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Steve, Mark, David and Tiger are friends. They are all
gay, and agreed to meet with a BBC reporter to discuss everyday 'gay speak'.
They are a very outspoken group, but is that part of a specially-developed
and shared language, or evidence of their outgoing personalities?
David is a landlord, Tiger works at a night club, Steve
works is a performing arts teacher and Mark works with horses. David is
by far the most vocal of the group - possibly because of his profession
- after all, when did you last meet a quiet landlord? Mark, by contrast
is relatively shy as he hasn't been openly gay for long. Together, the
group got pretty vocal about most things, especially drag queens and Polari
- the name of a particular gay language.
Polari is often referred to as an 'anti-language' or
the lost language of gay men. Whilst hundreds of Polari terms exist, most
users only have a knowledge of 20 or 30 terms: A gay man is known as an
omi-palone; a woman is a palone and naff - a term
we're all familiar with - is originally a Polari word that has crossed
over into our everyday English language.
The guys are very crude and open with their language
at times, so once again, if you are easily offended, you should not listen
to the following audio clips.
Audio contributors
David Constable
Steven Humm
Best bits
'Polari-speak'
'Vogues'
Listen to the clips
David Constable
David has lived in Cambridge his whole life and is 40 years old. He is
a pub landlord.
Listen to David: Here he explains that a specific gay language was
developed - Polari - so that the police - and the less open-minded public
- wouldn't be able to understand the speaker. By using Polari, gay men
were better able to avoid being outed or prosecuted by the Law.
Listen
to the clip
Steve Humm
Steve is 40 years old. He has also lived in Cambridge his whole life.
He is a Performing Arts teacher.
Listen to Steve: He is a drag queen and discusses
the amusing names he thought he might call his alter ego.
Listen
to the clip
The best bits...
 'Polari-speak'
David Constable tells us more about the language of Polari and gives some
examples of words that are still in use today.
Listen
to the clip
 'Vogues'
David Constable explains why cigarettes are often referred to as 'vogues'
within the gay community.
Listen
to the clip
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