Polari (from Italian parlare 'to talk') is a form of slang or cant used in Britain and Ireland by some actors, circus and fairground showmen, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals, sex workers and the gay subculture. There is some debate about its origins,[2] but it can be traced back to at least the 19th century and possibly as far as the 16th century.[3] There is a long-standing connection with Punch and Judy street puppet performers, who traditionally used Polari to converse.[4]
Polari | |
---|---|
Palare, Parlary, Palarie, Palari | |
Region | United Kingdom and Ireland |
Native speakers | None[1] |
Language family | English-based slang |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | pld |
Glottolog | pola1249 |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Alternate spellings include Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie and Palari.
Polari is a mixture of Romance (Italian[5] or Mediterranean Lingua Franca), Romani, rhyming slang, sailor slang and thieves' cant. Later it expanded to contain words from the Yiddish language and from 1960s drug subculture slang. It was a constantly developing form of language, with a small core lexicon of about 20 words, including: bona (good[6]), ajax (nearby), eek (face), cod (bad, in the sense of tacky or vile), naff (bad, in the sense of drab or dull, though borrowed into mainstream British English with the sense of the aforementioned cod), lattie (room, house, flat, i.e. room to let), nanti (not, no), omi (man), palone (woman), riah (hair), zhoosh or tjuz (smarten up, stylise), TBH ("to be had", sexually accessible), trade (sex) and vada (see), and over 500 other lesser-known words.[7] According to a Channel 4 television documentary,[8] there was once (in London) an "East End" version which stressed Cockney rhyming slang and a "West End" version which stressed theatrical and Classical influences. There was some interchange between the two.
From the 19th century on, Polari was used in London fishmarkets, the theatre, fairgrounds and circuses, hence the many borrowings from Romani.[9] As many homosexual men worked in theatrical entertainment it was also used among the gay subculture, at a time when homosexual activity was illegal, to disguise homosexuals from hostile outsiders and undercover policemen. It was also used extensively in the British Merchant Navy, where many gay men joined ocean liners and cruise ships as waiters, stewards and entertainers.[10]
William Shakespeare used the term bona (good, attractive) in Henry IV, Part 2, part of the expression bona roba (a lady wearing an attractive outfit).[11] However, "there's little written evidence of Polari before the 1890s", according to Peter Gilliver, associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. The dictionary's entry for rozzer (policeman), for example, includes this quote from an 1893 book (P. H. Emerson's Signor Lippo – Burnt Cork Artiste):[12] "If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun." (If the police were to see him dressed in this fine manner, they would know that he is a thief.)[11]
The almost identical Parlyaree has been spoken in fairgrounds since at least the 17th century[13] 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 Romani, as well as other languages and argots spoken by travelling people, such as thieves' 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 (John Payne Collier's account calls him Porchini, a literal rendering of the Italian pronunciation).[14] 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.[4]
There are additional accounts of particular words that relate to puppet performance: "'Slumarys' – figures, frame, scenes, properties. 'Slum' – call, or unknown tongue"[4] ("unknown" is a reference to the "swazzle", a voice modifier used by Punch performers, the structure of which was a longstanding trade secret).
Polari had begun to fall into disuse amongst the gay subculture by the late 1960s. The popularity of Julian and Sandy, played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams (introduced in the radio programme Round the Horne, in the 1960s) ensured that some of this secret language became public knowledge.[15] The need for a secret subculture code declined with the partial decriminalisation of adult homosexual acts in England and Wales under the Sexual Offences Act 1967.
A number of words from Polari have entered mainstream slang. The list below includes words in general use with the meanings listed: acdc, barney, blag, butch, camp, khazi, cottaging, hoofer, mince, ogle, scarper, slap, strides, tod, [rough] trade.
The Polari word naff, meaning inferior or tacky, has an uncertain etymology. Michael Quinion states that it is probably from the sixteenth-century Italian word gnaffa, meaning "a despicable person".[16] There are a number of false etymologies, many based on acronyms—"Not Available For Fucking", "Normal As Fuck", etc.—though these are backronyms. The phrase "naff off" was used euphemistically in place of "fuck off" along with the intensifier "naffing" in Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse (1959).[17] Usage of "naff" increased in the 1970s when the television sitcom Porridge employed it as an alternative to expletives which were not considered broadcastable at the time.[16] Princess Anne allegedly famously told a reporter, "Why don't you just naff off" at the Badminton horse trials in April 1982,[18] but it has since been claimed that this was a bowdlerised version of what she actually said.[19]
"Zhoosh" (/ˈʒʊʃ/, /ˈʒuːʃ/ or /ˈʒʊʒ/[20]), meaning to smarten up, style or improve something, became commonplace in the mid-2000s, having been used in the 2003 United States TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and What Not to Wear.[citation needed]
Numbers:
Number | Definition | Italian numbers |
---|---|---|
medza | half | mezza |
una, oney | one | uno |
dooey | two | due |
tray | three | tre |
quarter | four | quattro |
chinker | five | cinque |
say | six | sei |
say oney, setter | seven | sette |
say dooey, otter | eight | otto |
say tray, nobber | nine | nove |
daiture | ten | dieci |
long dedger, lepta | eleven | undici |
kenza | twelve | dodici |
chenter[33] | one hundred | cento |
Some words or phrases that may derive from Polari (this is an incomplete list):
Word | Definition |
---|---|
acdc, bibi | bisexual[35]: 49 |
ajax | nearby (shortened form of "adjacent to")[35]: 49 |
alamo! | they're attractive! (via acronym "LMO" meaning "Lick Me Out!)[35]: 52, 59 |
arva | to have sex (from Italian chiavare, to screw)[36] |
aunt nell | listen![35]: 52 |
aunt nells | ears[35]: 45 |
aunt nelly fakes | earrings[35]: 59, 60 |
barney | a fight[35]: 164 |
bat, batts, bates | shoes[35]: 164 |
bevvy | drink (diminutive of "beverage")[6] |
bitch | effeminate or passive gay man |
bijou | small/little (from French, jewel)[35]: 57 |
bitaine | whore (French putain) |
blag | pick up[35]: 46 |
bold | homosexual[36] |
bona | good[35]: 26, 32, 85 |
bona nochy | goodnight (from Italian – buona notte)[35]: 52 |
butch | masculine; masculine lesbian[35]: 167 |
buvare | a drink; something drinkable (from Italian – bere or old-fashioned Italian – bevere or Lingua Franca bevire)[35]: 167 |
cackle | talk/gossip[35]: 168 |
camp | effeminate (possibly from Italian campare "exaggerate, make stand out") (possibly from the phrase 'camp follower' those itinerants who followed behind the men in uniform/highly decorative dress) |
capello, capella, capelli, kapella | hat (from Italian – cappello)[35]: 168 |
carsey, karsey, khazi | toilet[35]: 168 |
cartes | penis (from Italian – cazzo)[35]: 97 |
cats | trousers[35]: 168 |
charper | to search or to look (from Italian acchiappare, to catch)[35]: 168 |
charpering omi | policeman |
charver | sexual intercourse[35]: 46 |
chicken | young man |
clevie | vagina[37] |
clobber | clothes[35]: 138, 139, 169 |
cod | bad[35]: 169 |
corybungus | backside, posterior[37] |
cottage | a public lavatory used for sexual encounters (public lavatories in British parks and elsewhere were often built in the style of a Tudor cottage) |
cottaging | seeking or obtaining sexual encounters in public lavatories |
cove | taxi[35]: 61 |
dhobi / dhobie / dohbie | wash (from Hindi, dohb)[35]: 171 |
Dilly boy | a male prostitute, from Piccadilly boy |
Dilly, the | Piccadilly, a place where trolling went on |
dinari | money (Latin denarii was the 'd' of the pre decimal penny)[38] |
dish | buttocks[35]: 45 |
dolly | pretty, nice, pleasant, (from Irish dóighiúil/Scottish Gaelic dòigheil, handsome, pronounced 'doil') |
dona | woman (perhaps from Italian donna or Lingua Franca dona)[35]: 26 |
ecaf | face (backslang)[35]: 58, 210 |
eek/eke[33] | face (abbreviation of ecaf)[35]: 58, 210 |
ends | hair[6] |
esong, sedon | nose (backslang)[35]: 31 |
fambles | hands[37] |
fantabulosa | fabulous/wonderful |
farting crackers | trousers[37] |
feele / feely / filly | child/young (from the Italian figlio, for son) |
feele omi / feely omi | young man |
flowery | lodgings, accommodations[37] |
fogus | tobacco |
fortuni | gorgeous, beautiful[37] |
fruit | gay man |
funt | pound £ (Yiddish) |
fungus | old man/beard[37] |
gelt | money (Yiddish) |
handbag | money |
hoofer | dancer |
HP (homy palone) | effeminate gay man |
irish | wig (from rhyming slang, "Irish jig") |
jarry | food, also mangarie (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria) |
jubes | breasts |
kaffies | trousers |
khazi | toilet, also spelt carsey |
lacoddy | body |
lallies / lylies | legs, sometimes also knees (as in "get down on yer lallies") |
lallie tappers | feet |
latty / lattie | room, house or flat |
lau | lay or place upon[39] |
lavs | words[40] (Gaelic: labhairt to speak) |
lills | hands |
lilly | police (Lilly Law) |
lyles | legs (prob. from "Lisle stockings") |
lucoddy | body |
luppers | fingers (from Yiddish lapa – paw) |
mangarie | food, also jarry (from Italian mangiare or Lingua Franca mangiaria) |
manky | worthless, dirty (from Italian mancare – "to be lacking")[41] |
martinis | hands |
measures | money |
medzer | half (from Italian mezzo) |
medzered | divided[42] |
meese | plain, ugly (from Yiddish mieskeit, in turn from Hebrew מָאוּס repulsive, loathsome, despicable, abominable) |
meshigener | nutty, crazy, mental (from Yiddish 'meshugge', in turn from Hebrew מְשֻׁגָּע crazy) |
meshigener carsey | church[40] |
metzas | money (from Italian mezzi, "means, wherewithal") |
mince | walk affectedly |
mollying | involved in the act of sex[43] |
mogue | deceive |
munge | darkness |
naff | awful, dull, hetero |
nana | evil |
nanti | not, no, none (from Italian, niente) |
national handbag | dole, welfare, government financial assistance |
nishta | nothing[6] |
ogle | look admiringly |
ogles | eyes |
oglefakes | glasses |
omi | man (from Romance) |
omi-palone | effeminate man, or homosexual |
onk | nose (cf "conk") |
orbs | eyes |
orderly daughters | police |
oven | mouth (nanti pots in the oven = no teeth in the mouth) |
palare / polari pipe | telephone ("talk pipe") |
palliass | back |
park, parker | give |
plate | feet (Cockney rhyming slang "plates of meat"); to fellate |
palone | woman (Italian paglione – "straw mattress"; cf. old Cant hay-bag – "woman"); also spelled "polony" in Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock |
palone-omi | lesbian |
pots | teeth |
quongs | testicles |
reef | touch |
remould | sex change |
rozzer | policeman[11] |
riah / riha | hair (backslang) |
riah zhoosher | hairdresser |
rough trade | a working class or blue collar sex partner or potential sex partner; a tough, thuggish or potentially violent sex partner |
scarper | to run off (from Italian scappare, to escape or run away or from rhyming slang Scapa Flow, to go) |
scharda | shame (from German schade, "a shame" or "a pity") |
schlumph | drink |
schmutter | apparel[44] |
schooner | bottle |
scotch | leg (scotch egg=leg) |
screech | mouth, speak |
screeve | write[44] (from Irish scríobh/Scottish Gaelic sgrìobh, Scots scrieve to 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 |
TBH (to be had) | prospective sexual conquest |
thews | thighs |
tober | road (a Shelta word, Irish bóthar); temporary site for a circus, carnival |
todd (Sloan) or tod | 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) |
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 | female smoker |
wallop | dance[45] |
willets | breasts |
yeute | no, none |
yews | (from French "yeux") eyes |
zhoosh | style hair, tart up, mince (cf. Romani zhouzho – "clean, neat") zhoosh our riah – style our hair |
zhooshy | showy |
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", one of the Julian and Sandy sketches from Round The Horne, written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman
So bona to vada...oh you! Your lovely eek and your lovely riah. – taken from "Piccadilly Palare", a song by Morrissey
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 Parallel Lives, the memoirs of renowned gay journalist Peter Burton
In the Are You Being Served? episode "The Old Order Changes", Captain Peacock asks Mr Humphries to get "some strides for the omi with the naff riah" (i.e. trousers for the fellow with the unstylish hair).[46]
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