Polari was a form of slang used by gay men in Britain prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, used primarily as a coded way for them to discuss their experiences. It quickly fell out of use in the 70s, although several words entered mainstream English and are still used today. For more about Polari: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari
Click to see transcript (for those interested in trying to decode it all)
Click to see transcript (for those interested in trying to decode it all)
"I've read that. It's all gobbledygook. Ending's naff too. Got three drags and a spit, doll? You from around here then?"
"More or less."
"Eine's the place to be. Bona batts, what size are your plates?"
"Ten I think."
"What about your luppers, they a size ten too? Bet you'd play the strillers real bona."
"Is this your usual spot?"
"How do you mean?"
"I've got your number, ducky."
"Where's your flowery then?"
"Clitterhouse Road."
"Oh I've a bencove up that way. Pauline."
"Pauline Marsh?"
"That's the one. Can't swing a cat but hit a cove."
"How is Pauline?"
"She's had nanti bully fake. Died her riah, her ends are a right mess."
"Nanti bona. I hope she vaggeried straight to the crimper."
"That's where she'd just been. Palone tried to give her an Irish. Moultee palaver. Pauline told her to shove her shyckle up her khyber."
"She didn't say that."
"Mais oui ducky, oui. In your actual English."
"She's all wind and piss, Pauline. Is she still with Phyllis then?"
"Haven't you heard? She's been a real bonaroba. Blowing the groundsels, ling grappling dilly boys, trolling the backslums. She had to be Battersea’d twice last month."
"She didn’t."
"Pauline's a stretcher case. Trolled in one nochy to varda Phyllis plating some schinwars she'd blagged in the brandy latch."
"Dish the dirt."
"It's all over grumble for Pauline. Nanti dinarlee, up to her elbow in the national handbag and she'd only just gone in for a remould. Had to refake her entire basket."
"Speaking of baskets."
"Gloria. That’d stretch your corybungus."
"Fortuni."
"Mind you it's the dolly ones that disappoint. I was seeing this HP from Sheffield once. Plates the size of bowling pins, I thought I was in for a right bona charvering."
"Nada to varda in the larder?"
"Oh, bijou. 'You needn’t put the brandy on for that,' I said when I saw it. Mind you, she was heavy on the letch water. I had to use the Daz to get her Maria out my libbage."
"Oh vile. Has she always been that way then, Phyllis?"
"She’s a walking meat rack. Fantabulosa bit of hard. We used to act dicky together at the croaker’s chovey. Noshed me off once while I was giving a fungus his drabs."
"That’s skill, that."
"Oh she used to do it all the time. When we were at the exchange together she’d one lill on my colin and the other on the switch. Never even get off the palare pipe. Sad to think of her in the queer ken really."
"What do you mean?"
"Well she'd a run in with the lily law."
"Oh dear."
"Sharpie flashed his cartso in the carsey."
"I hope she kept her ogles front."
"Well she’s got amblyopia, hasn’t she? She can practically only varda sideways.
"What did the beak say?"
"He was very harsh. Asked if she was sorry."
"Was she?"
"Only that it wasn’t worth the look she got. Nearly got nabbed meself the other week. I’d just finished plating this chicken in the cottage ajax Clackett Lane, you know the one. Anyway, I’m mincing outside wiping my screech, and who should I bump into but one of your orderly daughters. “There’s a pouf in there” I said. Nabbed him with his kaffies down I spose. She’d have never vardered it coming. Must have been a right fericadooza. Sharda."
"You’re disgusting."
"What?"
"Oh go on. Put your fakements in your little shush bag. Off you scarper. You forgot your glossy. They cure him in the end."
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A “drag and a spit” comes from Cockney rhyming slang, which had its own influence on Polari. “Spit and drag” is rhyming slang for “fag”, which is itself a slang term for a cigarette (probably from Middle English fagge meaning “flap”). “Fag”, obviously, had derogatory implications for gay men, and reversing it to “drag and a spit” removed that implication.
“Bona” is another Polari word that has almost survived into the 21st century, derived from Italian/Latin buono/bonum via the theatre and simply meaning “good”. You might remember it from Morrissey’s album Bona Drag.
“Bats” or “batts” are shoes, origin unknown.
“Plates” is another example of rhyming slang, from “plates of meat” (“feet”).
“Strillers”, along with many other examples of Polari slang, was used in the 1960s BBC radio comedy Round the Horne by the flagrantly flaming couple Julian and Sandy. Comedians Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick, who were both gay at a time when homosexuality was a crime, slipped obscure phrases like “Lau your luppers on the strillers bona” right into the homes of unsuspecting listeners.
More rhyming slang — “flowery dell” rhymes with “prison cell”, i.e. “house”. It dates to the 19th century.
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Click to see transcript (for those interested in trying to decode it all)
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