The final
1st
year paper by Valeria Grinevitch
The
History of Polari
Polari
(also seen as 'Palare') is a gay slang language, which has now almost
died out.
Gay slang in Britain dates back to the
involvement of the homosexual subculture with the criminal
"underworld". The homosexual subculture of the Eighteenth
Century mixed with the gypsies, tramps & thieves of popular song
to produce a rich cross-fertilisation of customs, phrases and
traditions. As the Industrial revolution dramatically changed
settlement patterns, more and more people drifted away from villages
and small communities and moved to larger towns in search of work and
opportunity. In these larger urban locations, the scope for the
development of communities of outcasts substantially increased. The
growth of molly houses (private spaces for men to meet, drink, have
sex together and practice communal rituals) encouraged the creation
of a molly
identity. A linguistic culture developed, feeding into that
profession traditionally associated with poofs and whores: theatre.
When
I started to research Polari, it was difficult to find any written
material about Polari as what little used to exist was out of print.
However, in the last few years, more and more people have been
finding out about it, and several web sites and magazine articles
have been written.
Polari
featured heavily in the "Julian and Sandy" sketches on the
BBC radio program "Round the Horne" in the late 60s, and
this is how a lot of people first heard of Polari. A few words like
'bona' can still be seen in gay publications, used for camp effect.
There are even hairdressers in London and Brighton called "Bona
Riah".
Polari
itself was never clearly defined: an ever-changing collection of
slang from various sources including Italian, English (backwards
slang, rhyming slang), circus slang, canal-speak, Yiddish and Gypsy
languages. It is impossible to tell which slang words are real
Polari.
Linguists
still argue about where it came from. The larger part of its
vocabulary is certainly Italian in origin, but nobody seems to know
how the words got into Britain. Some experts say its origins lie in
the lingua
franca of
the shores of the Mediterranean, a pidgin in use in the Middle Ages
and afterwards as a medium of communication between sailors and
traders from widely different language groups, the core of this
language being Italian and Occitan. Quite a number of British sailors
learnt the lingua
franca. On
returning home and retiring from the sea it is supposed that many of
them became vagabonds or travellers, because they had no other means
of livelihood; this threw them into contact with roving groups of
entertainers and fairground people, who picked up some of the pidgin
terms and incorporated them into their own canting private
vocabularies.
However,
other linguists point to the substantial number of native Italians
who came to Britain as entertainers in the early part of the
nineteenth century, especially the Punch and Judy showmen, organ
grinders and peddlars of the 1840s. Much of parlarey,
the travelling showmen's language, appears to be derived from the
lingua franca
or the vocabulary of travelling actors and showmen during the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Specifically theatrical
parlyaree included phrases such as joggering
omee (street
musician), slang
a dolly to the edge
(to show and work a marionette on a small platform outside the
performance booth in order to attract an audience) and climb
the slanging-tree
(perform onstage). Nanty
dinarly
(having no
money) also had a peculiarly theatrical translation in the phrase
"There's no treasury today, the ghost doesn't walk."
The
disappearance of large numbers of traveling costermongers and
cheapjacks by the early twentieth century effectively denied the
language its breathing space. As many of the travelling entertainers
moved sideways into traveling circus, so the language moved with
them, kept alive as a living and changing language within circus
culture.By the mid-twentieth century, there had also been a
cross-over to a recognisably gay form of slang, with polari
used by the gay
community to communicate in code in elaborate forms. Words such as
trade
and ecaf
(backslang for
face,
shortened to eek)
became part of gay subculture. Blagging
trade
(picking up sexual partners),
zhoosing
your riah
(doing your hair), trolling
to a bijou bar
(stepping into a gay club) and dishing
the dirt
(recounting
gossip) all became popular coded phrases to describe and encode an
emerging homosexual lifestyle. By the 1950's, with secret homosexual
clubs emerging in swinging London and the Wolfenden Committee
discussing the possibility of law reform around (homo) sexuality, it
seems appropriate that polari should raise its irreverent
head.Polari became an appropriate tool with which to confuse and
confound the naff
omees
(straight men). It traveled the world via the sea queens, who
incorporated navy slang into a new version of the language and also
accommodated local dialects and phrases.
But Polari is a linguistic mongrel. Words from Romany
(originally an Indian dialect), Shelta (the cant of the Irish
tinkers), Yiddish, back slang, rhyming slang and other non-standard
English are interspersed with words of Italian origin.
So it
would not be surprising to find that both the Italian showman and the
lingua franca
theories are right, each contributing words at different stages in
Polari's development. This might indeed explain the substantial
number of synonyms noted at various times. However, the vocabulary is
not well recorded, and now may never be, because it was normal until
quite recently for linguists to ignore such low-life forms, which
rarely turned up in print (and then only in partial glossaries). But
we do know that a few of Polari's terms have made it across the
language barrier into semi-standard English, much of it seeming to
come to us via Cockney: karsey,
a lavatory; mankey,
poor, bad or tasteless; ponce,
a pimp; savvy
to know,
understand; and scarper
to run away.
The rest have
stayed within the theatrical and circus worlds, and have also been
incorporated particularly into the private languages of some
homosexual groups, as Julian and Sandy make very clear. Some writers
have sought to claim Polari exclusively for the gay community,
renaming it Gayspeak.
In the 1990s it certainly seems to be heavily used by some city-based
British gays (but only male gays, not lesbians), who have invented
new terms like nante
'andbag for
"no money" (handbag here being a self-mocking example of
metonymy). However, it can scarcely have always been so, unless every
fairground showman, circus performer, strolling player, cheapjack and
Punch and Judy man in history was gay, which seems somewhat unlikely.
The final
1st
year paper by Valeria Grinevitch
An American Polari
Ms.
Martha Brummett of Denver, Colorado, has collected certain words in
the United States which appear to have a connection with Polari. The
table following these remarks represents her own collection along
with her glosses. She collected these in Memphis, Tennessee, which is
on the Mississippi river. Not all the words are to be regarded as
Polari, but I have preferred to cite this vocabulary as she conveyed
it, as it is of interest in any case. Here are her comments as to how
she came to collect these items. They would appear to belong to the
words conveyed by circus folk:
My older friends had traveled extensively, at least when
young, to New York, San Francisco, at least. They went to New Orleans
frequently. Some of them had been in the Navy, Merchant Marine, or
Coast Guard. The older ones had served in WWI or WWII, and had been
to the UK or Europe. The vocabulary I remember was not as
extensive as I've seen reported, and was mostly sexual. I can recall
(using the wordlist) hearing: Aunt Nell, barkey, bene, bevvy, bod,
bold, bona, camp, chicken, cottage, deek (never vada), drag, facha
(never heard "eek" or "ecaf", by the way), gam,
grope, multy, nada, nix (never nanti), palaver, pogy, ponce, punk,
rent, trade.
You
can see that the Lingua Franca-derived terms, particularly the ones
not very sexual, give the impression of being Italian... "Facha"
was always used, as I pointed out. I recall other instances of what I
assumed was Italian picked up from the Sicilian immigrants to the
area, both to the Memphis metropolitan area and the rural counties of
northern Mississippi. I think there might be a great deal of
difficulty in actually distinguishing these possible origins…
I worked lights for Lillie Cass' drag show, this higher education
gained from that and listening to guys talk at bars, after Poetry
Society meetings, backstage at bars & community theatres, my
grandmother's male antique-dealer colleagues, carnies
[=circus-workers] privately and at second-hand bookstores and
coffeehouses...
The final 1st
year
paper by Valeria Grinevitch
Bona Contention - Gay Times
January 2001
Polari,
the gay slang used by Julian and Sandy in Round The Horne, is to gay
men what Latin is to Catholics - a dead language. So why did it die
out? asks Paul Baker. And is there any point in remembering it now?
Round
The Horne was tremendously popular, attracting about 9 million
listeners a week. And every week, thanks to Polari, Julian and Sand
made a mockery of the BBC's censors. For example, in one episode,
they are domestic helps and have been shown into a kitchen where they
are expected to get to work. "I can't work in 'ere,"
complains Julian. "All the dishes are dirty!" "Ooh
speak for yourself, ducky!" retorts Sandy.
This
is a clever triple innuendo. The audience would probably get the use
of the word dish as an attractive young man, as in "Isn't he
dishy?", but hardened Polari speakers also know that dish means
anus, which would afford them an extra special laugh.
Julian
and Sandy were subversive in other ways too. At a time when most of
the other fictional gay men and lesbians in the media usually ended
up killing themselves in the final reel, this cheerfully unapologetic
pair of queens made for a refreshing change.
Their
use of Polari followed a long tradition - it had been known by gay
men in the U.K. for decades. But fast forward a few years and Polari
has almost vanished from gay circles. Mention it now and you'll more
likely than not to get a blank look, especially from anyone under 30.
And those who do profess to have heard of it are likely to only know
a handful of words.
It's
impossible to pinpoint an exact date when Polari came into existence.
It most likely arose from a type of 19th century slang called
Parlyaree which was used by fairground and circus people as well as
prostitutes, beggars and buskers. Many of these travelling people
worked all over Europe, and as a result a fair number of the old
Parlyaree words resembled Italian. The music halls of the 19th
Century eventually replaced these wandering entertainers, and out of
music halls developed the theatre. Parlyaree gradually morphed into
Polari (or Palare as it was earlier known), being picked up by gay
actors and dancers - who introduced it onto London's gay scene.
But
there were lots of other influences - The East End of London was full
of vibrant communities, and so we find bits of Yiddish (schwartzer:
black man, schnozzle: nose) coming into Polari. The docks were
popular cruising grounds, and gay men would go there to pick up
sailors - who had their own slang called Lingua Franca. As a result,
bits of Lingua Franca appear in Polari. Then throw in some Cockney
Rhyming Slang and the less well-known backslang - the practice of
saying a word as if it's spelt backwards (hair = riah, face=ecaf).
Finally, in World War II add some American terms (butch, cruise) as
gay men befriended and entertained homesick American G.I.s, and then
throw in a few words stolen from 1960s drug culture (doobs: drugs,
randy comedown: a desire for sex after taking drugs) for good
measure. The result is a complex, constantly changing form of
language which appears slightly different to whoever uses it.
Polari
flourished in the repressive 1950s, where the control of post-war
sexual morality was viewed as a priority and prosecutions against gay
men reached record levels. Under these unpleasant conditions, gay men
were subjected to a variety of horrors. Electroshock treatment,
imprisonment, blackmail, hormones that made men grow breasts - the
medical and legal professions got their knickers in such a twist
trying to find newer and more evil ways to torture gay men throughout
the 50s. As being openly gay was dangerous, the need for a language
that protected gay men, and at the same time acted as a kind of
"gaydar" by allowing them to recognise others, was
extremely useful.
By
the 1960s, the political situation had begun to change. Polari was
used less to cautiously "out" yourself, and more for
chatting with friends. Its vocabulary - full of words to do with
clothing (lally-drags: trousers, ogle-fakes: spectacles) and parts of
the body (thews: arms, luppers: fingers) and evaluative adjectives
(bona: good, cod: bad), reflects what it was most often used for -
gossiping about potential sexual partners with your mates, while your
target was in earshot. "Vada that bona omee ajax - the one with
nanti riah!" translates to "Look at that nice man over
there - the one with no hair!" Use it in the club, or on the
tube - you could spill all of the details about what you got up to
last night, without anyone being the wiser.
However,
in the 1970s, Polari started to fade from people's memories. Julian
and Sandy had represented a swan-song of sorts in any case. In 1967
(the same year that Round the Horne was at its peak, winning the
award for best comedy radio programme), the legal situation for the
average gay man was improved with the implementation of the Wolfenden
Report’s recommendations of ten years earlier. Homosexuality
was partially decriminalised (although there were still a variety of
ways that men could be prosecuted for having gay sex), and as a
result, there was less of a need for a secret language. In addition
to that, Julian and Sandy gave Polari a kind of doomed respectability
- they had inadvertently blurted out the secret via the radio, into 9
million homes a week. What was the point of using Polari when Aunt
Beryl listened to Round The Horne and was able to get the gist of
what you were saying?
And
ultimately, there were political reasons for ditching Polari - it was
associated with oppression, and the early Gay Liberationists wanted
to put all of that behind them. It was rather easy to criticise
Polari as being sexist, racist and brimming over with internalised
homophobia. Gay magazines of the early 70s are quick to cast Polari
as keeping gay men in a ghetto. One writer warns that gay culture is
going to become consumed by a "language of body parts ".
And Polari, with its camp bitchy overtones was so last decade, don't
you know? This was the era when harmless, much-loved John Inman was
picketed outside Brighton's Dome Hall by gay men for "contributing
to the television distortion of the image of homosexuals".
By
the beginning of the 1980s, Polari had all but vanished from the gay
scene, and in place of the fey Polari speakers, were American
influences - butch was in, and the Malboro Man look - muscles,
leather, denim, facial hair, uniforms, big boots etc. became
fashionable. The clone was born, and with minor modifications still
exists today. Suddenly going to the gym became a popular pastime and
the gay scene was in danger of becoming populated with butch Marys
who took their masculinity and muscle tone ever-so seriously. Butch
gay men aren't supposed to speak Polari - instead they grunt and show
you a coloured handkerchief so you know what they're into.
However,
in the 1990s, the situation changes again. With more people becoming
relaxed about sexuality, Polari is undergoing a revival of interest.
It's now possible to view it as part of gay heritage - a weapon that
was used to fight oppression, and something that gay men can be proud
of again. Camp is no longer viewed as apolitical - for example, the
London branch of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence use "High
Polari" in their blessings, sermons and canonisations - adding a
bit of religious mystique while also acknowledging gay history within
their ceremonies. And anyone who wants to add some authentic mid-20th
century atmosphere in their film, book or play or pop song about gay
men can drop a few words of Polari into their script for instant
credibility (see Love Is The Devil, The Velvet Goldmine or
Morrissey's Piccadilly Palare for examples). Polari has become a
short-hand to represent being gay in the '50s or '60s in the same way
that a hula hoop or a space-hopper represents the 1970s.
However,
Polari still occupies a controversial position in the hearts of
contemporary gay men. Last year a phone debate in a gay free-sheet
unearthed a number of conflicting, and at times strange attitudes
towards it. Some callers were quick to dismiss Polari as camp
nonsense, only spoken by unfashionable people who lived "in the
sticks" (i.e. outside London). Such words are "neither
useful, relevant or reflect the queer society we live in today,"
complained one caller. Others argued that it was harmless fun, and to
ignore Polari is to do an injustice to the men and women who lived
through more oppressive times. The free-sheet joined in, labeling
Polari as "evil".
It's
unlikely that Polari will ever be revived to the extent that it was
used in the 50s - but that's no shame. Without realising it, many of
the words that people consider to be "gay slang" were once
part of Polari's lexicon - chicken, trade, butch, camp, cottage etc.
These words, which are more useful in describing gay experiences
because they don't have straight equivalents, have survived while
other words like lally: legs, poll: wig, order: go etc. have fallen
into disuse. That's not to say that it can't be fun to use them
occasionally. Speaking a few words of Polari is hardly going to cause
a pair of Larry Grayson glasses on a chain to magically appear around
your neck. And in any case, little bits of Polari have even been
incorporated into mainstream slang. For example - the word naff was
originally used as a Polari acronym meaning "Not Available For
F..". Now it simply refers to something that's tasteless.
Clearly, those poor confused straights must have heard it - "oh
don't bother with him, he's naff!", inferred it meant something
bad, and started using it themselves - not realising that the word
was originally an insult hurled at them.
So
while it's important that a situation never arises where gay men need
to use a secret language again, we do ourselves no favours by
distancing ourselves completely from Polari. From the initial 1960s
media representations of effeminate, camp gay man, through to the
hyper-masculine alternatives created by the gay subculture in the
1970s, the recent years have seen a resurgence and a reappraisal of
both identities. Distinctions between the two, however, are now more
blurred than ever. And while gay still means something different from
straight, there continues to be a place for Polari.
____________________
Paul
Baker,
2001
The final 1st
year paper by Valeria
Grinevitch
Contents:
1.Note
UK
statistics
2.My
own researching Polari
my
way of researching
3.The
history of Polari
4.An
American Polari
Ms. Martha
Brummett
researching
5.Researching
Polari
an article
Paul Baker wrote
for Lancaster University's student magazine "Scan" dated
15th November 1996.
6.Bona
Contention an
article Paul Baker wrote for
“Gay
Times”
dated
January
2001
7.Vocabulary
The final
1st
year paper by Valeria Grinevitch
My
own researching
Polari
Since
writing the above, I am horrified to find so much that is misleading.
For one thing, apparently it is impossible to talk of "gay
language" anymore. It's just "not allowed" in society.
There are as many ways to be gay as there are gay people. We can't
just all be lumped together and then told that we have a "language".
And just what is meant by "gay" anyway? Oh, it's so
confusing to a simple boy from a council estate in the northeast.
Then,
and apparently this is even more scary - simply describing Polari in
itself isn't going to get us anywhere. We have to consider it in
terms of "gay identities" (note the plural here), or
rather, how do Polari speakers use Polari in order to construct or
perform an identity based upon an alternative gender (to the one that
men are usually assigned)? And this is where it gets difficult
because it's really hard to find any examples of Polari, other than
the Julian and Sandy tapes (which were made up), a number of
(different) lexicons, and some interviews of gay and lesbians talking
about Polari (but not talking in
Polari unless they're giving examples). It's a bit like trying to
tell someone what water is like, when you've never tasted it
yourself, but other people have told you about it.
So
I'll be having to "make do" with secondary sources of data
for the most part. Hopefully, each kind of data has its own kind of
validity, and taken together, each part will be able to show up
something exciting about Polari
But
is Polari dead anyway? Well, no, not that
dead. The London Order of the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence (a group of gay men who dress as nuns in order
to combine the political with the comedic) have started using Polari
in their ceremonies - in order to lend spiritual weight to such
occasions. For the Sisters, Polari is to gay men what Latins is to
Catholics. However, from what I know of these events, the Polari that
is used is as scripted as the Polari employed by Julian and Sandy -
and even more bizarre - it's in the form of a monologue: a long way
from its original bitchy, gossipy, cruisy usage in the bars, clubs
and buses of 1950s/60s London. Then again, Polari has never remained
the same thing for very long, as the lexica can testify. Perhaps the
appropriation of it by the Sisters is simply a postmodern revival?
The final
1st
year paper by Valeria Grinevitch
Note:
United Kingdom
58,210,000
(1995). United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Literacy rate 97% to 99%. Also includes Assyrian
Neo-Aramaic 5,000, Bengali, Hakka Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue
Chinese, Western Farsi 12,000, Greek 200,000, Gujarati 140,000,
Hindi, Italian 200,000, Japanese 12,000, Kurmanji 6,000, Malayalam,
Panjabi, Pashto, Saraiki, Shelta 30,000, Somali, Sylhetti 100,000,
Tamil, Turkish 60,000, Urdu, Vietnamese 22,000, 74,000 from the
Philippines, 150,000 Arabic (Iraqi, Moroccan, Yemeni), others from
Ghana, Nigeria, Guyana, West Indies.
Data
accuracy estimate: B. Christian, secular, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu.
Blind
population 116,414.
Deaf
population 909,000 (1977 Deuchar). Deaf institutions: 468 in England,
2 in Northern Ireland, 14 in Scotland, 34 in Wales.
The
number of languages listed for United Kingdom is 15. Of those, 12 are
living languages, 1 is a second language without mother tongue
speakers, and 2 are extinct.
POLARI
Unclassified. An in-group language among
theatrical and circus people. Survey needed.
The final
1st
year paper by Valeria Grinevitch
Researching Polari
A
sunny morning in September finds me sitting in the below stairs
kitchen of Rowland House, Brighton waiting to interview David Raven
(also known as Maisie Trollette) about Polari. Forget The Lost
Language of the Cranes (whatever that
was), The Lost Language of Polari is far more interesting, and it's
part of the topic of my PhD - The Language of Gay Men in the UK,
1750-1996.
It's
not the easiest thing in the world doing a PhD which immediately
makes you "out". Whenever people ask me what subject I'm
studying I still say it with an apologetic sh
say afterwards "So that's my topic sweet-heart, and if you don't
like it then that's your problem, and you're gonna have to live with
that, OK?, in-yer-face-queer-rights-NOW!" The message is
implicitly stated anyway.
Reactions
I've received have ranged from an incredulous "You gotta be
kidding me" from a very loud American to the PC-interest of
"That is soooo interesting". Is it interesting? Is it
useful? Well I think so. The exact origins and mechanics of Polari
are still a linguistic mystery, and language is an area where gay
people are given free rein to flex their creative muscles and create
social exchanges that although might not be very friendly (to
outsiders or to each other) it at least allows them to communicate on
their own terms. Such was the motivation behind Polari, although it
could also be to do with the fact that in the 1950s if you so much as
wore white socks in those days the police would have you clapped in
irons for being "deviant".
Polari,
as the language came to be known was a collection of words, which
when strung together by those most proficient at it, were
incomprehensible to those who didn't understand it. It was mainly
used for conversations that were high in gay "content", so
if you wanted to point out to your friend that the man on the tube
train next to you seemed to be particularly well-developed in the
"menswear" department, you could say "vada the bona
cartes on the ommee ajax" and your friend would know what you
meant. If the man with the big "cartes" was also gay, he'd
know what you were talking about too, and Polari would serve as an
"introduction" which could lead to "other things".
Because
Polari died out in the 1960s when the Wolfenden Report legalised
homosexuality (to an extent) in England, the only people who remember
it tend to be distinguished older gentlemen, just like David Raven,
who has agreed to tell me all he can remember about it. I am armed
with a tape-recorder, a pen, some bits of paper and a posh northern
voice (although I can flatten my vowels if necessary).
David
still frequently performs as Maisie Trollette in Brighton, and is
something of a "doyenne" on the gay scene there. He greets
me with "Who’s the chicken?" and then starts arguing
with three of his employees who are dubbed "evil witches."
When things have calmed down I am taken into the dining room where we
can conduct the interview in peace. However, his friends don't seem
to want to leave us alone, and are constantly passing through to
offer their opinions and questions ("Who is he? Is he an
actor?") .
Polari
is never what it first appears. Before Kenneth Williams was a
household name with Carry-on Whatever, he was a household name in the
radio series "Round the Horne" which every week featured
the antics of Julian and Sandy and their latest attempts at trying to
earn a bit of trade with Bona Homes and Gardens, or Keep Britain
Bona. In one episode, J + S are domestic helps and have been shown
into a kitchen where they are expected to get to work. "I can't
work in 'ere," complains Julian. "All the dishes are
dirty!" "Speak for yourself ducky," remarks Sandy, to
audience mirth. However, this is a very clever (and smutty) triple
innuendo. The audience would probably "get" the use of the
word dish as an attractive young man, as in "Isn't he dishy",
but hardened Polari speakers also know that dish means anus, which
would afford them an extra laugh.
It's
a shame that Polari did go out of fashion, even though its demise
coincided with the beginnings of gay liberation in England. Still,
it's nice to hear the odd Polari word occasionally: Julian Clary on
his BBC2 show sometimes says "Let's have a vada" and a crop
of new gay businesses are opening up around the country, with
fondly-devised names like Bona Videos. As Julian and Sandy would say
"Fantabulosa!"
_____________________
This is a copy of an article
Paul Baker wrote
for Lancaster University's student magazine "Scan" dated
15th November 1996.
The final
1st
year paper by Valeria Grinevitch
Vocabulary
A
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Part | Original | Orig |
acqua | water | acqua | n | It , LF | Acqua, akwa |
B
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Speech | Original | Original |
barkey | sailor | - | - | It | barca "boat" |
barnet | hair (perh. esp. highly coiffured and styled) | - | n | rhyming slang | Barnet fair = hair |
bene | good | bene | - | It | bene "well" |
bevvy | drink | bevvy | n | It | bev- "to drink" |
bijou | small | - | a | Fr | - |
bona | good | bona | a | It | buono |
boner | good night | - | - | - | - |
C
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Pronunci- | Part | Original | Original |
capela | hat, cap | capela | - | n | It | capella |
carnish | meat, food | carnish | ka:niS | n | It | carne "meat" |
catever | bad | catever | - | - | It | cattivo |
chavie | child | - | - | - | Sp | chava "girl" |
chicken | young boy | - | - | - | - | - |
D
Word | Meaning | Source | Alternate | Part | Original | Original |
dinarly | money | l | dinarli | n | Sp | dinero |
dish | attractive male | dl | - | - | - | - |
dolly | pleasant | g | - | a | It dolce, "sweet" | - |
| - | smart and attractive young woman | h | dolly | n | It dolce, "sweet" | - |
| - | - | h | doll | - | - | - |
dona | lady, landlady, woman | h | dona | - | It | donna |
E
Word | Meaning | Part | Original |
ecaf | face | n | E (backwards sp) |
eek | face | n | E (contraction of the above) or |
esong | nose | n | E (based on backward sp) |
F
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Part | Original | Original |
fake | make, do | fake | n | It | faccio "I make" |
fakement | thing, doing, action | fakement | n | It | faccio" + Eng '-ment' |
fatcha | face | fatcha | - | It | faccia |
feely | young | feely | a | It. figlie, children | - |
| - | child | feele | n | - | - |
flowery | lodgings, accomodation, house entertainment | - | - | E. prison rhyming slang? | flowery dell" = cell ? |
G
Word | Meaning | Source | Alternate | Part | Original | Original |
gam | leg | h | gam | - | LF | gamba |
gelt | money | dl | gelt | n | Ger. via Yiddish? | gelt "gold" |
gent | money | h | gent | - | It | argento "silver" |
L
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Part | Original | Original |
lally | leg | lally | n usu pl | - Anglo- Chinese | - lai-lo, "come here" |
M
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Original | Original |
manky | bad, poor, tasteless | manky | It | mancare, "lack, want for" |
meshigner | crazy | meshigner | Heb. via Yiddish | meshuga, crazy; meshuggener, crazy man |
muck | stage makeup | muck | It | macchia "stain" / Eng. muck |
N
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Original | Original |
nada | nothing | - | Sp. | - |
naff | bad | naff | E. acro: | |
nanyarie | eat, food | nanyarie | - | - |
nanti | no, nothing, not, don't | nanti | It | niente |
nix | no, not, do not | nix | Ger | nichts |
nochy | night | nochy | Sp | noche (It notte, LF note) |
P
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Original | Original |
paloni | girl, young woman | paloni | It | pollone "chick" |
ponte | pound sterling | ponte | It | pondo "weight" |
Polari | speak | Polari | It. | Parlare (pagliare "to speak" - ph) |
punk | virgin male, male homosexual | - | E punk Sp punto, puto | - |
R
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Pronunci- | Part | Original | Original |
riah | hair | riah | rai@ [ri@ ?] | n | E back spelling | - |
| - | - | - | - | - | Sp | raya "parting in the hair" |
S
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Original | Original | Comment |
savvy | know, understand | savvy | LF, Port. | sabir | prob from Pidjin through Eng. |
screeve | write | - | It | scrivere | - |
sharper | policeman | - | It | cercare + Eng. "sharp" | - |
shyckle | wig | shykle | cf. Yiddish shaytl, sheitel, from Ger. "crown of the head, parting" | - | - |
slang | perform on stage | - | - | - | climb the slang-tree, perform on stage |
slap | makeup | - | - | - | - |
T
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Part | Original | Original | Comment |
tober | road | tober | n | Irish (back- formed) | bother | to tailors and tramps |
V
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Part | Original | Original |
varda | see, look | varda | v | cf. Venetian | vardia "a look" |
voche | voice | voche | - | It | voce |
vogue | cigarette | - | - | - | - |
NUMBERS
Word | Meaning | Alternate | Original | Original | |
1 | una | one | una | It | una |
2 | dewey | two | dewey | It | due |
3 | tray | three | tray | It | tre |
4 | quattro | four | quattro | It | quattro |
5 | chinker | five | chinker | It | cinque |
6 | say | six | say | It | sei |
7 | setter | seven | setter | It | sette |
8 | otter | eight | otter | It | - |
9 | nobber | nine | nobber | It | 35370 |
10 | daiture | ten | daiture | It | dieci |
Polari -
A
Cinderella Among Languages
The
final 1st year paper
by
Valeria Grinevitch
gr.
9
The
Kaliningrad State University
2001