'Fabulosa' lingo revived at club

Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick used Polari in Round the Horne

Bosses at a London nightclub are teaching its staff the secret Soho language of Polari.

Staff at Madame Jo Jo's, in Soho, have been given a list of Polari words compiled by linguistic history expert Paul Baker to use at work.

Polari, last spoken in the 1970s, is derived from sources including rhyming slang and Cant; a language used by criminals in the 18th century.

Club owner Paris Tkaczyk said it was a way of bridging language gaps.

"By offering staff at Madame Jo Jo's the option of learning and using Polari to refer to familiar aspects and objects of their works we are offering a fun, yet practical way of bridging any language gaps," she said.

"It also celebrates the cultural history and diversity of Soho.

POLARI WORDS Fabulosa = great Palone = woman Omee = man Parker = give Schumph = to drink Cod = bad Bona = good

"Members of our staff from overseas have really taken to the initiative, because Polari expressions such as fabulosa and aqua have such international origins."

Polari was used from the turn of the 20th century to the early 1970s by the gay community and theatre workers.

It died out as other language trends took over.

Steeped in innuendo, it featured on the BBC radio show Round the Horne, where camp characters Julian and Sandy used Polari to get away with risqué jokes which otherwise would have been banned from the airwaves.

The legacy of the British lexicon can be found in a number of words used today such as camp, naff, bloke, bimbo and scarper.

Staff at the Brewer Street club were given a list of Polari words one week ago to learn and use at work but bosses stressed it was not compulsory.