Name

Listen. Danny is a menace with affectionate nicknames, and Tim is so weak for it.

It starts small, a casual “hey, babe” here, a “thanks, darling” there. Tim thinks he’s fine at first—sure, his heart skips a beat, and yeah, maybe he has to take a moment to compose himself, but he tells himself it’s no big deal.

Except then Danny takes it up a notch, like he’s testing Tim’s self-control.

Honey. Danny calls Tim honey one night and Tim seriously thinks it's game over. He's done for. Finished. Danny could ask him to jump into a Lazarus Pit, and Tim would already be in mid-air. “Hey, honey, can you grab my jacket?” Yes. Yes, he can. He can grab Danny’s jacket, his wallet, his hand in marriage—whatever Danny wants.

And just when Tim thinks he’s adjusted to that, Danny has to go and casually destroy him again.

“Morning, Polaris,” Danny says, voice soft and warm, and Tim nearly drops his coffee mug. Polaris. His chest tightens at the word, at the meaning behind it. The North Star—the one constant in the sky, the guide through uncertainty. That’s how Danny sees him? It’s almost too much. Tim has to physically turn around and pretend to check his phone, hiding the way his face burns and his throat tightens with something dangerously close to tears. Danny doesn’t just say it like it’s some throwaway nickname; he says it like it’s a promise, like he’s quietly reminding Tim just how much he means to him.

But the real killer? The absolute fatality? It’s when Tim overhears Danny talking about him to someone else.

“Oh yeah, Tim’s amazing,” Danny says, casually. “My man’s the smartest guy I know.”

My man.

Tim’s entire world stops. He doesn’t even realize he’s holding his breath until he exhales a few seconds later, completely dazed. My man. It’s not just that Danny’s saying it; it’s the way he says it. The pride in his voice, the casual possessiveness, the ease with which he claims Tim like that—like they’re already this unshakable thing. His. And Tim can’t believe it.

It doesn’t matter that they’ve been together for a while; hearing Danny claim him like that still makes him feel like he’s the luckiest person alive. Every time Danny says it, Tim can feel his heart racing, his head spinning.

And how could he not? He wants to give Danny everything. Every inch of himself, every breath, every dream, every fear. Tim wants to live his life wrapped in Danny’s laugh, stitched into the fabric of his love. If Danny wanted proof, Tim would carve his devotion into the stars themselves, would pluck out his own heart and place it in Danny’s hands as an offering. He’d give up anything, anyone, just to keep Danny smiling like that, to hear him say my man again.

Tim’s in a puddle, utterly lost in the warmth of it. His chest tightens, and he can’t stop the little smile that’s spreading across his face. My man. That’s his Danny. And God, if this is what it feels like to be loved by him, then Tim’s never going back.

And the thing is, Danny knows exactly what he’s doing. The way Tim lights up whenever he calls him something sweet? The soft little smile he tries to hide? Danny lives for it.

“Baby, are you okay?” Danny asks one day when Tim is just staring at him, dazed and lovestruck.

“Yeah,” Tim mumbles, his voice barely audible. “I just… like when you call me that.”

Danny grins, leaning closer. “What, baby?”

Tim nods, face bright red.

And from then on, it’s over. Tim is officially a nickname addict. Sweetheart, baby, honey, love—he eats it all up. It’s his lifeline. His kryptonite. And the best part? Danny never holds back.

[brainfugk]

Reblog if you have no idea

Hi Mr. Gaiman. I’ve been doing some research lately on the Polari language and was curious whether or not Aziraphale and/or Crowley would be familiar with it?

It's not a language. It's a cant vocabulary to allow people to have conversations in front of people who would prohibit the conversations or the actions discussed.

Aziraphale would have Soho friends who used it, and would also have understood it.

Crowley would also have understood it, but probably would have learned all the proto versions (back slang and so on) as crime slang and cant in Victorian days.

[majusav]

A "quick" comic i made for fun (took me 5 fckn days because of work. quick comic my ass)

[cyborgghost]

Daan and Marcoh talking to eachother in Polari 🤭

[thesobsister]

Excellent short film that uses Polari, the slang used by gay British men in the 20th century, to tell its story. Even with subtitles on, there's little context beyond facial expressions and what English is used, but it's quite well done.

And frickin' Spelling Bee doesn't accept "naff" as a word…

[atlantis-just-drowned]

The most important thing I learned from discovering Polari is how 'Puttin on the Ritz' was about Harry Richman telling the gays to meet each others at the Ritz

[langwij]

polari is such a sick language. like british gays just decided they'd make a whole new way of speaking to evade the cops. even better, a bunch was spoken and spelled like a cockney version of italian. i feel like it's a prt of gay culture and history that isn't spoken about nearly enough as it should be. like we literally made our own little gay language that was active in london and other parts of south england for like 40 years, isn't that so sick?!

gonna add it to the list of langauges i gotta learn

[ghostieblotts]

hi, what does naff mean? (I googled it and it said it was British and meant unfashionable but I don't think that's how you used it)

That is correct! The way I use it is very broadened, to be perfectly honest. I often use it in a sense of being unimpressive, disappointing, or generally not very good. On its own, I'd say that naff is maybe slightly better than bad but worse than an absolute middle on the scale of quality? (The way some people use mid reminds me of how I use naff). However, I use intensifiers to play fast and loose with it, so I'm not exactly consistent, and I will use it to express more negative meanings (is this ironic understatement or genuinely having a more negative meaning? I really don't know!).

This is a great question and now I'm wondering whether the broadened way I use it is local to my social group and area, or whether this is a change in meaning covering a larger area that webpages and dictionaries haven't quite caught up with. This is also, at least with the imprecision of use that I use it with, a really awkward word to try and define. Thank you very much for the ask I am going down research rabbit holes

[friday411]

How gay men used to speak –

A short film in Polari

Here's the trailer of a short documentary on a fantastic subject so relevant to all of us ACD and victorian-era Holmes stories fans & writers.

A history of an in-group slang/language for gay men with its roots in theater, but also going all the way back to transient people, like the Romney and the Pikeys.

First person to incorporate any of these gems into their next story wins a prize!!

Go!

[spacedace]

Hey was anyone going to tell me that Queer culture had a secret language possibly going back as far as Shakespeare or was I just supposed to find that out from a tiktok video sending me down a rabbit hole on my own??

Anyway it's called Polari and amongst others it's where the terms drag, butch and camp come from

Anyway I'm gonna go obsessively learn about this now remember me fondly

[leresq]

The internet is basically forcing people to invent a new slang-language that no one who isn't on the internet would understand ala Polari

[polarisbibliotheque]

Me: happy, thriving, pouring words like a madwriter because I FINALLY had a good idea to re-work and re-write a dark fantasy vampire story I've been working on for 15 years

My PC: suddenly crashes and screen goes black, dead

Me:

My PC:

Me:

My PC:

Me:

Me: gods I didn't save the fucking file

Always save your fucking files, kids.

Even more if you're an ancient being like me who prefers to type and doesn't like to write directly on cloud storage like Google Drive or something

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Lucid

The Remedy

Relapse

Consume

Frailty

In Somnus Veritas

Dusk to Day

Casualty

The Slow Decay

Crooked Path

Sonder

Spotify | Bandcamp | YouTube

[tricks-n-illusions]

It seems like theres a visitor lurking in the distance. Maybe your words have brought upon an audience?

Silas showed no surprise when the tiny lurker replied to him, if anything he looked annoyed at someone bringing attention to it.

He instantly broke into a fit of laughter at the tiny spirit's words whatever she said must have been pretty ridiculous to warrant that reaction from the Zoroark. Hilarious even.

Silas's impression of the plush Zorua was horrible and monotone, even his questions sounded like mere statements. But, It seemed like something he'd heard hundreds of times and had grown acquainted with. In other words, it was accurate. "Look. Lune's voice may be flat and emotionless, but I can tell under that stupid fuckin' plush face he was looking at me like I was insane. Which, I'M NOT BY THE WAY." Silas huffed in annoyance, shooing the tiny spirit away. "I'm perfectly mentally well as you can obviously see." He grandly gestured to himself before giving a grin and waving her off. "You're not real, I don't know why I'm even talking to you again." He seemed quite offended at the implication of her existence. "And. Even if, let's say, you were. Purely hypothetical here. I know what the fuck you actually are and you are NOT her. So stop following me, I told you this the day you showed up. I don't want anything to do with you, and I will never want anything to do with you. So, fuck off." [ . . . ] The tiny spirit looked very unamused, she gave him an irritated look before angrily swatting her tail at him. It did absolutely nothing but pass through Silas. She was more than used to his stupidity at this point, she gave a small statement before she turned to you.

She was aware you had no idea what she was saying and even seemed understanding of this. But for some reason, her point was made clear in your mind.

[gaylifetoday1]

Bold, Brazen and Bona: The Curious History of Polari

Introduction: Speaking in Code Long before RuPaul brought “shade” into the mainstream, queer folk in Britain were already throwing it—quietly, cleverly, and often with a wink. Enter Polari: a coded form of slang once whispered through the backrooms of pubs, backstage at theatres, and down the murky alleys of Victorian London. If you’ve ever described something as “naff” or called a mate a “bona…