Polari

Alternative spellings include Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie and Palari.

File:Polari Rainbow Plaque.jpg on Leeds City Varieties theatre]]

Polari is a mixture of Romance (Italian"[https://web.archive.org/web/20080822213014/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1833896,00.html?cnn=yes British Spies: Licensed to be Gay]." Time. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2018. or Mediterranean Lingua Franca), Romani, rhyming slang, sailors' slang and thieves' cant, which later expanded to contain words from Yiddish and 1960s drug subculture slang. It was constantly evolving, with a small core lexicon of about 20 words, including: {{lang|pld|bona}} (good),{{cite web |title=The secret language of polari – Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool museums |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/life-at-sea/gaylife/polari.aspx |access-date=5 July 2018 |website=Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk}} {{lang|pld|ajax}} (nearby), {{lang|pld|eek}} (face), {{lang|pld|cod}} (bad, in the sense of tacky or vile), {{lang|pld|naff}} (bad, in the sense of drab or dull, though borrowed into mainstream British English with a meaning more like that of {{lang|pld|cod}}), {{lang|pld|lattie}} (room, house, flat), {{lang|pld|nanti}} (not, no), {{lang|pld|omi}} (man), {{lang|pld|palone}} (woman), {{lang|pld|riah}} (hair), {{lang|pld|zhoosh}} or {{lang|pld|tjuz}} (smarten up, stylise), {{lang|pld|TBH}} ('to be had', sexually accessible), {{lang|pld|trade}} (sex) and {{lang|pld|vada}} (see).Baker, Paul (2002) Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang. London: Continuum {{ISBN|0-8264-5961-7}}

There were once two distinct forms of Polari in London: an East End version which stressed Cockney rhyming slang and a West End version which stressed theatrical and classical influences. There was some interchange between the two.David McKenna, A Storm in a Teacup, Channel 4 Television, 1993.

In the LGBTQ community, Polari also involves inverting gendered personal pronouns and names, typically switching them from male forms to female forms. For example, he may become she (known as she-ing), and the name Paul may become Pauline.{{Cite web |title=Lavender Language, The Queer Way to Speak |url=https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2016/8/17/lavender-linguistics-queer-way-speak |access-date=9 March 2025 |website=www.out.com |language=en |quote=Polari was rife with 'she-ing', an academic term that refers to the linguistic practice of feminizing people and things. She-ing appears almost universally and across centuries in gay language, from Peru to the Philippines to South Africa (where gay slang is called Gayle), to Israel (called oxtchit, derived from an Arabic word meaning 'my sister'), to Soviet-era Russia [in the gay slang goluboy].}}{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Paul |date=22 August 2019 |title=The Feints and Jabs of Polari, Britain's Gay Slang |url=https://lithub.com/the-feints-and-jabs-of-polari-britains-gay-slang/ |access-date=9 March 2025 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US |quote=In the Polari speaker's world, gender was linguistically reversed—he was she and (less commonly) she became he. This practice of feminizing through language, referred to by artist and Sister of Perpetual Indulgence (Manchester branch) Jez Dolan, is referred to as 'she-ing'. She-ing is one of the aspects of Polari that has survived into more recent decades, and the practice was so pervasive at a particular bar on Canal Street in Manchester's Gay Village that a 'She-box' was installed a few years ago, akin to a 'Swear-box', where patrons would have to put in a few coins if they she'd someone, with the proceeds being donated to charity.}}Motschenbacher, Heiko. Review of Fabulosa! The story of Polari, Britain's secret gay language, by Paul Baker. Language, vol. 96 no. 4, 2020, p. 938-940. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lan.2020.0067. "In the domain of personal reference, Polari speakers often draw on inverted appellation practices (for example, 'she-ing'—the use of female pronouns to refer to male social actors), objectifying use of the pronoun it, endearment terms, metaphorical uses of kinship terms, and camp names."

From the 19th century on, Polari was used in London fish markets, theatres, fairgrounds, and circuses, hence the many borrowings from Romani.{{Cite book|title=It's not unusual : a history of lesbian and gay Britain in the twentieth century|author=Jivani, Alkarim|isbn=0253333482|location=Bloomington|oclc=37115577|date = January 1997}} As many homosexual men worked in theatrical entertainment, it was also used among the gay subculture to disguise homosexuals from hostile outsiders and undercover policemen. It was also used extensively in the British Merchant Navy, where many gay men worked as waiters, stewards, and entertainers.{{cite web |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/life-at-sea/gaylife/ |title=Gay men in the Merchant Marine |publisher=Liverpool Maritime Museum |access-date=9 May 2018 }}

Although William Shakespeare used the term bona (good, attractive) in Henry IV, Part 2 as part of the expression bona roba (a woman wearing an attractive outfit),{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/dec/10/life1.lifemagazine3 |author=Beverley D'Silva |work=The Observer |title=Mind your language |date=10 December 2000 |access-date=9 May 2018 }} "little written evidence of Polari before the 1890s" exists according to Oxford English Dictionary associate editor Peter Gilliver. The dictionary's entry for rozzer (policeman) includes a quote from P. H. Emerson's 1893 book Signor Lippo – Burnt Cork Artiste:{{cite web|url=https://word-ancestry.livejournal.com/71450.html#/71450.html|title=Historical Origins of English Words and Phrases|website=Live Journal|date=24 October 2008|access-date=9 May 2018}} "If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun" ("If the police were to see him dressed in this fine manner, they would know that he is a thief").

The almost identical Parlyaree has been spoken in fairgrounds since at least the 17th centuryPartridge, Eric (1937) Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English and is still used by show travellers in England and Scotland. As theatrical booths, circus acts, and menageries were once common parts of European fairs, it is likely that the roots of Polari/Parlyaree lie in the period before both theatre and circus became independent of fairgrounds. The Parlyaree spoken on fairgrounds tends to borrow much more from Romani, as well as other languages and cants spoken by travelling people, such as thieves' cant and back slang.

Henry Mayhew gave an account of Polari as part of an interview with a Punch and Judy showman in the 1850s. The discussion he recorded references Punch's arrival in England, crediting these early shows to an Italian performer called Porcini (John Payne Collier's account calls him Porchini, a literal rendering of the Italian pronunciation).Punch and Judy. John Payne Collier; with Illustrations by George Cruikshank. London: Thomas Hailes Lacey, 1859. Mayhew provides the following:

{{blockquote|

Punch Talk

"{{lang|pld|Bona Parle}}" means language; name of patter. "{{lang|pld|Yeute munjare}}" – no food. "{{lang|pld|Yeute lente}}" – no bed. "{{lang|pld|Yeute bivare}}" – no drink. I've "{{lang|pld|yeute munjare}}", and "{{lang|pld|yeute bivare}}", and, what's worse, "{{lang|pld|yeute lente}}". This is better than the costers' talk, because that ain't no slang and all, and this is a broken Italian, and much higher than the costers' lingo. We know what o'clock it is, besides.}}

There are additional accounts of particular words that relate to puppet performance: "'{{lang|pld|Slumarys}}' – figures, frame, scenes, properties. '{{lang|pld|Slum}}' – call, or unknown tongue" ("unknown" is a reference to the "swazzle", a voice modifier used by Punch performers).

Polari had begun to fall into disuse among the gay subculture by the late 1960s. The popularity of the BBC radio comedy Round the Horne, with its camp gay characters Julian and Sandy, ensured that some of the Polari terms they used became public knowledge.{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jan/17/gayrights.comment |title= Polari, the gay slang, is being revived |first=Colin |last=Richardson |date=17 January 2005 |newspaper=The Guardian |location= London |access-date=5 July 2018}} The need for a secret means of communication in the subculture also declined with the partial decriminalisation of adult homosexual acts in England and Wales under the Sexual Offences Act 1967; in the 1970s, the gay liberation movement began to view Polari as old-fashioned and perpetuating harmful camp stereotypes.{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Paul |date=22 March 2019 |title=What's Polari? |url=https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/fabulosa/whats-polari/ |access-date=11 April 2024 |website=Fabulosa! The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language |publisher=Lancaster University}}

File:Bona Togs shop Jersey.jpg shop named in Polari]]

A number of words from Polari have entered mainstream slang. The list below includes words in general use with the meanings listed: acdc, barney, blag, butch, camp, khazi, cottaging, hoofer, mince, ogle, scarper, slap, strides, tod, [rough] trade.

The Polari word {{lang|pld|naff}}, meaning inferior or tacky, has an uncertain etymology. Michael Quinion says it is probably from the 16th-century Italian word {{lang|it|gnaffa}}, meaning "a despicable person".{{cite web |url= http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-naf1.htm |title=Naff |last=Quinion |first=Michael |work=World Wide Words |access-date=10 January 2010}} There are a number of false etymologies, many based on backronyms—"Not Available For Fucking", "Normal As Fuck", etc. The phrase "naff off" was used euphemistically in place of "fuck off" along with the intensifier "naffing" in Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar (1959).{{cite book |last=Waterhouse |first=Keith |title=Billy Liar |publisher=Michael Joseph |year=1959 |pages=35, 46 |isbn=0-7181-1155-9}}

p35 "Naff off, Stamp, for Christ sake!" p46 "Well which one of them's got the naffing engagement ring?" Usage of "naff" increased in the 1970s when the television sitcom Porridge employed it as an alternative to expletives which were not broadcastable at the time. Princess Anne allegedly told a reporter to "naff off" at the Badminton horse trials in April 1982,The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Dalzell and Victor (eds.) Routledge, 2006, Vol. II p. 1349. however, the photographers who were present have since stated that this was a censored version of what she actually said.{{cite news |title=Princess never said 'naff off' -- 'We made it up' |url= https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1175396/princess-anne-royal-news-princess-royal-family-latest-update-press-naff-off-spt |work=Daily Express |location= London |date=8 September 2019 |first=Abbie |last=Llewelyn |access-date=28 January 2022}}

"{{lang|pld|Zhoosh}}" ({{IPAc-en|ʒ|ʊ|ʃ|,_|ʒ|uː|ʃ}};{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/zhoosh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911183034/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/zhoosh|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 September 2017|title=Definition for zhoosh – Oxford Dictionaries Online (World English) |website=Oxforddictionaries.com|access-date=9 May 2018}} alternatively spelled "{{lang|pld|zhuzh}}," "{{lang|pld|jeuje}}," and a number of other variety spellings{{Cite web |last=Phelan |first=Hayley |date=31 January 2022 |title='Jeuje,' 'Zhoosh,' 'Zhuzh': A Word of Many Spellings, and Meanings |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/style/jeuje-zhoosh-zhuzh.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013223912/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/style/jeuje-zhoosh-zhuzh.html |archive-date=13 October 2023 |access-date=12 January 2024 |website=The New York Times}}), meaning to smarten up, style or improve something, became commonplace in the mid-2000s, having been used in the 2003 United States TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and What Not to Wear.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} "{{lang|pld|Jush}}", an alternative spelling of the word, was popularised by drag queen Jasmine Masters after her appearance on the seventh series of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2015.{{cite web|url= https://youtube.com/watch?v=39BWUUE72Sg&feature=share |title=Jasmine Masters the meaning of jush |date=7 April 2017 |via=YouTube|access-date=26 November 2022}}{{cite magazine|title='Drag Race' Queen Jasmine Masters Explains What 'Jush' Means: Watch|url= https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/jasmine-masters-drag-race-queen-jush-video-8458987/|magazine=Billboard |date=4 June 2018 |first=Rebecca |last=Schiller |access-date=26 November 2022}}

Since the late 20th and early 21st century, there has been a renewed interest in Polari, especially as a part of LGBTQ+ heritage.{{Cite web |date=23 January 2020 |title=The Revival of Polari, the U.K.'s Secret Queer Language |url= https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/polari-uk-queer-language |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=MEL Magazine }}{{Cite web |date=25 September 2018 |title=The new book written in Polari, a secret language for queer survival |url= https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/41316/1/cruising-for-lavs-polari-the-secret-language-for-queer-survival |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=Dazed }}{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Paul |date=28 February 2013 |title=Polari: the lost-and-found language of gay men (PDF) |url= https://babelzine.co.uk/ArticlePDFs/No2%20Article%20-%20Polari.pdf |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=Babel: The Language Magazine}} Gay's the Word has held workshops in Polari, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have translated the Bible into Polari,{{Cite web |last1=Babbel.com |last2=GmbH |first2=Lesson Nine |title=Rediscovering Polari: What Is Polari And Why Did It Die Out? |url=https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/what-is-polari |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=Babbel Magazine }} and Madame Jo Jo's nightclub in Soho taught its staff to speak Polari.{{Cite news |date=6 December 2004 |title='Fabulosa' lingo revived at club |work=BBC News |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4071811.stm |access-date=12 October 2024 }}

Linguist Paul Baker attributes increased interest in Polari primarily to the growing body of academic work on the subject. Author George Reiner explains that "the revival of a language like Polari offers the possibility of an alternate queer linguistic space" at a time when closing LGBTQ+ venues and dating apps have reduced queer social spaces.

In 2007, writer and activist Paul Burston launched Polari Literary Salon in London to platform LGBTQ+ writers. He launched the Polari First Book Prize in 2011. This was followed by the Polari Prize for LGBTQ+ writers at all stages of their career in 2019 and the Polari Children's & YA Prize in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Polari Prize 2024 |url= https://www.polarisalon.com/copy-of-polari-prize-2024 |access-date=21 June 2024 |website=polarisalon }}{{Cite web |title=Paul Burston: The Polari Prize and beyond |url= https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/writing-hub/paul-burston-the-polari-prize-and-beyond/ |access-date=21 June 2024 |website=National Centre for Writing }} Other organisations have also taken names inspired by Polari, such as Polari Magazine,{{Cite web |title=About Polari Magazine |work= Polari Magazine |url= http://www.polarimagazine.com/about-polari-magazine/ |access-date=12 October 2024 }} Vada Magazine,{{Cite web |last=Forward |first=Stuart |date=27 November 2012 |title=Meet the Team |url= https://vadamagazine.com/meet-the-team |access-date=12 October 2024 }} and VADA LGBTQ Community Theatre Company.{{Cite web |title=VADA History |url= https://vadatheatre.weebly.com/vada-history.html |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=Vada: LGBTQ Community Theatre }}

In 2012 and 2013, Manchester artists Jez Dolan and Joe Richardson presented a performance-based tour and exhibition titled Polari Mission, which explored LGBTQ+ history and language use in the UK. This was presented at The John Rylands Library and Contact Theatre.{{Cite web |title=Polari Mission exhibit |url= http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/exhibitions/polarimission/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222545/http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/exhibitions/polarimission/ |archive-date=2 December 2013 |website=John Rylands Library}} In 2015, Dolan also translated sections of the 1957 Wolfenden Report into Polari for a commission from the UK Parliament.{{Cite web |last=James |first=Louise |date=31 January 2022 |title=In Focus: LGBT+ History Month: Jez Dolan's 'Wolfenden' |url=https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/lgbt-history-month-jez-dolans-wolfenden/ |access-date=21 June 2024 |website=House of Lords Library}}{{Cite web |title=Wolfenden by Jez Dolan |url=http://parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/collections1/sexual-offences-act-1967/wolfenden-by-jez-dola |access-date=21 June 2024 |website=UK Parliament}} Dolan and Richardson also worked with Paul Baker to produce a 500-word dictionary of Polari as an app.{{Cite news |date=4 August 2012 |title=Secret gay language Polari gets an 'appy return |url= https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/secret-gay-language-polari-gets-692422 |access-date=12 October 2024 |website= Manchester Evening News }}

In December 2016, to launch LGBT+ History Month 2017 and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, poet Adam Lowe performed his Polari poem "Vada That" in Parliament's Speaker's House with accompaniment by musician Nikki Franklin.{{Cite web |date=1 December 2016 |title=Parliament's Speaker's Chamber Goes Rainbow to Launch LGBT History Month 2017 |url= https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/2016/12/parliaments-speakers-chamber-goes-rainbow-to-launch-lgbt-history-month-2017/ |access-date=21 June 2024 |website=LGBT+ History Month }} In 2017, a service at Westcott House, Cambridge was conducted in Polari. Trainee priests held the service to commemorate LGBT History Month; following media attention, Chris Chivers, the principal, expressed his regret.{{cite news |date=4 February 2017 |title=Church 'regret' as trainees hold service in gay slang |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38863545 |access-date=4 February 2017 |website=BBC News}}{{Cite news |last=Sherwood |first=Harriet |date=3 February 2017 |title=C of E college apologises for students' attempt to 'queer evening prayer' |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/03/church-of-england-college-apologises-students-queer-evening-prayer |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London}}{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Rebecca |date=4 February 2017 |title=Church expresses 'huge regret' after Cambridge LGBT commemoration service held in gay slang language |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/church-of-england-gay-slang-language-service-regret-lgbt-commemoration-regret-polari-westcott-house-a7562561.html |access-date=9 May 2018 |work=The Independent |location=London}}{{cite news |last=Robb |first=Simon |date=4 February 2017 |title=Priests delivered a service in gay slang and the church weren't happy |url= http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/04/priests-delivered-a-service-in-hilarious-gay-slang-but-the-church-werent-happy-6426464/ |access-date=9 May 2018 |work=Metro |location=London}}

In 2019, Reaktion Books published Paul Baker's third book on Polari, Fabulosa!: The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language.{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Paul |title=Fabulosa!: The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2019 |isbn=9781789142945 |location=London}}{{Cite web |title=Fabulosa! by Paul Baker from Reaktion Books |url= http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781789141320 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200930103229/http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781789141320 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |access-date=5 August 2020 |website=reaktionbooks.co.uk}} His first two books on the subject (Polari: Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang and Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men) were published in 2002 and 2003, respectively.{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Paul |title=Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang |url= https://archive.org/details/fantabulosadicti0000bake |website=Internet Archive|date=2004 |isbn=978-0-8264-7343-1 }}

• Polari (spelt "Polare") was popularised on the 1960s BBC radio show Round the Horne. The camp gay Polari-speaking characters Julian and Sandy were played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams.{{cite book|last=Stevens|first=Christopher|title=Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams|publisher=John Murray|year=2010|isbn=978-1-84854-195-5|page=206}}
• In the Doctor Who serial Carnival of Monsters (1973), Vorg, a showman, attempts to converse with the Doctor in Polari.{{sfn|Baker|2003|p=161}}
• Ralph Filthy, a theatrical agent played by Nigel Planer in the BBC TV series Filthy Rich & Catflap, regularly used Polari.{{Cite web |last=Guide |first=British Comedy |date=12 November 2023 |title=Into the world of Filthy Rich & Catflap - Comedy Rewind |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/features/comedy-rewind/filthy-rich-and-catflap/ |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=British Comedy Guide |language=en}}
• In 1990 Morrissey released the single "Piccadilly Palare" containing a number of lyrics in Polari and exploring a subculture in which Polari was used. "Piccadilly Palare" later appeared on his compilation album Bona Drag, whose title is also taken from Polari.Kent, Nick (March 1990). "Morrissey Interviewed by Nick Kent". The Face.
• In Doom Patrol, Danny the Street often speaks Polari.{{Cite web |last=Comments |first=Rich Johnston {{!}} |date=29 January 2023 |title=First Appearance Of Danny The Street & Flex Metallo- Doom Patrol #35 |url=https://bleedingcool.com/comics/first-appearance-of-danny-the-street-flex-metallo-doom-patrol-35/ |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=bleedingcool.com |language=en}}
• In his 1995 novel, Behind Closed Doors, Coronation Street creator Tony Warren depicts his characters using Polari on the gay scene of 1950s Manchester.{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Tony |title=Behind Closed Doors |publisher=Century |year=1995 |isbn=9780712656436 |location=London |pages=189, 212, 239, 285, 297, 301, 307}}
• In the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, two characters speak Polari in a London nightclub. The scene has English subtitles in the American release of the film.
• In 2015, Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston made a short film, "Putting on the Dish", which features a conversation entirely in Polari.{{cite web |title=Polari, the Gay Dialect, Can Be Heard in This Great Short Film |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/07/polari-the-gay-dialect-can-be-heard-in-this-great-short-film-putting-on-the-dish.html |website=Slate |date=July 2015 |access-date=27 March 2025}}{{cite web |title=Watch: The Lost Language of Gay Men |url=https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/08/12/watch-lost-language-gay-men |website=The Advocate |date=12 August 2015 |access-date=27 March 2025}}
• In 2018, George Reiner and Penny Burkett, published cruising for lavs, written mostly in Polari.
• In 2019, the first opera in Polari, The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (based on the book of the same title), premiered at Espacio Turina in Seville, Spain. The libretto was written in Polari by librettist and playwright Fabrizio Funari and the music is by Germán Alonso.{{Cite web|url=https://www.diariodesevilla.es/ocio/The-Sins-the-City-Plain_0_1357964420.html|title=Pornografía bruitista|last=Sevilla|first=Diario de|date=26 May 2019|website=Diario de Sevilla|language=es-ES|access-date=26 June 2019}}
• The same year, the English-language localisation of the Japanese video game Dragon Quest Builders 2 included a character called Jules, who spoke in Polari with non-standard capitalisation.{{cite video game |title= Dragon Quest Builders 2 |developer= Square Enix |publisher= Square Enix |date= 20 December 2018 |platform= Nintendo Switch}}{{Cite news |url= https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-02-07-the-coded-gay-jargon-in-dragon-quest-builders-2 |title=The Coded Gay Jargon in Dragon Quest Builders 2 |last=Hawkes |first=Edward}}
• In the 2020 film Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse, a young Roald Dahl runs away from home and meets "a silver-tongued, Polari-speaking eccentric who may be a figment of the boy's imagination" played by Bill Bailey.{{Cite news |last=Feay |first=Suzi |date=24 December 2020 |title=Roald and Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse — a Christmas classic is born |url= https://www.ft.com/content/ca90d346-6e76-4daf-9e6a-e6a016dceec6 |access-date=12 October 2024 |website= Financial Times |location= London}}
• In 2023, Peepal Tree Press published Adam Lowe's debut poetry collection Patterflash, which features a number of Polari poems. The title is translated in the book's glossary as "Gossip, chat, ostentatious or pretentious speech; the lyrics pouring out of my gob".{{Cite web |last=Hayter |first=Annie |date=17 June 2023 |title=Patterflash by Adam Lowe review: Acrobatic and winking poems of queer life |url=https://www.bigissue.com/culture/books/patterflash-review-acrobatic-and-winking-poems-of-queer-life/ |access-date=21 June 2024 |website=Big Issue |language=en-US}}
• In the fourth episode of Funny Woman (2024), characters discuss BBC Radio using Polari in Round the Horne and visit a comedy club where gay and entertainment-industry characters converse in Polari.{{Cite web |last=Hautzinger |first=Daniel |date=28 January 2024 |title='Funny Woman' Recap: Episode 4 |url=https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2024/01/28/funny-woman-recap-episode-4 |access-date=12 October 2024 |website=WTTW}}
• British singer Olly Alexander released his debut album Polari on 7 February 2025.{{Cite web |last=Kheraj |first=Alim |date=11 October 2024 |title=Olly Alexander announces new album Polari along with single 'Cupid's Bow' |url=https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/olly-alexander-new-album-polari-single-cupids-bow-474626/ |access-date=11 January 2025 |website=Attitude |language=en-GB}}

Numbers:

Some words or phrases that may derive from Polari (this is an incomplete list):

Omies and palones of the jury, vada well at the eek of the poor ome who stands before you, his lallies trembling. – taken from "Bona Law", one of the Julian and Sandy sketches from Round The Horne, written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman

:Translation: "Men and women of the jury, look well at the face of the poor man who stands before you, his legs trembling."

So bona to vada...oh you! Your lovely eek and your lovely riah. – taken from "Piccadilly Palare", a song by Morrissey

:Translation: "So good to see...oh you! Your lovely face and your lovely hair."

As feely ommes...we would zhoosh our riah, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar. In the bar we would stand around with our sisters, vada the bona cartes on the butch omme ajax who, if we fluttered our ogle riahs at him sweetly, might just troll over to offer a light for the unlit vogue clenched between our teeth. – taken from Parallel Lives, the memoirs of renowned gay journalist Peter Burton

:Translation: "As young men...we would style our hair, powder our faces, climb into our great new clothes, don our shoes and wander/walk off to some great little bar. In the bar we would stand around with our gay companions, look at the great genitals on the butch man nearby who, if we fluttered our eyelashes at him sweetly, might just wander/walk over to offer a light for the unlit cigarette clenched between our teeth."

In the Are You Being Served? episode "The Old Order Changes", Captain Peacock asks Mr Humphries to get "some strides for the omi with the naff riah" (i.e., trousers for the fellow with the unstylish hair).{{cite episode|title=The Old Order Changes|series=Are You Being Served?|date=18 March 1977}}

{{Portal|LGBTQ|United Kingdom|Language}}

• African-American Vernacular English (sometimes called Ebonics)
• Bahasa Binan
• Boontling
• Caló (Chicano)
• Carny, North American fairground cant
• Gayle language
• Gay slang
• Grypsera
• IsiNgqumo
• Lavender linguistics
• Lunfardo and Vesre
• Mediterranean Lingua Franca
• Pajubá
• Julian and Sandy
• Rotwelsch
• Shelta
• Swardspeak, argot used by LGBT people in the Philippines
• Verlan
• Lubunca

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Baker |first=Paul |year=2002 |title=Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang |location=London |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-8264-5961-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/fantabulosadicti0000bake}}
• {{cite book |last=Baker |first=Paul |title=Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=London|isbn=978-1-134-50635-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXmBAgAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Paul |title=Fabulosa!: The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language |date=2019 |publisher=Reaktion Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-78914-168-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxWbDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Elmes |first1=Simon |last2=Rosen |first2=Michael |author2-link=Michael Rosen |year=2002 |title=Word of Mouth |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-866263-7 }}

{{Wiktionary category|category=English Polari slang}}

• [http://www.polaribible.org/ The Polari Bible compiled by The Manchester Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412030259/http://www.polaribible.org/ |date=12 April 2016 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222545/http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/exhibitions/polarimission/ Polari Mission exhibit] (archived) at the University of Manchester's John Rylands Library
• [https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,1391811,00.html Colin Richardson, The Guardian, 17 January 2005, "What brings you trolling back, then?"]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121012161159/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/exhibitions/gaylife/polari.asp Liverpool Museums: The secret language of polari] (archived)
• [http://www.bigcar.co.uk/polari/ Paul Clevett's Polari Translator]
• Putting it on the Dish, a 2015 short film featuring Polari extensively
• [https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-polari-the-curious-after-life-of-the-dead-language-for-gay-men-72599 A brief history of Polari: the curious after-life of the dead language for gay men], 8 February 2017.
• [https://kittensyzygy.github.io/polari-dictionary/home.html Polari Dictionary] based on Paul Baker's glossary and dictionary

{{LGBT topics in the United Kingdom}}

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Category:English language in England

Category:English-based argots

Category:English language in London

Category:British slang

Category:LGBTQ culture in the United Kingdom

Category:Gay working-class culture

Category:LGBTQ argots

Category:LGBTQ slang