all else aside-- bro had a cigarette, then stubs it out, not even smoked all the way down, so he can ask for another immediately after. smooth man, real smooth...
I don't smoke all the way down. By the time you get to a quarter of the cigarette, it begins vaporizing the fiberglass filter. After that it starts burning it, and nobody seems to realize the filter is probably significantly more of a health risk than the cigarette itself. If you're gonna smoke, do it gently and enjoy it
And also the themes of aversion therapy used to "cure" him. Whats interesting is how both the man on the bench and the narrator of the story talk about being cured as a taunt ("They cure him in the end" ,, "I was cured alright")
The odd thing for me is that I understood one, um, "rare" word immediately: amblyopia. I knew it, because for almost 50 years I HAD it. But my amblyopia (lazy eye) is no more after a corrective surgery gave me 3D vision.
But it's English. It's weird to hear your own language used, while understanding none of it. A peculiar (and somewhat delightful) experience imo. Kind of like that faux English song from the sixties or whenever. 😂
The little details in this film are sublime. It gives me a cold rock in the gut watching the other fella walk away, while cigarette man sits there. He doesn't wipe the spit away. He knows he deserves it. There's a level of self loathing there that some can only glimpse.
the way he doesn’t bother to wipe the spit off-the way he sets his jaw, continues to smoke, the way the spit almost looks like tears as it rolls down his face. the layers of nuance and like. shame almost. A+ film.
Yeah! You can see the moment his self-reflection peaks, and then his face hardens as he represses the shame and goes emotionally blunt again. Brilliant piece of acting, that 5 seconds or so! That's what denial is. It's Groundhog Day (the film). You relive & 'forget' on repeat...
Here's a basic summary for those who don't understand the slang: The setting is London in the 60's, when being gay was still illegal. Two gay men are on a bench. One comments that he doesn't like the book Clockwork Orange. Using coded language they check to see that one another is gay before letting their guard down and speaking frankly, ogling other men as they pass by, etc. They gossip about a promiscuous mutual acquaintance that got thrown in prison after getting caught having sex with men. The one on the left then laments that he nearly got locked up himself once, after the cops came knocking right as he finished going down on a guy, but narrowly escaped by telling them there was a "poof" inside and ran as they arrested his lover. The one on the right is rightfully disgusted by this revelation and leaves.
Amelia Bee thx Amelia, coming from french province in canada, makes it VERY difficult to get the british accent (even thought i LOVE IT!), just wish they did the subtitles ... -Acting was good! cheers guys
Brian and Karl I love your shorts and how they challenge the viewer to truly look into language in ways they never thought of. Sorry if I ruined it, but I bet it's still fun to know the context and rewatch it to hunt out which words mean what!
Amelia Bee Okay. I had most of what was going on up till the end, thanks to context and previous experience watching and reading about code used for other things. I knew he had mentioned that he almost got caught, but I wasn't sure what it was exactly that had perturbed the other man. Considering the scarfed bloke left his lover to take the fall, then yeah, I'd say the gent in the coat had every right to go from hot to cold.
@@marcusaureliusatoninus5947yeah, but it's not a real cure and it certainly doesn't take (just like conversion). However, the real ending in the book which was left out of the film has him growing and maturing out of his murderous phase. He looks at pictures of babies and envies a bloke with a family who views him as childish. Essentially he gets too old to go on teen rampages which is what the book is actually addressing. Usually gets left out of analysis because the other stuff is so much 'fun', but that's the part the author thought was the most important.
Apart from being linguistically interesting, this was also dramatically effective. That final shot where Maureen's spat in Roberta's face and he doesn't trouble to wipe it off is very poignant.
@@WhichDoctor1interesting point. I interpreted it as him having a sense of disgust to himself due to him exposing the other guy he had sex with, letting the spit stay there as a form of punishment because he felt deep down he deserved it. But I see what you mean about the possible “facial” view. Wonder what that could imply.
The spit is intimacy, even if it's an act of hate. I think he is a bit disgusted with his own actions, but he's also stubborn, and indignant considering the police state is the real culprit for the violence, not him. I think Roberta's pessimistic about the possibility for societal change, certainly more so than Maureen. Considering that he reacts with such revulsion to Roberta's betrayal, it's clear Maureen believes gay men should work in solidarity and put the needs of the gay community before individual needs. With respect to "A Clockwork Orange" he's more likely to emphasize how the narrative portrays the state "curing" the main character as a moral injustice, which suggests sympathy for the way gay men are criminalized and tortured by the state. But to Roberta, the equivalence between gay men and the main character can't be made, as that would suggest all the rape and violence done by the main character of "A Clockwork Orange" is equivalent to gay sex and love. This isn't sympathy for queers, it's the author condemning society as a whole for creating the conditions for criminal acts like queerness to flourish. I think this is why Roberta refers to the whole story as gobbledigook. If, like Roberta, you believe there's no possibilty for the inclusion of queers in wider society, solidarity with queers against the state seems pointless. Why not, then, rat on your friends and lovers. These are individual acts of betrayal, not self-inflicted wounds tearing the whole community apart. In this sense, violence, love, duplicity, and intimacy all coexist in gay relationships enduring under totalizing state-mandated heterosexuality. Being hatefully spat upon by another gay man isn't anything new, then. Spit is simultaneously physical closeness and conflict.
@@willj5760 BEGGING you to release a review/essay on A Clockwork Orange. Banger analysis just right here alone, very eloquent and thorough even in its briefness!
Absolutely amazing. As a Scot who's worked in gay bars with older gays i've definitely experienced some of this - and picking up the southern slang through osmosis really helps fitting the meaning of this together. Wonderful stuff, with tension, levity, camp and then sobering realisation.
I pretty basic summary/translation: they kind of confirm their shared sexuality with the vocab, scarf guy asks where trenchcoat lives and mentions he knows someone who lives nearby, apparently a mutual friend named "Pauline" (these are nicknames for gay men, likely so they don't know each others real names outside of the community for safety's sake). They gossip about Pauline, she had a bad dye job, she caught her partner cheating (although she's been pretty unfaithful too, including hooking up w/ male prostitutes), and that she's broke and on welfare (they also seem to say she pretty nuts in general). She's apparently done it with scarf guy a couple times, too. She's also recently been baited by a cop in a public toilet and thrown in jail for homosexuality. Scarf guy mentions he'd nearly been caught too: he had just finished blowing a guy in a public bathroom and ran into a cop outside, so in order to get the heat off of himself, he ratted on the guy he'd just blown and he got arrested instead. Trenchcoat is pissed scarf guy would betray a fellow gay man and leaves. Upon retrieving his book, scarf guy tells him "they cure him in the end (of the book)", alluding to the history of conversion therapy on homosexuals.
Am I correct in understanding that "Pauline" (or someone she associated with) got a sex change ("remould") and then got it reversed ("they had to fake her basket")?
I'm a linguaphile and you guys are a freaking goldmine. Thank you so much for making these! The amount of care you went to with this and the "English" film are amazing. They both show two opposite traits: this one is very empathetic...getting inside each person's head and knowing where they're coming from and where they (kind of) want to be going. "English" is the flipside: a film made completely for it's face value, and it works perfectly. Thank you for doing these!
SockIT Rocket I mean if it's possible... Though I'd stay clear of the Khoisan languages and the likes of Ubykh: I don't imagine the clicks and consonant inventory would work out too well.
Standard English Translation: MAUREEN: I’ve read that. MAUREEN: It’s all nonsense. MAUREEN: The ending’s a disappointment too. MAUREEN: Can you spare a cigarette, sweetheart? MAUREEN: You from around here then? ROBERTA: More or less. MAUREEN: London’s the place to be… Nice shoes. What’s your size? ROBERTA: Ten, I think. MAUREEN: What about your HANDS? Are they a size ten too? MAUREEN: I bet you know how to play the PIANO really well. ROBERTA: Is this your usual spot? MAUREEN: How do you mean? ROBERTA: I know what you’re up to here, mate. MAUREEN: Where do you live? ROBERTA: Clitterhouse Road. MAUREEN: I have a friend there. Pauline. ROBERTA: Pauline Marsh? MAUREEN: That’s the one. No matter what, I always find a FRIEND. ROBERTA: How is Pauline? MAUREEN: He’s had some bad luck. Dyed and totally ruined his hair. ROBERTA: That’s not good. I hope he went straight to the hairdresser. MAUREEN: That’s where he’d just been. The broad tried to give him a wig. Huge argument. Pauline told her to shove the wig up her arse. ROBERTA: Did he really say that? MAUREEN: Absolutely, and in plain English too. ROBERTA: He’s all talk Pauline. Is he still with Phyllis then? MAUREEN: Oh no. Haven’t you heard? He’s been a real whore. Sleeping around, picking up hustlers, trolling the back alleys. He actually had to be treated for STDs on two separate occasions last month. ROBERTA: He didn’t. MAUREEN: Pauline’s a complete wreck. Came home one night to find Phyllis blowing a Chinese guy he picked up in a toilet. ROBERTA: Tell me more! MAUREEN: It’s not looking good for Pauline. Broke, on the dole. He went in for a sex change and they had to redo the procedure. ROBERTA: Speaking of genitals. MAUREEN: He would rip you a new one. ROBERTA: I can only hope. MAUREEN: Mind you, the handsome ones do disappoint. ROBERTA: Mmm. MAUREEN: I was seeing this effeminate guy from Sheffield once. Feet the size of bowling pins. I thought I was in for a real fine fucking. ROBERTA: Nothing to see downstairs? MAUREEN:” Oh, tiny. You won't need any lube to get that one in.” I said when I saw it. Mind you, he shot a massive load of cum. I had to use heavy-duty detergent to clean his semen stains from my bed. ROBERTA: Oh vile… Not in film----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROBERTA: What about this guy? Do you think he’s gay? MAUREEN: Him? He’s totally gay. ROBERTA: You think so? MAUREEN: Ooh yeah. Just look at his shirt, Gay. Very Gay. Not to mention his trousers. ROBERTA: I’d have sex with him, I would. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROBERTA: Has Phyllis always been that way? MAUREEN: He’s a walking sex club. An incredible stud. We were temping at a pharmacy. He blew me once while I was giving an old man his lice medicine. ROBERTA: That’s skill, that. MAUREEN: Oh, He used to do it all the time. When we were at the exchange together he’d have one hand on my erection and the other on the switch. He didn’t even get off the phone. MAUREEN: Sad to think of him in prison really. ROBERTA: What do you mean? MAUREEN: He had a run in with the police. ROBERTA: Oh dear. MAUREEN: An undercover cop flashed his cock in the toilet. ROBERTA: I hope he kept looking straight ahead. MAUREEN: Well he’s cock-eyed, isn’t he? He can practically see sideways. ROBERTA: What did the judge say? MAUREEN: He was very harsh- asked if he was sorry. ROBERTA: What did he say? MAUREEN: Only that it wasn’t worth the look he got. MAUREEN: I suppose we’ll all end up in prison soon enough. MAUREEN: I nearly got arrested last week. I was blowing a young guy in that toilet near Clackett Lane, you know the one. [The ugliest face I’ve ever seen, but what a cock.] So I’m wiping my mouth as I walk outside when who do I run into but a cop. “There’s a queer in there” I said. He caught the kid with his trousers down I suppose. He never saw what was coming. I’m sure it was a big commotion. Shame. ROBERTA: You’re disgusting. MAUREEN: What? Go on. Put your things in your little carryall. Off you go. MAUREEN: You forgot your book… They cure him in the end. Roberta spits in Maureen’s face.
Brian and Karl Thanks. There were a few things that I just guessed on like, "She’s had nanti bully fake." = "he’s had some bad luck." Anything else I was really off on?
Wombat Eine = London, so "London's the place to be" Battersea'd twice last month = had to be treated for STDs on 2 separate occasions last month. Oh, bijou. You needn't put the brandy on for that = Oh, tiny. You won't need any lube to get that one in. Sharpie = policeman Otherwise all pretty much exactly right. Nice one
god, i feel so bad for scarf guy. like, i totally get reacting the way the guy with the tie did. but i also get doing what you have to to survive in a time like that. fuck, what a tragic story. what a great little short film.
@@Cheshire5174 maybe this is just me, and this is entirely based on my reading of the acting, but i don't think he's bragging? he sounds remorseful to me. i even think i hear his voice crack a little on the line "there's a poof in there, i said."
I came late to the gay culture and only understood some of the Polari. You were never to choose your own female name, it was given to you by another gay person. I wanted to be called Annabel but got given the name Myrtle. Oh joy! Anyway the cottaging was wonderful.
The laugh they share at 4:27 is really sweet and natural. As if they can finally relax for a few precious seconds and be themselves without so much stress and fear. Pity it doesn't end well.
Actually quite sad. It was funny right up until the one guy bragged about alerting the police to the presence of a gay man he'd just had sex with. I'm American, but over 50, and several of the terms and turns of phrase were still in use in my small town when I was a gay teen.
+AK I think many of the terms simply spread throughout gay circles. I don't mean we talked like the two men in the film. I mean some of the terms gained widespread appeal. How exactly language spreads is probably something several college courses would be needed to explain.
+AK Same way that a lot of gay men all over the World now use Black, American Gay slang. "Yaaaaaaaaaasss" "Slay" "Painted for the Gods" "Come through" "Throwing shade" "What's the T?" etc.
Even aside from the Polari aspect of it, this was actually a really good little short. You have the suspense of Book Guy's reaction, and Scarf Guy's talking about everything and then it twists into him relating a shameful act and the little confrontation that ensues. You kind of know a little about these men, but just glimpses and vague impressions, but it's enough to grab your interest. Although I was reading someone's comment translation below to kind of keep up, I think it would've still been an impactful little moment if you saw it in more modern English. It's like a little scene you'd find in a larger film, you could see it easily slotting into a full length movie about either or both of these men. At the same time, it's nice and complete on it's own. I dig it. Even though I would probably have no clue what was being said if I came across it in person.
Scary that I understood all of this ! It was still common in the 70’s in London generally, and when I was in the merchant navy it was all we spoke on deck and in the mess - even straight guys spoke polari at sea. It was rife on P&O and Cunard.
It was used by Sailors, Actors, Circus performers, criminals and all sorts of counter cultures that hid from the police and it's spread into modern slang
Still is dangerous in London but the hatred comes from other cultures. Look recently with the protests from certain communities that don't want their children to learn there are same-sex couples out there ironic they want to be respected themselves yet don't respect other people.
How did you guys learn this though? And how practical was it? Wouldn’t it be obvious to all the straight people, if you’re talking in code? “Hmm these two guys are talking in code, so clearly they are friends of Dorothy (can’t say any bad words on UA-cam otherwise they censor)”
Oh my God--incredibly powerful. You feel almost cozy and warm toward the first guy until he reveals his awful deed. Then you think, what kind of a world WAS that, where you had to throw your very closest under the bus, just to survive?
diamond clark Now, from context clues, I understood that he was almost arrested, but ratted out his partner to throw suspicion off himself and save his own skin.
I watched the video for a second time with the Polari lexicon open onscreen and DID have to look up quite a few words--but I knew when the first guy told the cop,"There's a pouf in there" from the first viewing that he had betrayed his sex partner just to save his own skin. What a terrible world that must have been!
SnoriSnorison *Survive?* Good grief...That is certainly a melodramatic concept. We are actually watching the same video? You are describing one who is actually just trying to get laid by someone of the same sex as someone who is trying to "survive"?...Survival of the human species, much less even the individuals involved, is certainly *not* the objective being portrayed...Good grief.
What an absolute gem of short filmmaking. Amazing concept, brilliantly scripted and acted. (A translation is helpful, but by no means required.) Can’t praise it enough.
Absolute masterpiece. I'd definitely watch a feature length film based on just this short scene honestly, set in the 60s and featuring these two brilliant actors. As is though it's fuckin excellent on its own
+Shapoot "British slang" really doesn't make sense, what is present is mostly is more English slang, and more northern slang at that. as someone who has lived in England my entire life I was only able to pick out a few words myself, I gathered context for most of the words from the intonation in their speech XD
English is my second language and I understand everything Americans and British say. So I don't get how you -Americans- aren't able to understand British people. Is like Spanish people saying that don't understand Mexicans, that's makes no sense to me.
My mother worked in a couple of large, local theatres when I was growing up & I used to hear some of the regular staff & actors talking like this, but never knew what it was. Of course we also had "Jules & Sandy" in the radio show "Round the Horne" & they'd drop Polari into their comedy routines. I do hope that someone is preserving this & it doesn't become lost forever.
My dad's family used some Polari. They had a camera store on one of England's seaside holiday piers, so probably picked it up from entertainers working in the local music hall. The only phrase my dad could remember in his old age was "vada la poloni" ("watch that guy"), which his mother would mutter when she suspected a customer was a shoplifter.
This short film is really bloody interesting in more ways than one. Exceptionally well produced too. Good job, guys. I'm just glad the Britain I live in now isn't quite the same as it was back then - I'm already learning French, I don't need to learn Polari too!
Not only that, but in a song off that album called Piccadilly Palare, which is about male prostitution, there's a lyric where he says "so bona to vada! Oh, you! Your lovely eek, and your lovely riah!" Which I've been told means "so good to see you, your lovely face and your lovely hair."
Brilliantly done, guys. I was quite surprised at how much I was able to catch, probably because some words and most of the intonation was like Cockney, which I can generally comprehend. And, too, the setup - I know what it was like for gay men in England at that time, so the last part was very clear. The actors did a great job of putting it over. A very well-done piece of cultural history, I'd say. Congratulations.
I didn't feel like that was the case at all. He did say _he_ almost got arrested, did he not? He pointed them to the other guy to shift suspission off him. I know myself, I would have done the same. Self-preservation before kindness. What we should be outraged about is the police targeting them, criminalizing them. Something that is still true in most of our world today.
It seemed to me the guy hated himself for what he did, I mean he was the one who dredged the act up, and he didn't wipe a drop of the spit from his face. It's a really good ending.
amazing stuff ... Growing up in Overland Park Kansas in the late 60's the kids in our neighborhood invented our own language so we could talk around our parents .. and IT WORKED !! We called it "Guivin" . there were 2 levels of speech and it was quite easy to learn and understand to a youthful ear
In Brazil, the LGBT cant is called Pajubá. Nowadays it's mainly used (and associated with) trans women, since this social group is still heavily prosecuted
kinda boring that we've abandoned these slangs and just use regular English (or the local majority language) instead, wtf, I want my secret gay language too (well, I have my personal conlang that could be described this way, but only I know it 😂) ofc, it's a good sign queer people don't have to hide (as much, depending on the environment) anymore, but the languages were interesting
I find it really hard to know the difference, if they're using slang for 'gayness'. It sounded like they were spies using a secret code, plus the accent is British. I'm American, so yeah I have no flipping clue what's really going on.
+Andrea Llewellyn i didn't understand a lot of the terminology, but enough to get the gist most of the time, then at the little story at the end suddenly i understood most of the terms and the meaning was clear as a bell.
I find it amazing you do not recognize some of it Robert. Because back when I was a youngster, the queens and hustlers all used the American version of polari and ti contained many but not all of the words our British cousins used. We did not say Betty Bracelet, we said Betty Badge but chicken, basket, buns, butch, camp, dish, dizzy, drag, and others were all used as were others - seafood, trade etc.
so the dude who got spit on is relating a story (at least at the end) of where he turned in another gay dude to the police and then spoils the book ending for the other dude. that's about what I could glean from it. fascinating vid.
That's a bloody excellently written and performed piece. Needed to pause a handful of times to check glossary but by the end I was understanding well enough.
JPxKillz And isn't that glorious . . . :P (Actually, I wouldn't know. I am being a poser. I have watched and loved/despised the film though! It was horrible and wonderful.)
You know I’m not proud to admit it but I used to be homophobic. That’s no longer the case because as I actually met gay people growing up they were some of the best friends I had and were just in the closet. I was never gay myself but I was pretty feminine, into fashion and all that, raised by a single mother which is why I had feminine traits. So I got picked on which was why I used to project that same hate into actual gay people. Anyways seeing this is heartbreaking. Having to hide like that, being in constant fear of being found out. It makes me sad people even went through this and that there were gay people who never got to live long enough to be free.
What exactly were they hiding? Seedy encounters in back alleys done for an essentially masturbatory purpose? It's not like there's any love in these male-on-male relationships, they are just predicated on lust
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072 Lay off, not sure where you live but in a lot of more rural areas, men don't dress fashionably at all. Dressing flamboyantly with everybody around you in blue jeans and flannels, you can easily get profiled as a peacock.
@@ZoomerUnion If your sexuality was criminalized and you could do nothing against that fact (you didn't choose your sexuality, you are just the way you are and like who you like) do you seriously think you wouldn't be seeking out those kinds of encounters even given the level of risk? That you'd live piously? Do you think that you could ever sustain any long term relationships with a legitimate partner for long given that you could never express any love out in the open and even when in privacy there is a real danger that at any moment the police could come knocking on your door or breaking into your secret hideaway due to getting ratted on? Would it be fair at all to say then that through whatever brief relationships and encounters you did have, everything you experienced was a sign your sexuality was predicated on lustful feelings and nothing more? Just some food for thought on perspectives here.
VERY well-acted, well-shot and well-written film. Thank the algorithm for letting me see this, and also, thanks everyone for clarifying the polari used. It puts me in mind of those great Kenneth Williams documentaries from the 80s (available on here on UA-cam) which talk of a bygone age not too far in the past. Thank god for decriminalisation and thank everyone for being more tolerant!
Fascinating language created out of necessity. I'm straight but am intrigued by this now defunct speak. Absolutely brilliant acting by both actors and the ending packs a punch. 10/10 folks, thanks.
Morrissey's Piccadilly Palare from his Bona Drag album introduced me to Polari ages ago. I was excited to recognize it in Velvet Goldmine. Thank you for making this film! - an admiring American mom.
in Canada in the early 1980s we had a very small amount of this slang. Chicken (young guy), chicken hawk (old guy looking for young guys), troll (old guy), fish (women), basket (crotch), and calling other gay gays "her" instead of "him". Later the terms bear and woof (a compliment for a bear) came along, but I think those terms came from the U.S.. in the 1990s.
Ive never read a clockwork orange, so it wasnt until i read the comments that i understood what exactly what the ending was that maureen was spoiling for roberta, but i still got the gist that he didnt like the ending because it reminded him of people who want to cure homosexuality :( god this is such a good piece of art
The screenplay is on our Tumblr for anyone who is curious. Go to brianandkarl.tumblr.com/post/122421969778/heres-the-screenplay-for-putting-on-the-dish-for
+David Beacham Lots of Googling - there's loads of great resources online. Also, Paul Baker compiled an excellent glossary of Polari words which you can buy on Amazon.
I’m going to think about the line “they cure him in the end” for months. I love that it’s one of the few lines spoken in plain English, but the double meaning to the audience couldn’t be more clear.
For non-English viewers: whilst some polari words have entered mainstream English, a lot of the words and figures of speech used in this video (that you may not understand) are not actually polari, but pretty standard English slang (e.g., 'swing a cat', 'all wind and piss', 'stretcher case', 'noshed me off', 'khazi', 'beak', 'nabbed', 'mincing', 'poof', 'dish the dirt', 'scarper') or Cockney rhyming slang (e.g., 'plates' (meaning feet in this film)).
I've no idea why this is on my feed now, but it clearly deserves to be seen. Here commenting in the hopes that doing all the things gets it to other people
Wow. I wish I saw this long ago. Here is the best summary, criticism and compliment you can receive: As a hetero American, I did not know ANY expression they said, but I understood EVERYTHING they acted. The character development, setting , theme and conflicts were clear and understandable. They could have been speaking Mandarin and I still would have enjoyed it. Brilliant.
I read a really good fanfic that used Polari. The author programmed a custom work skin so you could hover over and see translations. it was brilliant. I'll find a link if anyone is interested
I'm a native speaker, and I didn't get much, either. Likely due to being slang words that are no longer used, and it didn't help that they were speaking fast.
We have a "queer language" here in Brazil too, it's called pajubá, though it's not used much these days either, save for some words that became slang terms. It was traditionally mostly used by gay men and transfeminine people, as well as by followers of Afro-Brazilian religions, and it incorporates lots of words with varied African origins (Yorubá, for example).
As an apprentice 'crimper' in the west end during the 1970's I learnt a lot of Polari from fellow co-workers and theatre people who came into VS for cheap/free hair cuts in the model school. 'Vardaring' was an actual term used for newly qualified 'crimpers' who would 'hold hair' and watch the most experienced 'crimpers' I loved hearing the campest of my colleagues when they went off on one describing events (usually sexual) in Polari "Ooooooh! varda the dolly ecaf on the bona omi I'd like to get my lils on her dish.
I’m brushing up on my Polari, I want to be able to say I can speak gay. “Oooo! Look at the hot face on the cute guy, I’d like to get my hands on his (technically feet, but slang for cock)” Did I get that right?
I understood more of this than I was expecting considering my only experience with polari thus far is a brief glance through an informal dictionary I found online, excusing words like naff that have become common british speak.
first go around I understood barely anything they were saying (aside from the general vibe that they were having a gossip sesh) but i knew when they were talking about the cops, i recognized ‘the lilly law’ and ‘orderly daughters’ from when i read a good omens fanfic years ago, where aziraphale spoke polari to tell a few gay people on the run from the cops that his bookshop was a safe haven
I understood most of this lol...national handbag is dole money, ogle is look, vada is to see, carts is balls, naff is straight....one of my older friends taught me a lot of the words, it’s fascinating
This is simply brilliant. There is a point when you begin to understand it simply through context. I'm American and also struggled to discern Polari from just British English, but after awhile that fell away and it all made sense even if I didn't know the actual words they were saying. The clandestine nature of it did resemble a spy meeting.
I never knew about this, and is so interesting because in Brazil we have a "gay dialect" called pajubá, which mixes indigenous and african words and is used by the LGBT community. Some of the slangs are pretty well known, even outside the group, but many words are pretty much unintelligible to a random straight person.
1:48, comparing size? 1:58, I bet you're good at (insert? position and act)? 2:02, Asking if this is his stake out post? 2:06, identifying and acknowledging orientation? 2:17, Where do you perform X acts? 2:24, Identifying another of said orientation and exchanging experiences? 2:28-2:45, exchanging endeavors performed with "Paul/Pauline?" 2:52-3:07, Different acts Paul/ine has done or will do? 3:14, Suspicions cast on "Paul/ine," he was found out and had a weak alibi? 3:20, checking out the guy
+8tsunami7 I can see why you'd want to reawaken a lost language, but what's with the 'us and them'? Homosexuality isn't a club is it? Doesn't that sort of attitude increase the likelihood of homophobia?
+Joy Grieve No it isn't a club, but gay is a demographic (a distinct portion of the human population). I don't know what you were on about with the 'us and them' but yes there are things for gay men only... I know you mean well and you are obviously against homophobia but you should realise that silly statement/questions like 'Homosexuality isn't a club is it?' are the sort of thing that increases the likelihood of homophobia (through convolution). I called your question silly because i am too brain-dead to think of a more suitable adjective right now.
+Luk Skywalker Then don't bother with those kinds of people, and go be happy in your own social circle. Live and let live. No one is making you fornicate with them.
Ah, so is this cant the origin of the words "naff" and "palaver"? Fascinating, I never realised how enciphered Polari was, I assumed it was something akin to pig Latin. Awesome little short, thank god most countries have come to their senses regarding same-sex attraction.
That’s not polari. I dunno why she calls it that since the “code” stoped right after confirming they both didn’t like clockwork orange lol It’s basic northern English slang
Do you know what's sad? Not only is this language more or less extinct, but so is the glorious concept of reading or conversing on a park bench. Tories are determined to eradicate any public communal spaces for sitting and connecting.
The tragedy of park benches is greater than most people realise, but to be honest, I'm of the opinion Polari dying out is a good thing. It's a language born from terror and fear, used by people who had no other way to express their feelings and desires but through code. Let it be forgotten, and maybe the pain will stop lingering around from those horrible days.
Third spaces in general seem to be declining. Here in the states, certain people want to get rid of libraries, which have meeting spaces. It's pretty sad.
A lot of this is actually still used in Britian to this day! if you look on the wiki they provide in the description, there's word like "drag" "naff" "ogle" "slap" and "todd" which are used by many people these days! It'll never die.
Road Hawk He was reading Clockwork Orange, a book about nature and society's right (or not) to change behaviour through oppression. In the book, Alex - the violent protagonist - is "cured" of his deviant ways by an intrusive and torturous procedure. In this short film, it is used as a symbol of the perceptions surrounding homosexuality at the time. "Would you take a cure if they found one?" Some - even in the gay community - were holding out for a cure at the time, believing gay people to have a mental or hormonal illness. This last line "They cure him in the end" is a cutting remark about acceptance of one's true nature, and society's right (or not) to impose restrictions on those feelings.
If I'm not mistaken, the book the second gentleman is reading is "A Clockwork Orange". Alec Burgess invented Nadsat - a youth slang language - for the book, which has been theorised to have been at least party inspired by Polari. Nice little detail.
I understood enough to get the gist of it. Some of it just regular rhyming slang not Polari so that helped. I'm neither old nor LGBT, I just listen to Round The Horne 😂 (1960s BBC radio comedy show with camp gay couple)
all else aside-- bro had a cigarette, then stubs it out, not even smoked all the way down, so he can ask for another immediately after. smooth man, real smooth...
Mind you, the way he was holding the first one had already "sweetie darling" written all over it. 😂😂
I don't smoke all the way down. By the time you get to a quarter of the cigarette, it begins vaporizing the fiberglass filter. After that it starts burning it, and nobody seems to realize the filter is probably significantly more of a health risk than the cigarette itself. If you're gonna smoke, do it gently and enjoy it
The use of A Clockwork Orange as a book is pretty cool as the book itself is written entirely in slang, much like this brilliant little film.
And also the themes of aversion therapy used to "cure" him. Whats interesting is how both the man on the bench and the narrator of the story talk about being cured as a taunt ("They cure him in the end" ,, "I was cured alright")
@@anonymousduck1611 totally works on so many levels. Brilliant short all around.
@@anonymousduck1611 no? It’s not written in slang. And what brilliant little film?
@@Sgtspork short? There’s nothing that brilliant about it. And I don’t understand about something “totally working”. Working for what?
@@bigbazbeast I don’t think you understood the story
Unbelievable amount of people here surprised they don't understand dialog in language designed to obscure the meaning.
hehehehe your comment made me chuckle it is indeed suprising how the blatantly obvious seems to escape the attention of so many
The odd thing for me is that I understood one, um, "rare" word immediately: amblyopia. I knew it, because for almost 50 years I HAD it. But my amblyopia (lazy eye) is no more after a corrective surgery gave me 3D vision.
The body language tho- kind of obvious to me but I have pretty good gaydar
But it's English. It's weird to hear your own language used, while understanding none of it. A peculiar (and somewhat delightful) experience imo. Kind of like that faux English song from the sixties or whenever. 😂
Well, yea, but couldn't they let us in on it ? Most movies in foreign languages shown to an English-speaking audience have subtitles.
The little details in this film are sublime.
It gives me a cold rock in the gut watching the other fella walk away, while cigarette man sits there. He doesn't wipe the spit away. He knows he deserves it. There's a level of self loathing there that some can only glimpse.
a confessional for those shunned by the church you could say.
Also a clockwork orange reference! At least for the movie, a scene where the guy's spit on and just lets it sit there in an agonizingly long shot.
Crying on the way to brunch now at this comment. Right after he says “they cure him in the end” referring to Alex from clockwork. Ouchies.
@@ted5610 what?? No? Why
@@emcaco what are you talking about?
the way he doesn’t bother to wipe the spit off-the way he sets his jaw, continues to smoke, the way the spit almost looks like tears as it rolls down his face. the layers of nuance and like. shame almost. A+ film.
Tears. Right.
I don't think those are supposed to be tears ..
‘Almost looks like tears’, is you guys’ reading comprehension low?
The book is a cockwork orange and there is a scene in the movie like this.
Yeah! You can see the moment his self-reflection peaks, and then his face hardens as he represses the shame and goes emotionally blunt again.
Brilliant piece of acting, that 5 seconds or so!
That's what denial is. It's Groundhog Day (the film). You relive & 'forget' on repeat...
Here's a basic summary for those who don't understand the slang: The setting is London in the 60's, when being gay was still illegal. Two gay men are on a bench. One comments that he doesn't like the book Clockwork Orange. Using coded language they check to see that one another is gay before letting their guard down and speaking frankly, ogling other men as they pass by, etc.
They gossip about a promiscuous mutual acquaintance that got thrown in prison after getting caught having sex with men. The one on the left then laments that he nearly got locked up himself once, after the cops came knocking right as he finished going down on a guy, but narrowly escaped by telling them there was a "poof" inside and ran as they arrested his lover. The one on the right is rightfully disgusted by this revelation and leaves.
Amelia Bee Spot on!
Amelia Bee thx Amelia, coming from french province in canada, makes it VERY difficult to get the british accent (even thought i LOVE IT!), just wish they did the subtitles ...
-Acting was good! cheers guys
Brian and Karl I love your shorts and how they challenge the viewer to truly look into language in ways they never thought of. Sorry if I ruined it, but I bet it's still fun to know the context and rewatch it to hunt out which words mean what!
Amelia Bee For sure! Cheers :)
Amelia Bee Okay. I had most of what was going on up till the end, thanks to context and previous experience watching and reading about code used for other things. I knew he had mentioned that he almost got caught, but I wasn't sure what it was exactly that had perturbed the other man.
Considering the scarfed bloke left his lover to take the fall, then yeah, I'd say the gent in the coat had every right to go from hot to cold.
"They cure him in the end"
_Yeesh_ the possible double meaning there sent shivers down my spine
lmao it was just him spoiling the end of the book "clockwork orange "
The best thing is that it isn't even true. He seems cured, but still has his desires at the end.
@@GuyNamedSean ‘I *was* cured, all right.’
@@GuyNamedSean just like conversion therapy
@@marcusaureliusatoninus5947yeah, but it's not a real cure and it certainly doesn't take (just like conversion). However, the real ending in the book which was left out of the film has him growing and maturing out of his murderous phase. He looks at pictures of babies and envies a bloke with a family who views him as childish. Essentially he gets too old to go on teen rampages which is what the book is actually addressing. Usually gets left out of analysis because the other stuff is so much 'fun', but that's the part the author thought was the most important.
Apart from being linguistically interesting, this was also dramatically effective. That final shot where Maureen's spat in Roberta's face and he doesn't trouble to wipe it off is very poignant.
It was also referencing some other sticky liquid one might get on ones face after a meet up with another queer
@@WhichDoctor1interesting point. I interpreted it as him having a sense of disgust to himself due to him exposing the other guy he had sex with, letting the spit stay there as a form of punishment because he felt deep down he deserved it. But I see what you mean about the possible “facial” view. Wonder what that could imply.
The spit is intimacy, even if it's an act of hate. I think he is a bit disgusted with his own actions, but he's also stubborn, and indignant considering the police state is the real culprit for the violence, not him.
I think Roberta's pessimistic about the possibility for societal change, certainly more so than Maureen. Considering that he reacts with such revulsion to Roberta's betrayal, it's clear Maureen believes gay men should work in solidarity and put the needs of the gay community before individual needs. With respect to "A Clockwork Orange" he's more likely to emphasize how the narrative portrays the state "curing" the main character as a moral injustice, which suggests sympathy for the way gay men are criminalized and tortured by the state. But to Roberta, the equivalence between gay men and the main character can't be made, as that would suggest all the rape and violence done by the main character of "A Clockwork Orange" is equivalent to gay sex and love. This isn't sympathy for queers, it's the author condemning society as a whole for creating the conditions for criminal acts like queerness to flourish. I think this is why Roberta refers to the whole story as gobbledigook.
If, like Roberta, you believe there's no possibilty for the inclusion of queers in wider society, solidarity with queers against the state seems pointless. Why not, then, rat on your friends and lovers. These are individual acts of betrayal, not self-inflicted wounds tearing the whole community apart.
In this sense, violence, love, duplicity, and intimacy all coexist in gay relationships enduring under totalizing state-mandated heterosexuality. Being hatefully spat upon by another gay man isn't anything new, then. Spit is simultaneously physical closeness and conflict.
@@willj5760Interesting points!
@@willj5760 BEGGING you to release a review/essay on A Clockwork Orange. Banger analysis just right here alone, very eloquent and thorough even in its briefness!
“You’re gay.” - Weak vibes. Exudes insecurity. Lame.
“I’ve got your number ducky.” - chad vibes. Exudes confidence. Powerful.
Absolutely amazing. As a Scot who's worked in gay bars with older gays i've definitely experienced some of this - and picking up the southern slang through osmosis really helps fitting the meaning of this together. Wonderful stuff, with tension, levity, camp and then sobering realisation.
I pretty basic summary/translation: they kind of confirm their shared sexuality with the vocab, scarf guy asks where trenchcoat lives and mentions he knows someone who lives nearby, apparently a mutual friend named "Pauline" (these are nicknames for gay men, likely so they don't know each others real names outside of the community for safety's sake).
They gossip about Pauline, she had a bad dye job, she caught her partner cheating (although she's been pretty unfaithful too, including hooking up w/ male prostitutes), and that she's broke and on welfare (they also seem to say she pretty nuts in general). She's apparently done it with scarf guy a couple times, too. She's also recently been baited by a cop in a public toilet and thrown in jail for homosexuality.
Scarf guy mentions he'd nearly been caught too: he had just finished blowing a guy in a public bathroom and ran into a cop outside, so in order to get the heat off of himself, he ratted on the guy he'd just blown and he got arrested instead.
Trenchcoat is pissed scarf guy would betray a fellow gay man and leaves. Upon retrieving his book, scarf guy tells him "they cure him in the end (of the book)", alluding to the history of conversion therapy on homosexuals.
LMC123 thank you!
What is the book? i can't read the title
JANXDPDX A Clockwork Orange
Am I correct in understanding that "Pauline" (or someone she associated with) got a sex change ("remould") and then got it reversed ("they had to fake her basket")?
thank you for this!
I'm a linguaphile and you guys are a freaking goldmine. Thank you so much for making these! The amount of care you went to with this and the "English" film are amazing. They both show two opposite traits: this one is very empathetic...getting inside each person's head and knowing where they're coming from and where they (kind of) want to be going. "English" is the flipside: a film made completely for it's face value, and it works perfectly. Thank you for doing these!
+40thCapeRifles Cheers!
+40thCapeRifles "linguaphile", I didn't know it was a word. I guess I'm a linguaphile too.
You might be interested in "Julian and Sandy" in "Round the Horne".
linguaphile eh? so you like having sex with languages.
SockIT Rocket I mean if it's possible... Though I'd stay clear of the Khoisan languages and the likes of Ubykh: I don't imagine the clicks and consonant inventory would work out too well.
Standard English Translation:
MAUREEN: I’ve read that.
MAUREEN: It’s all nonsense.
MAUREEN: The ending’s a disappointment too.
MAUREEN: Can you spare a cigarette, sweetheart?
MAUREEN: You from around here then?
ROBERTA: More or less.
MAUREEN: London’s the place to be… Nice shoes. What’s your size?
ROBERTA: Ten, I think.
MAUREEN: What about your HANDS? Are they a size ten too?
MAUREEN: I bet you know how to play the PIANO really well.
ROBERTA: Is this your usual spot?
MAUREEN: How do you mean?
ROBERTA: I know what you’re up to here, mate.
MAUREEN: Where do you live?
ROBERTA: Clitterhouse Road.
MAUREEN: I have a friend there. Pauline.
ROBERTA: Pauline Marsh?
MAUREEN: That’s the one. No matter what, I always find a FRIEND.
ROBERTA: How is Pauline?
MAUREEN: He’s had some bad luck. Dyed and totally ruined his hair.
ROBERTA: That’s not good. I hope he went straight to the hairdresser.
MAUREEN: That’s where he’d just been. The broad tried to give him a wig. Huge argument. Pauline told her to shove the wig up her arse.
ROBERTA: Did he really say that?
MAUREEN: Absolutely, and in plain English too.
ROBERTA: He’s all talk Pauline. Is he still with Phyllis then?
MAUREEN: Oh no. Haven’t you heard? He’s been a real whore. Sleeping around, picking up hustlers, trolling the back alleys. He actually had to be treated for STDs on two separate occasions last month.
ROBERTA: He didn’t.
MAUREEN: Pauline’s a complete wreck. Came home one night to find Phyllis blowing a Chinese guy he picked up in a toilet.
ROBERTA: Tell me more!
MAUREEN: It’s not looking good for Pauline. Broke, on the dole. He went in for a sex change and they had to redo the procedure.
ROBERTA: Speaking of genitals.
MAUREEN: He would rip you a new one.
ROBERTA: I can only hope.
MAUREEN: Mind you, the handsome ones do disappoint.
ROBERTA: Mmm.
MAUREEN: I was seeing this effeminate guy from Sheffield once. Feet the size of bowling pins. I thought I was in for a real fine fucking.
ROBERTA: Nothing to see downstairs?
MAUREEN:” Oh, tiny. You won't need any lube to get that one in.” I said when I saw it. Mind you, he shot a massive load of cum. I had to use heavy-duty detergent to clean his semen stains from my bed.
ROBERTA: Oh vile…
Not in film-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBERTA: What about this guy? Do you think he’s gay?
MAUREEN: Him? He’s totally gay.
ROBERTA: You think so?
MAUREEN: Ooh yeah. Just look at his shirt, Gay. Very Gay. Not to mention his trousers.
ROBERTA: I’d have sex with him, I would.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBERTA: Has Phyllis always been that way?
MAUREEN: He’s a walking sex club. An incredible stud. We were temping at a pharmacy. He blew me once while I was giving an old man his lice medicine.
ROBERTA: That’s skill, that.
MAUREEN: Oh, He used to do it all the time. When we were at the exchange together he’d have one hand on my erection and the other on the switch. He didn’t even get off the phone.
MAUREEN: Sad to think of him in prison really.
ROBERTA: What do you mean?
MAUREEN: He had a run in with the police.
ROBERTA: Oh dear.
MAUREEN: An undercover cop flashed his cock in the toilet.
ROBERTA: I hope he kept looking straight ahead.
MAUREEN: Well he’s cock-eyed, isn’t he? He can practically see sideways.
ROBERTA: What did the judge say?
MAUREEN: He was very harsh- asked if he was sorry.
ROBERTA: What did he say?
MAUREEN: Only that it wasn’t worth the look he got.
MAUREEN: I suppose we’ll all end up in prison soon enough.
MAUREEN: I nearly got arrested last week. I was blowing a young guy in that toilet near Clackett Lane, you know the one. [The ugliest face I’ve ever seen, but what a cock.] So I’m wiping my mouth as I walk outside when who do I run into but a cop. “There’s a queer in there” I said.
He caught the kid with his trousers down I suppose. He never saw what was coming. I’m sure it was a big commotion. Shame.
ROBERTA: You’re disgusting.
MAUREEN: What? Go on. Put your things in your little carryall. Off you go.
MAUREEN: You forgot your book… They cure him in the end.
Roberta spits in Maureen’s face.
Wombat EXCELLENT!
Brian and Karl Thanks. There were a few things that I just guessed on like, "She’s had nanti bully fake." = "he’s had some bad luck."
Anything else I was really off on?
Brian and Karl BTW Excellent work!!! Moulte bona!!!
Wombat Eine = London, so "London's the place to be"
Battersea'd twice last month = had to be treated for STDs on 2 separate occasions last month.
Oh, bijou. You needn't put the brandy on for that = Oh, tiny. You won't need any lube to get that one in.
Sharpie = policeman
Otherwise all pretty much exactly right. Nice one
Brian and Karl Thanks. I added your changes.
god, i feel so bad for scarf guy. like, i totally get reacting the way the guy with the tie did. but i also get doing what you have to to survive in a time like that. fuck, what a tragic story. what a great little short film.
holy crap its xidnaf
Hi Xidnaf!
The guy in the scarf did what he had to yeah, that's fine. What's not fine is how he brags about doing it
@@Cheshire5174 maybe this is just me, and this is entirely based on my reading of the acting, but i don't think he's bragging? he sounds remorseful to me. i even think i hear his voice crack a little on the line "there's a poof in there, i said."
I came late to the gay culture and only understood some of the Polari. You were never to choose your own female name, it was given to you by another gay person. I wanted to be called Annabel but got given the name Myrtle. Oh joy! Anyway the cottaging was wonderful.
It's usually just a femanised version of the male name. Phyllis is probably Phillip
How many diseases did you catch doing this
The cottaging, eh? 😂
@@DavidTheRosshomophobia alive and well, I see.
@@DavidTheRossthere are more straight people with AIDS my love
The laugh they share at 4:27 is really sweet and natural. As if they can finally relax for a few precious seconds and be themselves without so much stress and fear. Pity it doesn't end well.
What on earth are you talking about?
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072He ratted on another gay guy.
He also alluded to conversion therapy.
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072 Are you a bot? No one is this dumb yet repetitive. You also copy paste wiki elsewhere as if you were an expert.
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072 oh you sweet summer child
Dunno, given what the word "chicken" means, gadge was a real wrongun...
Actually quite sad. It was funny right up until the one guy bragged about alerting the police to the presence of a gay man he'd just had sex with. I'm American, but over 50, and several of the terms and turns of phrase were still in use in my small town when I was a gay teen.
+Jo Wi
How? Most of this slang was used in Britian.
+AK I think many of the terms simply spread throughout gay circles. I don't mean we talked like the two men in the film. I mean some of the terms gained widespread appeal. How exactly language spreads is probably something several college courses would be needed to explain.
+AK Same way that a lot of gay men all over the World now use Black, American Gay slang. "Yaaaaaaaaaasss" "Slay" "Painted for the Gods" "Come through" "Throwing shade" "What's the T?" etc.
+Jo Wi Was he bragging or confessing?
Yeah, that one caught me by surprise. Wasn't expecting him to turn out to be a villain. He deserved that spit
Even aside from the Polari aspect of it, this was actually a really good little short. You have the suspense of Book Guy's reaction, and Scarf Guy's talking about everything and then it twists into him relating a shameful act and the little confrontation that ensues. You kind of know a little about these men, but just glimpses and vague impressions, but it's enough to grab your interest. Although I was reading someone's comment translation below to kind of keep up, I think it would've still been an impactful little moment if you saw it in more modern English. It's like a little scene you'd find in a larger film, you could see it easily slotting into a full length movie about either or both of these men. At the same time, it's nice and complete on it's own. I dig it. Even though I would probably have no clue what was being said if I came across it in person.
I disagree, I think the Polari is fascinating especially to people who have no knowledge of it.
as an American, this is just what british english sounds like
As a brit im concerned that i understand the man flawlessly
Scary that I understood all of this ! It was still common in the 70’s in London generally, and when I was in the merchant navy it was all we spoke on deck and in the mess - even straight guys spoke polari at sea. It was rife on P&O and Cunard.
Born out of necessity..... I suppose.. There use to be a secret language in London underground used by the criminal world called
CAN'T or KANT.
Of fucking course it was the navy
It was used by Sailors, Actors, Circus performers, criminals and all sorts of counter cultures that hid from the police and it's spread into modern slang
Still is dangerous in London but the hatred comes from other cultures. Look recently with the protests from certain communities that don't want their children to learn there are same-sex couples out there ironic they want to be respected themselves yet don't respect other people.
How did you guys learn this though? And how practical was it?
Wouldn’t it be obvious to all the straight people, if you’re talking in code?
“Hmm these two guys are talking in code, so clearly they are friends of Dorothy (can’t say any bad words on UA-cam otherwise they censor)”
So gay men used to speak a language straight men and women can't comprehend? damn
+Luk Skywalker hahahhahahahahahahahhaha
+Eighty / Active soon very very very very very funny
+0955interactive I know, that's kickass 8)
Yeah because homophobes are monsters.
It was a way for gay men to communicate with each other before it was illegal to be gay in 1967
Cool! In the Philippines, we have "Swardspeak" - a language made and used by PH gays. Still the way many gay men speak in the PH tbqh. :))
Would love to see a film about Swardspeak!
this swardspeak recently evolved into beki and its other derivatives. They are more popular than ever, even straights use some terms now. :D
Yea, real thing. There are way too much Phil. pop culture references being put in for me to keep up with though.
What is "PH gays"?
+Ebony Dubois Philippine gays
Oh my God--incredibly powerful. You feel almost cozy and warm toward the first guy until he reveals his awful deed. Then you think, what kind of a world WAS that, where you had to throw your very closest under the bus, just to survive?
SnoriSnorison I feel stupid asking, but what did he do exactly? I understood less than 10% of what he was saying.
diamond clark Now, from context clues, I understood that he was almost arrested, but ratted out his partner to throw suspicion off himself and save his own skin.
michelledalenaa Thank you for explaining... I had to go back and listen carefully, but I can sort of gather that now.
I watched the video for a second time with the Polari lexicon open onscreen and DID have to look up quite a few words--but I knew when the first guy told the cop,"There's a pouf in there" from the first viewing that he had betrayed his sex partner just to save his own skin. What a terrible world that must have been!
SnoriSnorison *Survive?* Good grief...That is certainly a melodramatic concept. We are actually watching the same video? You are describing one who is actually just trying to get laid by someone of the same sex as someone who is trying to "survive"?...Survival of the human species, much less even the individuals involved, is certainly *not* the objective being portrayed...Good grief.
What an absolute gem of short filmmaking. Amazing concept, brilliantly scripted and acted. (A translation is helpful, but by no means required.) Can’t praise it enough.
Absolute masterpiece. I'd definitely watch a feature length film based on just this short scene honestly, set in the 60s and featuring these two brilliant actors. As is though it's fuckin excellent on its own
is it a sequel for "How English sounds to non-English speakers" ?
Amir Asadi no, this is how people used to speak.
This is how **gay** people used to speak.
Michael Taylor it is english slang mixed with polari
😂😂😂
In really is not. Just an another inglish LOL
I can't tell what is normal British slang and what is the Polari.... American struggles hahah
+Shapoot "British slang" really doesn't make sense, what is present is mostly is more English slang, and more northern slang at that. as someone who has lived in England my entire life I was only able to pick out a few words myself, I gathered context for most of the words from the intonation in their speech XD
+SuperNeonManGuy lol very northern, when i heard him say nosh i almost died hahaha. a lot of this stuff is still used today.
+Shapoot Exactly, they could re-upload this video as "How British English sounds to Americans" and no one would blink an eye.
SAME
English is my second language and I understand everything Americans and British say. So I don't get how you -Americans- aren't able to understand British people. Is like Spanish people saying that don't understand Mexicans, that's makes no sense to me.
My mother worked in a couple of large, local theatres when I was growing up & I used to hear some of the regular staff & actors talking like this, but never knew what it was. Of course we also had "Jules & Sandy" in the radio show "Round the Horne" & they'd drop Polari into their comedy routines. I do hope that someone is preserving this & it doesn't become lost forever.
My dad's family used some Polari. They had a camera store on one of England's seaside holiday piers, so probably picked it up from entertainers working in the local music hall. The only phrase my dad could remember in his old age was "vada la poloni" ("watch that guy"), which his mother would mutter when she suspected a customer was a shoplifter.
This short film is really bloody interesting in more ways than one. Exceptionally well produced too. Good job, guys. I'm just glad the Britain I live in now isn't quite the same as it was back then - I'm already learning French, I don't need to learn Polari too!
The Morrissey album "Bona Drag" is Polari for "nice outfit"
Not only that, but in a song off that album called Piccadilly Palare, which is about male prostitution, there's a lyric where he says "so bona to vada! Oh, you! Your lovely eek, and your lovely riah!" Which I've been told means "so good to see you, your lovely face and your lovely hair."
killercereal that’s right...riah is hair backwards
I think morrissey might be gay
dude there’s no fucking way that guy isn’t gay
@@killercereal4567 LOL I just clicked on this video because of that song
Brilliantly done, guys. I was quite surprised at how much I was able to catch, probably because some words and most of the intonation was like Cockney, which I can generally comprehend.
And, too, the setup - I know what it was like for gay men in England at that time, so the last part was very clear. The actors did a great job of putting it over.
A very well-done piece of cultural history, I'd say. Congratulations.
+Leigh Williams Thanks very much :)
Thanks for posting this. The linguist in me enjoys the dialogue and the anthropologist in me finds it utterly fascinating.
Omg this is the same channel who did the "How English sounds to Non-English speakers" video?! You guys are amazing.
I was trolling round for a varder and I'm so glad I found these omi-palones. The left one is bold as brass but such bona lallies.
I'd a spit on him too. How could he throw someone under the wheel instead of him!? Thats cowardice. Especially the guy he just hooked up with.
I don't know you, but can I write a song about you?
I didn't feel like that was the case at all. He did say _he_ almost got arrested, did he not? He pointed them to the other guy to shift suspission off him. I know myself, I would have done the same. Self-preservation before kindness.
What we should be outraged about is the police targeting them, criminalizing them. Something that is still true in most of our world today.
It seemed to me the guy hated himself for what he did, I mean he was the one who dredged the act up, and he didn't wipe a drop of the spit from his face.
It's a really good ending.
wiggle waggle Agreed!
well, that, but i think the straw that broke the camel's back was his spoiling the ending of the book he was reading.
It would be cool if we could get subtitles for translation.
Also accessibility
This is a pretty good annotation: genius.com/8492128
@@RogertheGS wow thanks for sharing! That's fantastic!
There’s a good translation in the comments section - look for wombat2823’s comment
i think that would rather defeat the point
amazing stuff ... Growing up in Overland Park Kansas in the late 60's the kids in our neighborhood invented our own language so we could talk around our parents .. and IT WORKED !! We called it "Guivin" . there were 2 levels of speech and it was quite easy to learn and understand to a youthful ear
+Mark Boston
tell us more, was it polari esk or some other?
thank you.
pjd
I hope you can record some of it somehow. Especially if you can locate someone else in your group and see what ypu can remember.
In Brazil, the LGBT cant is called Pajubá. Nowadays it's mainly used (and associated with) trans women, since this social group is still heavily prosecuted
kinda boring that we've abandoned these slangs and just use regular English (or the local majority language) instead, wtf, I want my secret gay language too (well, I have my personal conlang that could be described this way, but only I know it 😂)
ofc, it's a good sign queer people don't have to hide (as much, depending on the environment) anymore, but the languages were interesting
So you would like to go back to hiding in the shadows and what of the transgenders, very little heart in this comment.
I was NOT expecting the tone to shift so suddenly from lighthearted to heartbreaking like that
I find it really hard to know the difference, if they're using slang for 'gayness'. It sounded like they were spies using a secret code, plus the accent is British. I'm American, so yeah I have no flipping clue what's really going on.
robert williams Back when homosexuality was strictly criminalized, they pretty much *had* to be spies.
+wohdinhel probably thats why English spies look like gays
+Andrea Llewellyn i didn't understand a lot of the terminology, but enough to get the gist most of the time, then at the little story at the end suddenly i understood most of the terms and the meaning was clear as a bell.
It's obvious that it all revolves around Phyllis being a walking meat rack.
I find it amazing you do not recognize some of it Robert. Because back when I was a youngster, the queens and hustlers all used the American version of polari and ti contained many but not all of the words our British cousins used. We did not say Betty Bracelet, we said Betty Badge but chicken, basket, buns, butch, camp, dish, dizzy, drag, and others were all used as were others - seafood, trade etc.
I'm gay and couldn't understand a fucking word past "I've read that"
wyatt dileo same
Thats why it's called used to speak
same here lol!!!!!!!
The accent is kind of thick and the slang makes it more confusing to understand lmao
That's how I feel about anyone under the age of 25 talking to me.
so the dude who got spit on is relating a story (at least at the end) of where he turned in another gay dude to the police and then spoils the book ending for the other dude. that's about what I could glean from it. fascinating vid.
I thought it was a bit extreme to spit in someone's face for spoiling the end of a book.
i think it was also for what he did to betray a gay man
I thought that was a reference to the hormone therapy they'd likely give to the man he betrayed to 'de-gay' him
playingforbritain
He was reading a Clockwork Orange. They cured him from being a sociopath...
Not much of a spoiler though.
Zipkik Too that was a spoiler in the time period this happened, when it wasn’t some old book lol
Now i know why alan turing was so good at codding and decoding codes
😂
Good one!
🐟
0:36 I’ve read enough books in the Elder Scrolls to know that sound.
That's a bloody excellently written and performed piece. Needed to pause a handful of times to check glossary but by the end I was understanding well enough.
It's like I'm reading A Clockwork Orange all over again.
JPxKillz And isn't that glorious . . . :P
(Actually, I wouldn't know. I am being a poser. I have watched and loved/despised the film though! It was horrible and wonderful.)
@@oof-rr5nfit’s boring
How???
You know I’m not proud to admit it but I used to be homophobic. That’s no longer the case because as I actually met gay people growing up they were some of the best friends I had and were just in the closet. I was never gay myself but I was pretty feminine, into fashion and all that, raised by a single mother which is why I had feminine traits. So I got picked on which was why I used to project that same hate into actual gay people. Anyways seeing this is heartbreaking. Having to hide like that, being in constant fear of being found out. It makes me sad people even went through this and that there were gay people who never got to live long enough to be free.
Cool story bro? Not sure how that works but okay. Uhhh what’s fashion got to do with being feminine? We wear clothes too. Seeing what?
What exactly were they hiding? Seedy encounters in back alleys done for an essentially masturbatory purpose? It's not like there's any love in these male-on-male relationships, they are just predicated on lust
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072 Lay off, not sure where you live but in a lot of more rural areas, men don't dress fashionably at all. Dressing flamboyantly with everybody around you in blue jeans and flannels, you can easily get profiled as a peacock.
@@ZoomerUnion If your sexuality was criminalized and you could do nothing against that fact (you didn't choose your sexuality, you are just the way you are and like who you like) do you seriously think you wouldn't be seeking out those kinds of encounters even given the level of risk? That you'd live piously? Do you think that you could ever sustain any long term relationships with a legitimate partner for long given that you could never express any love out in the open and even when in privacy there is a real danger that at any moment the police could come knocking on your door or breaking into your secret hideaway due to getting ratted on? Would it be fair at all to say then that through whatever brief relationships and encounters you did have, everything you experienced was a sign your sexuality was predicated on lustful feelings and nothing more?
Just some food for thought on perspectives here.
Our society is messed up still man. Im bi and used to be homophobic. It’s just how deep the hatred is instilled in certain communities
VERY well-acted, well-shot and well-written film. Thank the algorithm for letting me see this, and also, thanks everyone for clarifying the polari used. It puts me in mind of those great Kenneth Williams documentaries from the 80s (available on here on UA-cam) which talk of a bygone age not too far in the past. Thank god for decriminalisation and thank everyone for being more tolerant!
Fascinating language created out of necessity. I'm straight but am intrigued by this now defunct speak. Absolutely brilliant acting by both actors and the ending packs a punch. 10/10 folks, thanks.
Morrissey's Piccadilly Palare from his Bona Drag album introduced me to Polari ages ago. I was excited to recognize it in Velvet Goldmine. Thank you for making this film! - an admiring American mom.
I like the shot at 2:13 where their legs hide the benches supports, looks like they're floating. Adds an otherworldly vibe
nice observation
This is awesome if I ever decide to jump in my DeLorean, go back to the 60's and get blown by a dude.
This fuxking killed me and i dont know why 😂😂😂
He would just leave you to the cops.
in Canada in the early 1980s we had a very small amount of this slang. Chicken (young guy), chicken hawk (old guy looking for young guys), troll (old guy), fish (women), basket (crotch), and calling other gay gays "her" instead of "him". Later the terms bear and woof (a compliment for a bear) came along, but I think those terms came from the U.S.. in the 1990s.
“They cure him in the end.” Wow. That made me feel sick, just absolutely filled with revulsion. It felt like a punch in the gut.
Ive never read a clockwork orange, so it wasnt until i read the comments that i understood what exactly what the ending was that maureen was spoiling for roberta, but i still got the gist that he didnt like the ending because it reminded him of people who want to cure homosexuality :( god this is such a good piece of art
The screenplay is on our Tumblr for anyone who is curious. Go to brianandkarl.tumblr.com/post/122421969778/heres-the-screenplay-for-putting-on-the-dish-for
Brian and Karl Based on the dialogue and format, it wasn't an accident that one of them is reading A Clockwork Orange, is it? :3
Amelia Bee Definitely not an accident ;)
+Brian and Karl Where did you find the lexicon for Polari? Was it from someone who spoke it? I ask cause I'm fascinated by this language/ cant
+David Beacham Lots of Googling - there's loads of great resources online. Also, Paul Baker compiled an excellent glossary of Polari words which you can buy on Amazon.
+David Beacham 'The Queen's English'
Turn on subtitles for this. Trust me.
+Joshua Lin that was the exact opposite of anything helpful.
+solidstatenasty I think he was being sarcastic.
+Joshua Lin I don't trust you anymore x)
as if we didn't try that
What a superb little piece of drama this is. Very well made.
Polari was a mix of a lot of elements, including Yiddish, Romani, Latin, slang used in theatres, and cockney rhyming slang
Pretty sure there’s some Slavic in there too
I’m going to think about the line “they cure him in the end” for months. I love that it’s one of the few lines spoken in plain English, but the double meaning to the audience couldn’t be more clear.
For non-English viewers: whilst some polari words have entered mainstream English, a lot of the words and figures of speech used in this video (that you may not understand) are not actually polari, but pretty standard English slang (e.g., 'swing a cat', 'all wind and piss', 'stretcher case', 'noshed me off', 'khazi', 'beak', 'nabbed', 'mincing', 'poof', 'dish the dirt', 'scarper') or Cockney rhyming slang (e.g., 'plates' (meaning feet in this film)).
they cure em in the end.. dark
This was great, it somehow understandable despite not knowing what they're saying. toggleable captions would be nice to watch it again!
I've no idea why this is on my feed now, but it clearly deserves to be seen. Here commenting in the hopes that doing all the things gets it to other people
Wow. I wish I saw this long ago.
Here is the best summary, criticism and compliment you can receive:
As a hetero American, I did not know ANY expression they said, but I understood EVERYTHING they acted.
The character development, setting , theme and conflicts were clear and understandable.
They could have been speaking Mandarin and I still would have enjoyed it.
Brilliant.
I once watched a comedian who spoke no English. Somehow, he told a perfect joke.
Almost thought this was another "How English sounds to non-native speakers" video
This is quality, I could listen to a whole movie like this.
Nice reference to Nadsat there with the book
+Angelo Suarez (Death Grips) Well spotted :P
I noticed that too :D
I love that book. The movie was great, too.
My god, I haven't heard Polari in years, and years. Takes me back.
I read a really good fanfic that used Polari. The author programmed a custom work skin so you could hover over and see translations. it was brilliant. I'll find a link if anyone is interested
Please share!
It bothers me that the book he's reading is the 1972 reprint but it's set pre 1967. I need to get out more.
At least you identified the real problem 😂
I'm a non-native but very experienced English speaker and only got every second word...
+voilaviolamh okay that explains a lot
english is my first language and i barely got any of what they were saying. i am american though, california specifically, so maybe that's why
Nope. I'm full on English, I got some of it, the bits that have been loaned into standard British English for example, but a lot of it is confusing.
I'm a native speaker, and I didn't get much, either. Likely due to being slang words that are no longer used, and it didn't help that they were speaking fast.
I'm British, and although I know a few of the most common Polari words, there's a lot in the film that I've had to check!
We have a "queer language" here in Brazil too, it's called pajubá, though it's not used much these days either, save for some words that became slang terms. It was traditionally mostly used by gay men and transfeminine people, as well as by followers of Afro-Brazilian religions, and it incorporates lots of words with varied African origins (Yorubá, for example).
Wtf is 'transfeminine'? Feminine men are 'trans' now?
As an apprentice 'crimper' in the west end during the 1970's I learnt a lot of Polari from fellow co-workers and theatre people who came into VS for cheap/free hair cuts in the model school. 'Vardaring' was an actual term used for newly qualified 'crimpers' who would 'hold hair' and watch the most experienced 'crimpers' I loved hearing the campest of my colleagues when they went off on one describing events (usually sexual) in Polari "Ooooooh! varda the dolly ecaf on the bona omi I'd like to get my lils on her dish.
I’m brushing up on my Polari, I want to be able to say I can speak gay.
“Oooo! Look at the hot face on the cute guy, I’d like to get my hands on his (technically feet, but slang for cock)”
Did I get that right?
I understood more of this than I was expecting considering my only experience with polari thus far is a brief glance through an informal dictionary I found online, excusing words like naff that have become common british speak.
first go around I understood barely anything they were saying (aside from the general vibe that they were having a gossip sesh) but i knew when they were talking about the cops, i recognized ‘the lilly law’ and ‘orderly daughters’ from when i read a good omens fanfic years ago, where aziraphale spoke polari to tell a few gay people on the run from the cops that his bookshop was a safe haven
That Morrissey song makes so much more sense now.
David Mireles “Piccadilly Polari.”
I understood most of this lol...national handbag is dole money, ogle is look, vada is to see, carts is balls, naff is straight....one of my older friends taught me a lot of the words, it’s fascinating
This is simply brilliant. There is a point when you begin to understand it simply through context. I'm American and also struggled to discern Polari from just British English, but after awhile that fell away and it all made sense even if I didn't know the actual words they were saying. The clandestine nature of it did resemble a spy meeting.
Polari didn’t exist. She just made it up
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072
Source: none
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari
I never knew about this, and is so interesting because in Brazil we have a "gay dialect" called pajubá, which mixes indigenous and african words and is used by the LGBT community. Some of the slangs are pretty well known, even outside the group, but many words are pretty much unintelligible to a random straight person.
This is the best short film I've seen in a while.
1:48, comparing size?
1:58, I bet you're good at (insert? position and act)?
2:02, Asking if this is his stake out post?
2:06, identifying and acknowledging orientation?
2:17, Where do you perform X acts?
2:24, Identifying another of said orientation and exchanging experiences?
2:28-2:45, exchanging endeavors performed with "Paul/Pauline?"
2:52-3:07, Different acts Paul/ine has done or will do?
3:14, Suspicions cast on "Paul/ine," he was found out and had a weak alibi?
3:20, checking out the guy
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari
Can gay men just start talking like this again?
+Jack Caliber God yes, let's have something for gay men only, something these pansexual transgendered unicornkin kids can't try to reclaim.
+8tsunami7 I can see why you'd want to reawaken a lost language, but what's with the 'us and them'? Homosexuality isn't a club is it? Doesn't that sort of attitude increase the likelihood of homophobia?
+Joy Grieve No it isn't a club, but gay is a demographic (a distinct portion of the human population).
I don't know what you were on about with the 'us and them' but yes there are things for gay men only...
I know you mean well and you are obviously against homophobia but you should realise that silly statement/questions like 'Homosexuality isn't a club is it?' are the sort of thing that increases the likelihood of homophobia (through convolution).
I called your question silly because i am too brain-dead to think of a more suitable adjective right now.
+Jack Caliber No thank you. This sounds like some kind of strange amalgamation of English, German, Italian and French. It's making me dizzy.
+Luk Skywalker Then don't bother with those kinds of people, and go be happy in your own social circle. Live and let live. No one is making you fornicate with them.
Vada the omipalone's cod old eek at the end!
Mmm...indeed...
Fascinating stuff. I knew of Polari from the old radio show "Round the Horn" with Kenneth Williams. So interesting to hear it in actual conversation.
You should include a bit of a glossary. This was fascinating and well acted and produced.
I'm so confused, I feel like I'm watching A Clockwork Orange again... But I did notice the code-switch when they both felt safe.
Ah, so is this cant the origin of the words "naff" and "palaver"? Fascinating, I never realised how enciphered Polari was, I assumed it was something akin to pig Latin. Awesome little short, thank god most countries have come to their senses regarding same-sex attraction.
That’s not polari. I dunno why she calls it that since the “code” stoped right after confirming they both didn’t like clockwork orange lol
It’s basic northern English slang
Not sure about the origin of naff but Palaver was used by Cockneys a lot. Apparently it's borrowed from Portuguese.
Do you know what's sad? Not only is this language more or less extinct, but so is the glorious concept of reading or conversing on a park bench. Tories are determined to eradicate any public communal spaces for sitting and connecting.
The tragedy of park benches is greater than most people realise, but to be honest, I'm of the opinion Polari dying out is a good thing. It's a language born from terror and fear, used by people who had no other way to express their feelings and desires but through code. Let it be forgotten, and maybe the pain will stop lingering around from those horrible days.
Third spaces in general seem to be declining. Here in the states, certain people want to get rid of libraries, which have meeting spaces. It's pretty sad.
😂
"SHE HAD A RUN IN WITH THE LILLY LAW"
best british speech I've ever witnessed here
This was really well-done and a well-told dramatic story, tbh a super great example for me as a writer
I’m a heterosexual American, I have no clue what is being said here and I think that’s by design.
That is exactly the design
English is not my native language. My level is C1, I'm studying to get C2 pretty soon, but this video just humbled me right away. What. The. Hell.
this isn't english, polari uses a lot of foreign terms to substitute english words
Even native English speakers like me can only understand parts of this so don't worry about it!
please add subs for what they mean? I didn't get any of that?
“Ending’s naff too” … the foreshadowing is off the charts
I love how Maureen just sits there with the spit dripping from his face. Like he's thinking, 'Yeah, I probably deserved that.'
personally I would picture him with an erection
the tremor in his voice when he confesses to ratting out his hookup. man he DEFINITELY knows he 100% deserved it
Our lost language. Thank you for this.
A lot of this is actually still used in Britian to this day! if you look on the wiki they provide in the description, there's word like "drag" "naff" "ogle" "slap" and "todd" which are used by many people these days! It'll never die.
Good to know ; ) I heard it started in the Piccadilly Circus area.
really clever allusion to a clockwork orange
+Aidan Yakymyshyn More than allusion. The guy on the right was reading the damn book :P
+SoulOfTheReaver "They cure him in the end"
+Karl Montague "They cure 'em in the end" "'em" being short for them.
Road Hawk
I'm actually quite sure the line refers to the character Alex from a Clockwork Orange, therefore "him".
Road Hawk He was reading Clockwork Orange, a book about nature and society's right (or not) to change behaviour through oppression.
In the book, Alex - the violent protagonist - is "cured" of his deviant ways by an intrusive and torturous procedure.
In this short film, it is used as a symbol of the perceptions surrounding homosexuality at the time. "Would you take a cure if they found one?" Some - even in the gay community - were holding out for a cure at the time, believing gay people to have a mental or hormonal illness.
This last line "They cure him in the end" is a cutting remark about acceptance of one's true nature, and society's right (or not) to impose restrictions on those feelings.
If I'm not mistaken, the book the second gentleman is reading is "A Clockwork Orange". Alec Burgess invented Nadsat - a youth slang language - for the book, which has been theorised to have been at least party inspired by Polari. Nice little detail.
I understood enough to get the gist of it. Some of it just regular rhyming slang not Polari so that helped. I'm neither old nor LGBT, I just listen to Round The Horne 😂
(1960s BBC radio comedy show with camp gay couple)
Julian and Sandy are actually straight or questing. In their last performance we met their palones.
My takeaway from the first ten seconds: gay men also have dudes who try to hit on them by insulting something they like.
of course we do lmao