Polari Ya Bas

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Polari Ya Bas

Postby MacotheIsles » Sun Mar 04, 2007 2:26 pm

Anybody know if the Polari was ever used in Glasgow? Was listening to a rebroadcast of Maureen Lipman's Radio 4 programme on Polari (cf. Julian & Sandy). Was it just a London thing or was it used up here as well?
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Postby viceroy » Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:19 pm

Not sure if you're aware of this but Wikipedia has a fascinating and informative article on the subject of Polari. See here.

Like most people of my generation I first encountered it in the 1960's while listening to Round The Horne, specifically Julian & Sandy of course, as performed by Hugh Paddick and and the brilliant Kenneth Williams.

Don't think somehow it was ever a Glasgow thing.
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Postby crusty_bint » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:07 pm

:o ::):

I've never heard this term used before but

Wiki wrote:Polari (or alternatively Palare, from Italian parlare, "to talk") was a form of cant slang used in the gay subculture in Britain.

...The almost identical Parlyaree has been spoken in fairgrounds since at least the 17th century (according to Partridge's Dictionary of Slang) and continues to be used by show travellers in England and Scotland


Parlyaree puts a whole new slant on the old "Plarlyama Glasgow" sketch and the subtlety of its comedy... phonetically at least.. for me...
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Postby elgee » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:19 pm

Totally new to me but absolutely fascinating. Was surprised how many words I have heard used eg baloney, carsey and didn`t know their origin
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Postby dazza » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:54 pm

crusty_bint wrote:Parlyaree puts a whole new slant on the old "Plarlyama Glasgow" sketch and the subtlety of its comedy... phonetically at least.. for me...


Also, I was thinking... the Glaswegian dialect can be slightly undecipherable to many non-Glaswegians (as 'Parliamo Glasgow' perfectly illustrates), so wouldn't Polari have adapted to our own particular Glaswegian slang? Perhaps there are Glaswegian words that are now common-place that originated in Polari?
Last edited by dazza on Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby crusty_bint » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:01 am

Well aye, thats what I meant by the subtlety of it - I wonder how many folk outside the gay community at the time of the sketch would have known of Polari? HH?

Reading through the wiki, particularly at the glossary, does make you wonder how much of Polari has filtered through into our common parlance or even if it was the other way round?

ps never even thought of that ::):
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Postby dazza » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:25 am

crusty_bint wrote:Reading through the wiki, particularly at the glossary, does make you wonder how much of Polari has filtered through into our common parlance or even if it was the other way round?


I was actually surprised at how much of it i actually knew and understood. Maybe i've just been listening to too much Julian & Sandy?
But i also noticed a lot of particularly obscure words there that many of my (straight) friends have started using in the past year or so. I never thought to wonder where they were picking these words up from. Perhaps, like everything, Polari is making a comeback.
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Postby crusty_bint » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:35 am

might start using some of them myself

...forumers are reminded to please CHARPER before posting

think it will catch on?

::):
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Postby elgee » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:49 am

:?:
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Postby elgee » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:35 am

Does any one know the origin of Ya Bas or Ya Bass. What does it really mean? I for some reason believed it to be Portugese for Okay or something similiar, dont ask me why because I dont know. I have been told that is nonsense and it is just an abbreviation for You B.stard. It was often seen sprayed on walls usually preceded by someones or a gang name in the seventies.
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Postby elgee » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:38 am

Stanley Baxters wifeof 40 odd years (now deceased) might have been a bit put out .. unless she like yourself knew all about it :wink:
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Postby dazza » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:43 am

elgee wrote:Does any one know the origin of Ya Bas or Ya Bass. What does it really mean? I for some reason believed it to be Portugese for Okay or something similiar, dont ask me why because I dont know. I have been told that is nonsense and it is just an abbreviation for You B.stard. It was often seen sprayed on walls usually preceded by someones or a gang name in the seventies.


CHARPER
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Postby HollowHorn » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:21 am

crusty_bint wrote:I wonder how many folk outside the gay community at the time of the sketch would have known of Polari? HH?

In Clydebank, ffs? We did'nt get Gay folk till colour came in. My first contact happened in 1969, in the Cleddans bar (across from the Tech) where I was approached in the toilets by a gentleman in his early thirties, who asked if I wished to embark on a sexual adventure with him (or words to that effect) I replied that no, I was not that way inclined, he said that I was, whether i knew it or not. Anyway we had a wee pleasent chat and went our seperate ways. It struck me as strange how 'normal' he seemed (as opposed to Kenneth Williams) I wonder if that was for reasons of survival in that time & place? As an aside, later that day someone stole my y-fronts from the Turkish Baths in Hall St. Prolly just an urchin though.
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Postby JayKay » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:58 pm

First came across Polari due to Morrissey. D'you think he's... :wink:
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Postby MacotheIsles » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:00 pm

JayKay wrote:First came across Polari due to Morrissey. D'you think he's... :wink:


I was working on a shop refit with some guys; one of whom was yer bona omi-polome from Dundee. He'd never heard of Polari and the only other person besides myself who knew about it was a Morrisey fan.

I'd really recommend The Bona History of Julian and Sandy: it's bound to come up (oooh Mr 'Orne!) on BBC Radio 7 every now and again. It looks at the double entendres, etc, in the sketches ("E's playing his upright in the cottage") and tries to answer why the BBC let it go out in what were much more censorious times. Fascinating stuff.

Viceroy! Cheers. I'm off to troll that link.
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