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Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang
 
 
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Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang [Paperback]

Paul Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £22.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Bona World of Julian and Sandy: Starring Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick & Kenneth Horne (BBC Radio Collection) £11.02

Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang + The Bona World of Julian and Sandy: Starring Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick & Kenneth Horne (BBC Radio Collection)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 254 pages
  • Publisher: Continuum; Reprint edition (25 Mar 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0826473431
  • ISBN-13: 978-0826473431
  • Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 13 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 347,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Paul Baker
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Product Description

Review

'Simply Fantabulosa!... Definitely worth a vada and at [pound]12.99 an ideal pressy for your omee Palone!! So get out your handbag and get trollin to the shops!' Scotsgay Magazine

Product Description

Polari has been the secret language of gay men and women through the twentieth century. But more than a language, Polari is an attitude. From the prisons and music halls of Edwardian England to Kenneth Williams, American Gls in London and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Polari has been used to laugh, bitch, gossip and cruise. Like all slang, Polari users coined an ever-changing vocabulary. Derived from words used by criminals, circus artists, beggars and prostitutes, it also employed Italian, Yiddish, French, rhyming slang and backslang. Polari speakers camped up a storm, from West End chorus boys and office workers to East End sea-queens. Since gay liberation, lesbian and gay slang has become less a language of concealment than a language of specialization, though the tradition of camp remains. A carefully researched and entertaining read, Fantabulosa presents a lexicon of Polari and a more general dictionary of lesbian and gay slang. If you don't yet know what vada the bona cartes on the ommee ajax, parkering ninty, a Mexican nightmare or a nellyectomy mean, then this is the book for you.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Great fun. Old recordings of 'Round the Horne' have me in stitches and now I can work out what J&S are REALLY saying its an even greater pleasure. Here's to keeping away from dirty dishes! :-) Buy the book and you'll find out what I mean.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is one of my best buys in a long long time. I can't stress the humour and generally useful information available in this little book. It explains everything from 'Homosexual' to a few scary sounding sexual practices. So if you've ever been asked to do something you've never heard of and aren't sure if you want to, you can check in here. This book has had everyone I have shown it to laughing out loud within seconds of opening a random page.

This book provides invaluable information to any LGBT person as well as Heterosexuals looking into this wonderful community, while keeping a sense of humour and not getting too deep, which is easily done.

This is really a must buy for everybody. Everybody I know will be getting this book for their birthdays for the next year.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By FatKat
Format:Paperback
I was brought up with Julian and Sandy, and always thought their use of the language was elegant and entertaining. The title says it all - fantabulosa. Have a vada yourself.
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