name =Polari other names =Palare, Parlary, Palarie, Palari, Parlyaree ajax =nearby (from adjacent?) aunt nell =listen, hear aunt nells =ears aunt nelly fakes =earrings balonie =rubbish basket =the bulge of male genitals through clothes batts =shoes bevvy =drink bitch =effeminate or passive gay man bijou =small/little blag =pick up bod =body bold =daring bona¬ =good bona nochy =goodnight bonaroo =wonderful, excellent bungery =pub butch =masculine; masculine lesbian buvare =a drink cackle =talk/gossip camp =effeminate capello/capella =hat carsey =toilet, also spelt khazi carts/cartso =penis charper =to search charpering omi =policeman chaver =to shag/a shag (sexual intercourse) chicken =young boy clobber =clothes cod =naff, vile cottage =public loo (particularly with reference to cottaging) cottaging =having or looking for sex in the above cottage cove =friend crimper =hairdresser dinarly =money dish =butt(ocks) dog and bone =telephone dolly =pretty, nice, pleasant dona =woman drag =clothes, esp. women's clothes ecaf =face (backslang) eek =face (abbreviation of ecaf) ends =hair esong =nose (backslang) fantabulosa =fabulous/wonderful feele/freely/filly =child/young fruit =queen funt =pound gelt =money glossies =magazines handbag =money hoofer =dancer HP (homy polone) =effeminate gay man jarry =food, also mangarie jubes =breasts kaffies =trousers khazi =toilet, also spelt carsey lacoddy =body lallies =legs latty/lattie =room, house or flat lett =to sleep, rest lettie =sleep, rest lills =hands lilly =police (Lilly Law) lyles =legs lucoddy =body luppers =fingers mangarie =food, also jarry martinis =hands measures =money meese =plain, ugly (from Yiddish) meshigener =nutty, crazy, mental metzas =money mince =walk (affectedly) naff =awful, dull, hetero nanti =not, no, none national handbag =dole, welfare, government financial assistance nishta =nothing, no ogle =look, admire oglefakes =glasses ogles =eyes omi =man omi-polone =effeminate man, or homosexual onk =nose orbs =eyes palare pipe =telephone palliass =back park =give plate =feet; to fellate palone =woman palone-omi =lesbian pots =teeth remould =sex change riah/riha =hair (backslang) riah zhoosher =hairdresser scarper =to run off (from Italian scappare, to escape) schlumph =drink scotch =leg (scotch egg=leg) screech =mouth, speak sharpy =policeman sharpy polone =policewoman shush =steal (from client) shush bag =hold-all shyker/shyckle =wig slap =makeup so =homosexual (e.g. "Is he 'so'?") stimps =legs stimpcovers =stockings, hosiery strides =trousers strillers =piano switch =wig thews =thighs tober =road todd (Sloanne) =alone tootsie trade =sex between two passive homosexuals (as in: 'I don't do tootsie trade') trade =sex troll =to walk about (esp. looking for trade) vada/varder =to see I vada =I see you vada =you see he/she(rare)/it =he/she(rare)/it sees vadas we vada =we see they vada =they see I will vada =(future) I vadered =(perfect) I was vadering =(imperfect) had vadered =(pluperfect) vera (lynn) =gin vogue =cigarette vogueress =woman smoker willets =breasts yews =eyes zhoosh¬ =style hair, tart up, mince zhoosh our riah =style our hair zhooshy =showy
for those people who never knew what Polari is, it´s an "argot" - a kind of slang, or anti-language - used mainly by queer people up until the onset of the gay liberation movement in the 1970s. rumour is that it´s making a comeback very slowly in gayland, so I thought I´d give people a bit of a looksee at Polari!
...parkering back a piece of sparkley omipalone dollyness to the nanty dinarly...
don´t forget to parker the Polari Bible a bit of a varda...