A dictionary of polari & gay slang paul baker

But more than a language, Polari is an attitude. Rate this book. Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This is evident in both good and bad ways here. Polari has been the secret language of gay men and women through the twentieth century.

Polari speakers camped up a storm, from West End chorus boys and office workers to East End sea-queens. There is also a paid app — available in the app stores — by the author and an artist, that features the dictionary on your phone. The bad: the dictionary of gay slang takes up over two-thirds of the book and, whilst good, the problem here is that this book was published in I read it and kept thinking of terms that were missing, or - strangely - incorrectly defined, the most egregious of which is 'shade.

Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews. If you don't yet know what vada the bona cartes on the ommee ajax. Since gay liberation, lesbian and gay slang has become less a language of concealment than a language of specialization, though the tradition of camp remains. Fantabulosa: Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang.

Paul Baker. Paul Baker books 29 followers. Also, there is a small pool of sources used — hence why I think that an online wiki would suit it much better. Buy on Amazon. Derived from words used by criminals, circus artists, beggars and prostitutes, it also employed Italian, Yiddish, French, rhyming slang and backslang.

Fantabulosa: a dictionary of Polari and gay slang by Baker, Paul, Publication date Topics Gays -- Language -- Dictionaries, Gay men -- Language -- Dictionaries, Lesbians -- Language -- Dictionaries, English language -- Slang -- Dictionaries, Polari -- Dictionaries Publisher London: Continuum Collection internetarchivebooks.

Since gay liberation, lesbian and gay slang has become less a language of concealment than a language of specialization, though the tradition of camp remains. A carefully researched and entertaining read, Fantabulosa presents a lexicon of Polari and a more general dictionary of lesbian and gay slang.

Polari, being dead, is time-specific and this makes it good to collate although it seems to be a little - not too much, but a little incomplete. The good: the dictionary of Polari, a mostly dead language used by gay men. About the author. Like all slang, Polari users coined an ever-changing vocabulary.

Language - you never stop changing, do you? Author 31 books 45 followers. Jump to ratings and reviews. Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book! Examples of Polari in speech include: How bona to vada your dolly old eke — How lovely to see you literally: how good to see your beautiful face and many more which describe things much more salaciously and in detail!

Search review text. A carefully researched and entertaining read, Fantabulosa presents a lexicon of Polari and a more general dictionary of lesbian and gay slang. A carefully researched and entertaining read, The Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang presents a lexicon of Polari and a more general dictionary of lesbian and gay slang.

Since gay liberation, lesbian and gay slang has become less a language of concealment than a language of specialization, though the tradition of camp remains. And there is, for example, a definition of shade given in the doc, Paris is Burning. Write a Review.

A carefully researched and entertaining read, The Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang presents a lexicon of Polari and a more general dictionary of lesbian and gay slang. Community Reviews. Mark Ward. Since gay liberation, lesbian and gay slang has become less a language of concealment than a language of specialization, though the tradition of camp remains.

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