I learned of these secret lingos when Morrissey released a song called 'Picadilly Palare'. After watching your vid, I realised we used quite a few gay "code" words here in the Sydney scene. "Friends of Dorothy", "trade", "dizzy queen", "mince", etc. Fantabuloso slap on your friend! That powder-blue makes me sigh...I want to eat it.
I'm too young at 51 to have used polari. However a lot of the older guys on the scene when I first came out were still using it out of habit. So I picked up a lot of polari by osmosis and it still features in my vocabulary. A work colleague and me often use polari when we are at work just to confuse others who are eavesdropping. Although it was a "secret language" when it started, it is surprising how many of the words are now used in everyday conversations, more so in London. This was an
1967 was the year my boyfriend was born. Then 27 years later I was born and 23 years after that we met and fell in love. I'm so glad same-sex relationships aren't illegal any more, it's also great that we finally have marriage equality.
im italian and never heard about parlare inspired polari..and disguted by this old law in 1967 about homosexuality..and great work charlie, its so interesting this interview! 3
If you're gay & in your 40's or older, living in the US, you should know at least some of these terms & phrases. Cool to get a better grasp on the history of them. Thanks, yet again, Charlie...& Dusty O!!!
Charlie this was the first video I watched on my phone this morning even before I got out of bed. Talk about learning something new every day. Great video. Dusty O is simply fab. Didn't have time to leave the comment as had to rush for work. :) your great fella x
Charlie! This was wonderful! What a great way to mix drag with education!! I really really loved it! I hope you do more of these around the world!!! All the best to you!!!! Guille
Western and Middle Eastern ideas of sexuality are very different from each other. Over the course of the twentieth century Western society underwent a kind of sexual revolution in the sense that sexuality as a whole (homosexuality, the idea that a woman could enjoy sex/had rights, being able to talk about sex, dressing provocatively) became a lot less hidden and more accepted. But there was a time when sex was hidden and any sex act that didn't involve sticking a penis into a vagina was illegal.
I am a massive fan of your videos Charlie and I share then often on my Facebook page. I had no idea you were in the UK. If you ever are in Glasgow doing a show please let me know. I would love to come along.
Your videos are great, I' from Juarez MX you are a very smart guy, people like you makes youtube part of our lives. Please keep uploading new videos, a lot of people will watch them. Greeting from Juarez Chihuahua MX.
I love the idea of a secret code of language. At the least, its to keep your mind working on a new form of interpretation of an already known language and to keep the cerebral grey cells spinning in a fun way.
I love your videos, you are a great artist, this video shows that it has been a long road in order to live the freedom we have these days, i am from Mexico and in the same way there is some kind of slang in the gay environment, that was borned in the hard times, and now the little "chickens", "monsters" use it as some kind of fashion but without the knowing of what it was made for, congratulations Charlie and hope you can come to Mexico soon
you know Charlie, this goes way bach in 1950's.A dialect in greece was made by gay men to communicate with each other so they won't get tortured by cops. "Kaliarda" may be the first ever gay dialect.
(second comment) Also in Turkey, where I'm from, homosexuality has been legal since the 1850's, which is far earlier than most places in the West. A lot of men here also go cruising and straight guys are willing to fuck males because it's "not gay" unless you're the bottom (this is linked to attitudes about masculinity/femininity). There's a kind of gay slang in Turkish as well, though, called "Lubunca".
NAFF. ( Not available for a f*ck which in turn become rubbish or crap) Camp( Known as a male prostitute). There's also a lot of carnie language as well. In Britain Slap and Bevvy are used a lot in main stream language. I still call dancers hoofers.
I learned of these secret lingos when Morrissey released a song called 'Picadilly Palare'. After watching your vid, I realised we used quite a few gay "code" words here in the Sydney scene. "Friends of Dorothy", "trade", "dizzy queen", "mince", etc. Fantabuloso slap on your friend! That powder-blue makes me sigh...I want to eat it.
I'm too young at 51 to have used polari. However a lot of the older guys on the scene when I first came out were still using it out of habit. So I picked up a lot of polari by osmosis and it still features in my vocabulary. A work colleague and me often use polari when we are at work just to confuse others who are eavesdropping. Although it was a "secret language" when it started, it is surprising how many of the words are now used in everyday conversations, more so in London. This was an
1967 was the year my boyfriend was born. Then 27 years later I was born and 23 years after that we met and fell in love. I'm so glad same-sex relationships aren't illegal any more, it's also great that we finally have marriage equality.
im italian and never heard about parlare inspired polari..and disguted by this old law in 1967 about homosexuality..and great work charlie, its so interesting this interview! 3
If you're gay & in your 40's or older, living in the US, you should know at least some of these terms & phrases. Cool to get a better grasp on the history of them. Thanks, yet again, Charlie...& Dusty O!!!
Charlie this was the first video I watched on my phone this morning even before I got out of bed. Talk about learning something new every day. Great video. Dusty O is simply fab. Didn't have time to leave the comment as had to rush for work. :) your great fella x
Charlie! This was wonderful! What a great way to mix drag with education!! I really really loved it!
I hope you do more of these around the world!!!
All the best to you!!!!
Guille
yeah i know what you mean, but its amazing how many words we use in general that are from polari, like trolling and cottaging...
Omg how fab is Dusty!! She seems so lovely!!!
Western and Middle Eastern ideas of sexuality are very different from each other. Over the course of the twentieth century Western society underwent a kind of sexual revolution in the sense that sexuality as a whole (homosexuality, the idea that a woman could enjoy sex/had rights, being able to talk about sex, dressing provocatively) became a lot less hidden and more accepted. But there was a time when sex was hidden and any sex act that didn't involve sticking a penis into a vagina was illegal.
Sounds to me like a documentary about Polari is in order!! Great stuff as usual Charlie! You're the best.
Hey Charlie. This video is fun, entertaining, and educational to boot. Great job.
Morrisey's Piccadilly Palare is a great track - wonder if that was written from experience?
Omg! Yes more stuff like this! Where can I learn more polari?
Search for Kenneth Williams Polari here on RUclips for more about Polari.
I am a massive fan of your videos Charlie and I share then often on my Facebook page. I had no idea you were in the UK. If you ever are in Glasgow doing a show please let me know. I would love to come along.
OOOOH! I love the lesson in dialect. Gays have survived with coded languages that differ in various regions. Thanks for this treat. ;-)
Beautiful make up !
awesome video. keep up the great work.
lmao Dude!!! You have an AMAZING Icon collection!!! How long have you been collecting??
Charlie, do you do your own drag or do you only do impersonations??
s there a dictionary somewhere?
why cher voice is diferent at the beginning ? ...
I’m so happy to discover this fascinating language ❤️ I definitely would love to keep this language alive in my drag performances
LOVE THIS! Im gonna bring it back...or try..i live in london ontario canada...should be interesting!!
Your videos are great, I' from Juarez MX you are a very smart guy, people like you makes youtube part of our lives. Please keep uploading new videos, a lot of people will watch them. Greeting from Juarez Chihuahua MX.
This was very fascinating and Dusty O is adorable too! Very nice video, thanks for the gay language lesson! haha. =)
this video is so awesome! I had no idea Polari existed! THANK YOU!
I knew a few of these, but as a gay man born in the LATE 80s this was a learning curve!!
I love the colorfulness and the accent of her voice! :0D
we use similar slang in new zealand.. that was fun to watch, cheers dahlink. x
I'm gay in my 40's in Nova Scotia, Canada - I got a few of the expressions, but not most. Thanks for posting! Very interesting.
Fascinating!
More!!!!!
I love the idea of a secret code of language. At the least, its to keep your mind working on a new form of interpretation of an already known language and to keep the cerebral grey cells spinning in a fun way.
That was extremely interesting yet funny !
Thank you my dears :)
I love your videos, you are a great artist, this video shows that it has been a long road in order to live the freedom we have these days, i am from Mexico and in the same way there is some kind of slang in the gay environment, that was borned in the hard times, and now the little "chickens", "monsters" use it as some kind of fashion but without the knowing of what it was made for, congratulations Charlie and hope you can come to Mexico soon
but what does palone mean ???
Woman.
Is polari a real thing?
It would be so awesome to learn polari!
fabulous!
i'm so proud of myself because i got that first sentence of your vid.
you know Charlie, this goes way bach in 1950's.A dialect in greece was made by gay men to communicate with each other so they won't get tortured by cops. "Kaliarda" may be the first ever gay dialect.
Well ill be damned, you truly are a Madonna impersonator lol *takes hat off*
You looks super cute with the hat and the bowtie, so elegant
That was awesome!
love it! wish i had a Polari dictionary, but that would defeat the purpose
Justin Tomlinson "Fantabulosa" is a Polari dictionary. ;-)
Polari actually dates back to Elizabethan times....so much older.
Bona vid. Was always wondering how to pronounce Meshigener / Meshugunah. I just wanted to shorten it to "Meshy" XD
pls come to berlin!!!! Germany and especially we in Berlin LOVE you !!! :D
WoW Thank you charlie for post this video about Polari code
Greetings from Mexico city. JP
LOVE DUSTY O
She looks so pretty. I shoyld dress like that or maybe add something to it.
I was expecting Laquisha
love dusty o xx
"cottaging".....george michael springs to mind
Wait a minute you live here ? well you learn something new everyday.
So troll means "looking for sex"... I'll be using this one often XD
But really nice video I wasn't aware of this and found it really interesting.
that is so cool
Cool.
as a gay man from london i have never knew about this lol
Nis the chat
Varde the eek! Varde the lalles onnthe omoe polone
ohh i comment before seeing the whole video ... my fault
(second comment) Also in Turkey, where I'm from, homosexuality has been legal since the 1850's, which is far earlier than most places in the West. A lot of men here also go cruising and straight guys are willing to fuck males because it's "not gay" unless you're the bottom (this is linked to attitudes about masculinity/femininity). There's a kind of gay slang in Turkish as well, though, called "Lubunca".
Hahaha that was great!
vogue in polari is cigarette i think
LOL yeah!
I live
Oh, so it's like Simlish. For when it was..illegal to be a dork? Legal to be a dork. Nonlega-- Degg Degg!
interesting :D !
NAFF. ( Not available for a f*ck which in turn become rubbish or crap) Camp( Known as a male prostitute). There's also a lot of carnie language as well. In Britain Slap and Bevvy are used a lot in main stream language. I still call dancers hoofers.
i will do that after i sleep :D
lol i read this comment in cher voice :D
Yea that is true lmao :D
Wtf is this?? Can you imagine what this means for a hispanic guy who is learnimg english :(
Drag queens should be liable to arrest for nauseating the general public and scaring the horses.
the should be liable to arrest the public