Polari
Human languageWikipedia
32
MENTIONS
10
EPISODES
10
PODCASTS
Search complete. 32 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Polari".
Sep 10, 2026
Dane BuckleyHOST
And one of my favorite women I often talk about was Lily Law.
Dane BuckleyHOST
And Lily Law is also Polari for the police.
Dane BuckleyHOST
Her name was Lily Law.
Dane BuckleyHOST
And she used to be like, I don't know where he's from, but he was... a nice fella
CameronHOST
A PlayStation 2-
Patrick DoranHOST
This could be Polari
CameronHOST
...
CameronHOST
Slim.
Marlon JamesGUEST
I mean, I'm trying to think of what else.
Marlon JamesGUEST
I mean, a lot of it, a lot of the stuff was good, strange, like learning Polari.
Miwa MesserHOST
Sorry, you need to explain Polari.
Miwa MesserHOST
So
Marlon JamesGUEST
Polari was a sort of a gay queer slang that happened in the UK and some of the Commonwealth in the 40s, 40s to 60s, where gay men realized that if they invented their own language, they can talk and talk as bawdy as they want.
Marlon JamesGUEST
So I could look at you and go, you know, Bono defeated that classic basket, which means saying, that guy's hung.
Marlon JamesGUEST
But who, nobody knew what I was saying.
Miwa MesserHOST
what I heard, but okay.
Tom AllenHOST
Lumdings.
Tom AllenHOST
Is that, what's that from? Is that Polari? Polari,
Andrew NormanGUEST
yeah.
Tom AllenHOST
Did you ever speak, do you ever use the Polaris? Oh, it was, it was universal.
Andrew NormanGUEST
Really? Was it as that prevalent? Oh yeah,
speaker_4ADVERTISER
yeah,
Tom AllenHOST
How true, how true, right? How true.
Tom AllenHOST
Nothing's new, really.
speaker_0HOST
And I want to highlight one specific letter because it is so wild.
speaker_0HOST
Havelock writes an entire letter in Polari.
speaker_1HOST
Which is such a brilliant detail.
speaker_0HOST
Right.
speaker_0HOST
So for you listening who might not be familiar with it, what exactly is the mechanism behind Polari and why does its inclusion here matter so much?
speaker_1HOST
Polari is a fascinating linguistic phenomenon.
speaker_1HOST
It is a historical secret language.
speaker_0HOST
Like a code.
Ernesto SarezaleGUEST
But anyway, I haven't really tried to, but it's taking forever.
Ernesto SarezaleGUEST
So it's because I think one of the prompts for today was, what would I call a poetry book? So I will call it, well, there are lots, but I will call it Jue in Polari, which is taken from Italian due, which due in Italian, in Italian it's due, due, but you will, in English you will pronounce it due or sometimes they spell it due, which it means two.
Ernesto SarezaleGUEST
And so the picture I have for the cover is the word two in lots of different languages.
Ernesto SarezaleGUEST
But anyway, I don't know if this project will ever happen.
William HansonHOST
I think it was ba-- It was a code.
William HansonHOST
It was a s- it was like Polari.
William HansonHOST
It was a silent code to let other people know that you were gay.
William HansonHOST
I think if it was your left ear, so if I had this one pierced, it would be a sign that, you know.
Marlon JamesHOST
And I think that's the thing about Clockwork Orange, and I think he goes for a comedy.
Marlon JamesHOST
He goes for a language style that's funny enough, a lot, that takes a lot from Polari.
Jake MorrisseyHOST
Yes.
Jake MorrisseyHOST
This is Anthony Burgess Polari.
Marlon JamesHOST
Anthony Burgess, Clockwork Orange.
Marlon JamesHOST
Was it '66?
Jake MorrisseyHOST
Right, right
Marlon JamesHOST
... kind of language, mixing with his own things and so on.
Andy ShiltonHOST
But I thought I would put it out there.
Andy ShiltonHOST
It's a Polari term, is it? No, it's not.
Andy ShiltonHOST
It was around the time when gay men were very much using Polari.
Andy ShiltonHOST
So there was a lot of things meaning other things.
Andy ShiltonHOST
But I'll give you a clue before the news if you're not sure.
28 MINS LATER
Ezra PeregrineHOST
No, I don't
Andy ShiltonHOST
know why it wasn't used with men.
Andy ShiltonHOST
I think it was more because the male equivalent was a Polari term at the time.
BeefHOST
Uh, but he sent it to me 'cause, you know, he likes to call me gay and stuff.
BeefHOST
Polari, the secret gay language.
BeefHOST
Seven words we still use and six we should bring back.
JakeHOST
Wow.
BeefHOST
In a time dating back to the terms from Polari, a secret gay language used by gay men in the UK during the 1960s.
JakeHOST
Wait a minute.
JakeHOST
There, there's, there's a secret gay language?
JakeHOST
Oh my God