A potted history of polari.

Polari was secretive language widely used by the British gay community from the 1900s to the 1970s. It was based on slang words deriving from a variety of different sources, including rhyming slang, and backslang (spelling words backwards). In the eighteenth century it was mainly used in pubs around the London dock area. The language was soon picked up by merchant seafarers and brought back on ship. From the 1930s to 1970s the language was mostly used in gay pubs, theatre and on merchant ships. The language helped gay men talk to each in front of straight people. It enabled gays to feel like part of an exclusive group. Polari was used in crew shows on ship and some straight shipmates picked up the language from these shows. Polari was popularised by Julian and Sandy (played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams) in the 1960s BBC radio comedy show, Round the Horne. In the show the two played a couple of camp out-of-work actors. In the 1970s the use of polari started declining. The 1967 sexual offences act made homosexuality legal, so there was less need for a secret form of language. The 1970s gay liberation movement found the language to be old fashioned and sexist. However, it was still used on ships up until the 1980s. Today polari is experiencing a mini revival due to recent stage shows of Round the Horne. How bona to varda your dolly old eek!

Vada the dolly dish, shame about his bijou lallies

Can I troll round your latty? Polari-English dictionary  ends: hair  omi: man  esong: nose  omi-polone: effeminate man, or

 fantabulosa: wonderful homosexual

 ajax: nearby (from adjacent?)  feele: child  onk: nose

 basket: the bulge of male genitals  fruit: queen  orbs: eyes

through clothes  gelt: money  palare pipe: telephone

 batts: shoes  glossies: magazines  palliass: back (as in part of body)

 bevvy: drink  handbag: money  park: give

 bijou: small  hoofer: dancer  plate: feet

 bod: body  jarry: food, also mangarie  polari: chat, talk

 bold: daring  kaffies:trousers  polone: woman

 bona: good  lallies: legs  pots: teeth

 butch: masculine; masculine lesbian  latty: room, house or flat  riah/riha: hair

 camp: effeminate (origin: KAMP =  lills: hands  riah shusher: hairdresser

Known As Male Prostitute)  lilly: police (Lilly Law)  scarper: to run off

 capello: hat  luppers: fingers  scotch: leg

 carsey: toilet, also spelt khazi  mangarie: food, also jarry  sharpy: policeman

 charper: search  measures: money  shush: steal (from client)

 charpering omi: policeman  meese: plain, ugly (from Yiddish)  shush bag: holdall

 cod: naff, vile  meshigener: nutty, crazy, mental  shyker / shyckle: wig

 crimper: hairdresser  metzas: money  slap: makeup

 dish: an attractive male; buttocks  mince: walk (affectedly)  strillers: piano

 dizzy: scatterbrained  naff: bad, drab  thews: thighs

 dolly: pretty, nice, pleasant  nanti:not, no  trade: sex

 drag: clothes, especially women's  national handbag: dole  troll: to walk about (especially

clothes  nishta: nothing, no looking for trade)

 ecaf: face (backslang)  oglefakes: glasses  vada/varda: see

 eek: face (abbreviation of ecaf)  ogles: eyes Julian and Sandy. Julian and Sandy were characters on the BBC radio comedy programme Round the Horne from 1965 to 1968 and were played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams respectively, with scripts written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman. The characters were originally conceived as two ageing Shakespearean "old luvvie" thespians who were doing domestic work in Kenneth Horne's flat while waiting for their next acting job.

As well as being a successful comedy act, Julian and Sandy were notable for being two camp homosexual characters in mainstream entertainment at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, and for the use of the Polari language in the sketches.

Ad-libs were a prominent part of the sketch, and were one of the reasons for how well the humour worked, as both Paddick and Williams were accomplished and very familiar with Polari in real life conversation. Williams, in particular, would add many lines of his own ("Lau your luppers on the strillers bona" (play the piano) being his most extreme use of obscure Polari).

At other times, Horne's character would pretend not to understand the more risqué meanings in Julian and Sandy's dialogue, although it was always hinted that he was secretly in on the joke. A good example was Horne attempting to use Polari himself:

HORNE: Would I have vada’d any of them do you think? SANDY: Oooh! He’s got all the Polari, ain’t he? JULIAN: Hmmmm, I wonder where he picks it up? The humour acquired a real edge with jokes that were both risqué and controversial, as homosexuality was still a crime punishable by imprisonment at the time in the UK. Lines such as the following were very daring for their period:

SANDY: “Don’t mention Malaga to Julian, he got very badly stung.” HORNE: “Portuguese man o' war?” JULIAN: “Well I never saw him in uniform…”

A quote illustrating the use of double entendre from the sketch "Bona Law" (itself a pun on the name of Andrew Bonar Law, a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), featuring Julian and Sandy as lawyers:

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?