A Conversation for Polari - British gay slang

hello, im Julian and this is my friend sandy

Post 1

Johanna the Psychotic Bananna - - I'm back!!! I missed you, H2G2

is this real, or is some of this just taken completekly from round he horne?
i have a hard time beleiveing that this could actually be real slang, because homosexuality was illegal even in those times, and to be using real gay slang on the radio would seem to me to be a little... risky?


hello, im Julian and this is my friend sandy

Post 2

Mikeo the gregarious

Yeah, it is a real dialect - Round the Horne was actually including genuine gay slang in its scripts! There evidently was a bit of a risk in including Polari in such a mainstream programme, but I think the writers got away with it for three main reasons: -

(1) At the time when the programme was being broadcast (1965-69), although homosexuality still wasn't legal until 1967, there were moves being made (in Parliament) to legalise it. (Maybe not a direct reason, but the background to it all is quite important.)
(2) Virtually no one outside of the gay community at that time knew what Polari really was or why it was being used - so a lot of people were laughing at things that they didn't fully understand (although the performances by Brian Paddick and Kenneth Williams make it slightly more obvious!).
(3) It was really really funny! smiley - biggrin

Besides, it wasn't the only time that somewhat dubious humour had been broadcast on the BBC - ten years earlier, the Goons were making references to things like Hugh Jampton at a time when virtually all sexual references had to be removed, and they got away with it then!


hello, im Julian and this is my friend sandy

Post 3

pdante'

Barry Took and Marty Feldman .Weren't they bold !smiley - biggrin


hello, im Julian and this is my friend sandy

Post 4

Johanna the Psychotic Bananna - - I'm back!!! I missed you, H2G2

i just have to say, i love rounde the horne, but all my tapes of it are broke!

i dont suppose you know how to get hold of cd's? all i can find is whole series on CD and it costs a lot of monay


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