Re: CHAT: Camp (was: Re: Shelta, Polari...)

Matt wrote:
     "The association of camp with gays derives no doubt from its reliance
on 'deviant' sexuality (aggressive women, aestheticised and eroticised men,
kinkiness, etc.), as well as on a thorough knowledge of melodramatic
conventions, a strong sense of taste (good, bad, or
otherwise), and a lively appreciation for in-jokes--elements which form an
integral part of many (though not all) gay subcultures."

     My original belief was that "camp" had always been part of gay slang -
I had thought (and I may be wrong) that it is a polari truncation of the
(Italian) verb campeggiare, "to stick out against a background," and that it
entered mainstream vocabulary from polari (whether it be Susan Sontag, John
Waters, or SNL who introduced the public to this polari term).
     That the term continues to be associated with gays is no surprise, for
the reasons you give above; also, concepts such as "out," "queer," and
"proud" all connote some sort of "sticking out against a (heterosexual)
background," often with hilarious results.

-Chollie

P.S.  Could anyone imagine a "Homosexual Agenda," a sort of pink conspiracy,
which dispatched its own "Elders-of-Zion"-esque communiques in a sort of
modified, updated Polari?  As ludicrous as it might seem, much of the more
conservative element here in the States would buy it.
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