polari

/pəˈlɑːri/

Etymology

Borrowed from Polari, from Italian parlare (“to talk”). The loss of the first r and the changing vowel quality of the non-stressed vowels is due to the non-rhotic UK accent which reinterpreted the phonemes. The adoption of the infinitive form means that the word probably originated from a Romance-based creole or pidgin like Sabir. First use in English appears c. 1846, in the writings of Lord Chief Baron.

Why this word is great

POLARI — [Noun] A cant historically used by the British gay community, theatre professionals, and travelling showmen, incorporating elements from Italian, Yiddish, and various slang forms. Derived from Italian parlare ("to talk"), likely via a Romance-based creole or pidgin like Sabir, adapted into English with phonetic changes due to non-rhotic pronunciation. Unlike "lingua franca" (a bridge between tongues) or "argot" (mere jargon of exclusion), Polari was both shield and signal, a lexical wink among the marginalized. It is the hushed "vada" (go) hissed between actors in greenrooms, the playful "omi" (man) traded in Soho alleys, the defiant "bona" (good) smuggled into everyday speech—a language not just spoken but survived by, until time and tolerance rendered it a relic. All codes fade; what remains is the ache of things once unsayable.

name

A cant used in the London fishmarkets, in the British theatre, and by the gay community in Britain, attested since at least the 19th century and popularised in the 1950s and 1960s by the camp characters Julian and Sandy in the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne.
A cant used by travelling showmen in Britain.

verb

To speak or talk, particularly in slang or cant.“Will you take a varder at the cartz on the feely-omi in the naf strides: the one with the bona blue ogles polarying the omi-palone with a vogue on and a cod sheitel.”