Q

Filmmakers decode the secret art of gay slang

Do you speak Polari? Unless you were a gay in 1960s Britain, the odds are slim.
Two strangers on park bench reveal themselves as gay in 1960s London, all through a cryptic slang. (Benjamin Barber)

Filmmakers Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston join Shad to discuss Putting on the Dish, a short film performed almost entirely in Polari — a slang language used by the gay community in Britain, prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Fairbairn and Eccleston talk about the origins of the slang and the surprising ways subcultures use language. 

WEB EXTRA | Watch Putting in the Dish below, as well as Skwerl, Brian and Karl's earlier film about how English sounds to people who don't speak it.


Plus, here's the Italian music video that originally inspired Brian and Karl.