polari Tag

This year's Turner Ink Christmas card featured my favourite type of lingo: slaaaaaaang. And if you're wondering what the heck they said - here are the translations. Cockney Rhyming Slang After Christmas kidney, turn off the custard and take the oxo or a sherbet to the rub-a-dub with a couple of chinas, then spend your bangers or cadge some bread for a few...

In a recent blog post about the Evolving English exhibition, I mentioned Polari. Polari (or alternatively palari, parlare, parlary) was a secret language or gay slang, popular with the British gay community from about 1900 until the 1970s, and made famous by the 1960s radio show Round the Horne with Kenneth Williams. But what are its origins? Well, Polari is a complex...

If you’re in the area of Londinium between now and April 3rd, get yourself down to the British Library for their Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices exhibition. The exhibition explores the beginnings of Anglo Saxon right through to current rap music and shows how English has evolved over the last 1500 years from its small island origins to become one...