There are some parts of the English language that the Brits have always kept for themselves. Like ‘Polari’ for example.
In the 19th century it was used as the version of everyday language used in London fish markets, the theatre, fairgrounds, and circuses, hence the many borrowings from ‘travelers’ and Romanies.
Then in the 1950’s and 1960’s many homosexual men who worked in theatrical entertainment adapted it as gay subculture They turned it into a language of survival at a time when homosexual activity was illegal and they wanted to avid hostile outsiders and undercover policemen.
Evidently 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.
What is Polari exactly? Well, here’s the version made very popular in the late 1960’s by comic geniuses Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick on the cult radio show Around The Horne. It was the eve of the official decriminalization of homosexual when ever thing was about innuendo
Here’s another rather wonderful example of two men cruising each other in a London Park in this 2015 short film written & directed by Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston. The two men completely understand each other, but you will struggle to know what they are talking about
Then in 2007 Welsh journalist and writer Paul Burston borrowed the world Polari when he founded and hosted what is now London’s award-winning LGBT literary salon. He then launched The Polari , the First Book Prize for new LGBT writing.
Burston who worked for the London gay policing group GALOP, was an activist with ACT-UP before moving into journalism. He edited, for some years, the gay and lesbian (later LGBT) section of Time Out magazine which at the time was every queer’s bible as to what was going ion.
It seems appropriate that the language that made us feel secure and started our community’s long journey to find our own identity, should be used to honor and celebrate the work of LGBT literature and the arts . Queerguru actually tied the manically busy Burston to film an online interview a couple of years ago, but the gods of technology were not on our side that day. Seeing this wee video of the story of Polari has reminded us that we must try again.
https://www.polarisalon.com/