Polari (from the
Italian Parlare, to speak) was the language of the English subculture. It was
used throughout the country but mainly in London where it was spoken by market
traders, in fairgrounds, at dog tracks, and by the criminal fraternity. But it
was to be amongst the homosexual community that it really took a hold.
Polari emerged in
the late eighteenth century as a mixture of cockney rhyming slang and the many
different languages that were spoken in immigrant London at the time and as the
policing of the city became more rigorous and systematic so did the devices
adopted by those wishing to evade it, and language was one of them.
There were also variations
of Polari within London itself with that used in the East End based on the
slang of the dock workers and canal boat men and the language used by the large
homosexual community resident in the West End who often used theatrical and
music hall references. The two were eventually to crossover and merge but
whereas its use would decline in general as time wore on it would continue to
develop and flourish within the homosexual community.
Prior to the
Sexual Offences Act of 1967, to have a same sex relationship or have a same sex
encounter was a crime. It was also an offence that the police took particular
relish in prosecuting, and Polari soon became a second language used by
homosexuals to stay one step ahead of the law.
Such was the
stigma attached to it that to be arrested for a homosexual offence could
destroy careers and break lives, and for many homosexual men marriage was a
means whereby rumours about ones sexuality could be denied and gossip
deflected.
This was an
unhappy convenience that for many gay men did not even exist as an option. More
overtly effeminate men were often the subject of whispered allegations and
worse, and were particularly vulnerable to police harassment and it was amongst
this group that the use of Polari became increasingly commonplace.
Amongst the
upper-classes homosexuality was largely turned a blind eye to and even indulged
as long as those who practised it behaved with a modicum of discretion and were
not caught in flagrante delicto.
This was not the
case for the middle classes and those who worked in the professions. Throughout
the 1950's and early 1960's numerous barristers, teachers, doctors and
prominent businessmen were arrested and saw their careers ended as a result of
a homosexual indiscretion. It was also common for a wife aware of her husband’s
homosexuality to cover up for him to preserve the standard of living for
herself and her children that only her husband could provide. Particularly as
this was a time when far fewer women worked and those who did were often
employed in low paid jobs devoid of prospects.
Within the
working class homosexuality was simply unacceptable. Anyone accused of a
homosexual act would face being abandoned by their family, ostracised by their
local community, and be in constant fear of violent assault. They were
effectively run out of town.
Known homosexuals
would also often be rounded up for random questioning whenever a sexual crime
had been committed against a minor, on the grounds that as "perverts"
they were always likely suspects.
The decade prior
to the 1950's had been a boom time for sexual activity of all kinds. The war
years had witnessed a breakdown in the strict moral code that had governed the
behaviour of people since the Victorian era and it provided ample opportunity
for people to indulge their sexual predilections with little fear of being
caught.
The number of
young sexually active young men, often from abroad, in uniform on the streets
of Britain's cities and looking for a good time increased beyond measure. The
Black Out ensured security to the point where you could often not even see who
you were having sex with. As a result there was a sharp increase in gay and
transvestite prostitution, and there was to be many a soldier who was not only
fleeced of his money but found himself the recipient of more than he had
bargained for.
Quentin Crisp,
the future author, raconteur, and actor, who had been turned down for military
service on the grounds that he suffered from a sexual perversion wrote of his
happiness during the war years as he took advantage of the many thousands of
young men abroad and away from the restraints of home who were able to express
their new-found sexual freedom with impunity for the first time.
Homosexuals did
of course serve in the Armed Forces during the war and for many it was to be
the first time they had encountered some degree of, if not acceptance, then
toleration. The other men in the Unit would invariably have been aware of who
amongst them was gay and though they could often be patronised, such as being
made the Company mascot, they were generally tolerated and often even protected
by their comrades. When faced with the prospect of death another's sexuality
hardly seems to matter.
In the Prisoner-of-War
Camps the more effeminate homosexual men would often play the female roles in
the shows that were put on to entertain their fellow prisoners. Known as the
girlfriends, they were rarely without boyfriends.
The Military
Authorities in the main turned a blind eye to homosexual activity within the
Armed Forces. If it could be swept under the carpet then all well and good, it
was after all a time of war and of all hands to the pump.
It was widely
assumed that homosexual men were by nature weak and cowardly with a propensity
to hysteria but many had displayed outstanding courage and had finished the war
with distinguished service records.
The war years
were to break down a great many social barriers and prove the lie to a great
many myths, but it would be wrong to think that everything was rosy in the
garden. Homosexual men were still court-martialled, drummed out of the service,
and on occasions imprisoned.
The coming of
peace however saw a crackdown on the licentiousness of the war years and the moral
code that had briefly been removed was very quickly re-imposed.
The Authorities
were eager to halt what they perceived to be the slide into moral decay. Their
weapons of choice were to be the Law and the Police. Censorship was enforced in
the theatre, many nightclubs were closed down, and homosexuality was again
forced underground.
Among those
prosecuted during this period was the brilliant mathematician and computer
scientist Alan Turing. He had been awarded the O.B.E for his pivotal work at
Bletchley Park during the war in cracking the German Enigma Code.
In January, 1952,
he reported a man, Arnold Murray, whom he had met in Manchester to the Police
for breaking into his home. During their investigations however the Police
discovered that Turing and Murray had in fact been lovers. Both men were
subsequently charged with indecency under Section II of the Criminal Law
Amendment Act of 1885, the same law under which Oscar Wilde had been
prosecuted.
Found guilty,
rather than go to prison Turing chose to undergo a course of chemical
castration. Despite agreeing to undergo a course of treatment that was still in
its experimental stage, Turing saw his life ruined. He lost his job at G.C.H.Q
(the centre for British Intelligence gathering). His attempt to continue his
work abroad was aborted when he was refused entry to the United States. The
humiliation of his situation he found unable to endure. On 8 June, 1954, he
committed suicide by taking a bite from an apple laced with cyanide.
Another prominent
figure to fall foul of the law was the recently knighted actor Sir John
Gielgud. In 1953, he was arrested for cottaging in a Chelsea public lavatory.
Convicted of lewd
behaviour many people, himself included, thought it heralded the end of his
career. But Sir John was from an old and distinguished theatrical family and
the profession rallied around him. Even so he avoided public appearances and
even turned down movie roles for a great many years to come. He later admitted
to feeling personally humiliated by the experience for the rest of his life.
Homosexuality had
once again been reduced to a clandestine activity committed in the dead of
night, in parks, on street corners, and at bus shelters. But to those within
the homosexual community, to those in the know, there were the locked basement
rooms of nightclubs and the secret partitions in pubs.
The Turing case
had shown that even sex between consenting adults in the privacy of one’s own
home was no bar to prosecution. Neither was fame, fortune, or reputation.
Secrecy was paramount, and many prominent people including Noel Coward, Cecil
Beaton, Benjamin Britten, and Siegfried Sassoon among them lived in constant
fear of being exposed.
So the 1950's saw
a revival in the use of Polari, many words of which, such as, blag, barney,
clobber, khazi, naff, scarper, and strides have since become part of our common
language and it was used to pull the wool over the eyes of the police and was a
means by which gay people could both recognise and acknowledge one another and
communicate outside of their usual haunts.
It become more
widely known to the public at large when a segment of the popular radio show
Around the Horne was devoted to Julian and Sandy, two overtly camp men played
by the actors Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick who regularly used Polari in
their sketches.
Polari began to
go out of fashion following the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 and the
decriminalisation of homosexuality. This had resulted from a series of Private
Members Bills that were passed into law by the Labour Home Secretary Roy
Jenkins. It legalised same gender sex for consenting adults aged over 21. With
the effective legalisation of homosexuality the need for Polari and for
homosexuals to have a secret language all of their own ceased to exist.
A Brief Glossary
of Polari Words and Expressions:
1) Alamo – Hot For
2) Aunt Nell’s - Ears
3) Aunt Nelly Fakes – Earrings
4) Barney - Fight
5) Basket – Male Genitalia
6) Bibi – Bisexual
7) Blag – Pick Up
8) Bod - Body
9) Bona - Good
10) Bona Drag -
Good Outfit
11) Bona Nochy -
Goodnight
12) Bonaroo –
Wonderful
13) Bungery - Pub
14) Butch –
Masculine
15) Cackle -
Gossip
16) Camp –
Effeminate
17) Carto - Penis
18) Charpering
Omi – Policeman
19) Chicken –
Young Man
20) Clobber -
Clothes
21) Dilly Boy -
Male Prostitute
22) Dish -
Buttocks
23) Dolly -
Pretty
24) Dona – Woman
25) Dorcas -
Darling
26) Doss - Bed
27) End - Hair
28) Fantabulosa -
Fabulous
29) Esong – Nose
30) Fruit - Queen
30) Handbag –
Money
31) Jubes -
Breasts
32) Lallies –
Legs
33) Lilly Law –
Police
34) Naff - Awful
35) Mince - Walk
Affectedly
36) Ogle - Look
37) Omi Palone -
Effeminate Man
38) Orbs – Eyes
39) Palliass -
Back
40) Palone Omi -
Lesbian
41) Scarper - To
Run Off
42) Screech –
Speak
43) Sharpy Polone
– Policewoman
44) Slap - Makeup
45) Strides -
Trousers
46) Switch - Wig
47) Trade – Sex
48) Vera Lynn –
Gin
49) Vogue - Smoke
50) Zhoosh -
Style
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