Well hello ducky, how bona to varda your dolly old eek!

Don’t worry, I’ve not been overdoing the sweeties again…

Believe it or not, I’m actually paying you a compliment. The phrase is Polari, a secret language invented by the British gay community in the early 20^th century – back in the dark old days when homosexuality was illegal.

Never heard of it? Poppycock! If you’ve ever described something as ‘naff’ or ‘manky’, put on some ‘slap’ before a night out, or popped to your local for a few ‘bevvies’, then you’re practically fluent darling!

In your eek, naff omees!

In essence, Polari is gay Esperanto, a vibrant and colourful hodgepodge of linguistic influences created by ‘sea-queens’ – gay sailors – who invented an exclusive dialect so they could freely discuss their sexual practices without risk of retribution. As they travelled from port to port, these pink pioneers picked up a variety of foreign words and phrases to pepper their lexicon in order to further confuse and confound the ‘naff omees’ (straight men).

The result was Polari – a name was derived from the Italian ‘parlare’ meaning ‘to speak’. It’s a fascinating medley of Yiddish, Italian, Spanish, Occitan (a hybrid of Spanish and French), Cant (the secret language of thieves and outlaws), Romany, lingua franca (the old pidgin language of Mediterranean traders and seafarers), Cockney rhyming slang, and back slang – like ‘ecaf’ for face, shortened to ‘eek’.

An omee-paloney of the Oscar Wilde sort

Oscar Wilde was convicted of 'gross indecency'

It seems ridiculous today to think that the gay community would need a coded language but in the early 20^th century ‘coming out of the closet’ was a definite no-no.Homosexuality was illegal and brazenly flaunting your sexuality put you at serious risk of legal prosecution, physical violence and social ostracism. Of course, gay men still got their kicks, but the scene was very much underground. And it was there, in those dark, secluded corners in the seedier parts of town, that it flourished.

Perhaps then it’s no surprise that Polari absorbed linguistic influences from the language of the underclasses – gypsies, tramps and thieves, if you will – as that was who they rubbed shoulders with. Throughout the early 20^th century, Molly Houses, private places where gay men could (er hum) come together freely, opened their doors on the periphery of red light districts, and Polari usage spread like wildfire. In the days before the term ‘gay’ had been invented, it provided a rich vocabulary with which ‘omee-paloneys’ could celebrate their sexuality and galvanise their communal identity.

Anything but naff

Polari is a true celebration. It‘s deliciously filthy, outrageously camp and fizzes with wit and self-deprecating humour. Take the word ‘naff’ for example, we now used it to describe something that’s a bit rubbish but it’s origins are in the Polari term for an attractive but regrettably straight man – someone that’s “Not Available for F**king”. Saucy hey? And I love ‘nante hambag’, the Polari way of saying you’ve got no money.

By the 1950s, if you were a gay man about town in London you would expect to be greeted with “Bona to varda your dolly old eek!” (good to see your pretty old face) and phrases such as ‘blagging trade’ (picking up sexual partners), ‘trolling to a bijou bar’ (going to a gay club), ‘dishing the dirt’ (spreading gossip) and ‘zhoosing your riah’ (doing your hair) were commonplace amongst the gay fraternity.

Hello, I’m Julian and this is my friend Sandy

Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams

Polari hit mainstream with the 60s BBC Radio programme Round the Horne, presented by Kenneth Horne. It featured ‘Julian and Sandy‘, a comedy sketch starring Kenneth Williams as the super-camp Sandy playing opposite Hugh Paddick’s Julian. It was packed full of double entendres and sexual innuendo with a fair old smattering of Polari too. It was quite controversial, especially as at the time homosexuality was still criminalised, but it struck a chord with the audience who enjoyed the sharp banter and playful naughtiness.

Here’s an excerpt from the ‘Bona Law’ episode:

HORNE: Will you take my case?

JULIAN: Well, it depends on what it is. We’ve got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time.

HORNE: Yes, but apart from that — I need legal advice.

SANDY: Ooh, isn’t he bold?

"Got your number ducky!"

Chavs, queens and big moustaches

Decriminalisation in 1967 brought the first steps towards equality but sadly, without the need for a secret gay language, Polari  fell into disuse. Gladly, it’s legacy still lives on with words such as camp, drag, queen, mincing, bijou, scarper, naff, bevy and chav finding their way into mainstream usage. Interestingly enough, Polari has been used in ads too. The 118 118 catchphrase ‘Got your number’ was the Polari way of saying ‘I know you’re gay’. Wonder if the creatives were aware of this when they gave the protagonists short shorts and big bushy moustaches? Surely…

It’s a beautiful thing when language empowers a marginalised community. Bravo to those brave and inventive linguists whose creativity and humour triumphed over social prejudice. In tribute to those resourceful sea-queens, I’m off to zhoosh my riah, powder my eek, climb into my bona new drag, and troll off to some bona bijou bar for a drinkette or three in their honour… Fantabulosa!

Tags: 118 118 Adverts, 20th century, Advertising, Advertising agency in Manchester, BBC radio, British gay community, code, Copywriting, criminalisation, Direct Response Advertising, Gay Community, homosexuality, Julian and Sandy, language, Marketing, Marketing Agency, Online Advertising Agency, Oscar Wilde, Polari, Red C Marketing Manchester, secret language

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 10:38 am and is filed under Blog, Copywriting, Creativity, General Interest, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.