Re: Shelta, Polari, and my project "Nadsat 2000"
| From: | Roger Mills <romilly@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, July 17, 2000, 3:38 |
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Chollie wrote:
> You know, some Polari terms have penetrated American English to the
>point that they are no longer marked as gay slang; for instance, a word
like
>"camp" is pretty universal here on the East Coast (due, no doubt, to
>Baltimore's favorite son John Waters),>
Actually I think "camp" entered (at least) the academic lexicon with Susan
Sontag's "Notes on Camp", sometime in the 60s. Have to confess I've not
read it; but I recall it was pooh-poohed when it appeared. There were a
host of "underground" films in the early 60s, some them quite interesting,
while others were pure camp and occasionally hilarious. "Flaming Creatures"
for one (I wonder if a print still survives; it got seized by Lily Law a
lot), and almost anything by Warhol. SNL did a wicked sketch (early 80s?),
a send up of "Deliverance", with Burt Reynolds guesting as an undercover cop
sent to investigate "camping" in the Georgia woods.
That may have introduced the word to a wider audience more than Ms. Sontag.
The problem with camp is, it's hard to define, but you know it when you see
it.
and I've heard plenty of heterosexual
>individuals use words like "gambs" (I believe that this word was more
>popular during the fifties, as I've often heard it in films of that era) >
Ah yes, Rita Hayworth was noted for hers (I've only seen it as _gams_)
>I have a site up with some complete texts in Lingua Franca; you can visit
it