Gayle language

Gayle
Region	South Africa: mainly in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein, and Port Elizabeth
Native speakers	None 20,000 second or third-language speakers
Language family	based on varying mixtures of English and Afrikaans, with similarity to Polari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gic
Glottolog	gail1235

File:De Waterkant 10.jpg

Beaulah Bar in De Waterkant, Cape Town, takes its name from the Gayle word for "beautiful".

Gayle, or Gail, is an English and Afrikaans-based gay argot or cant slang used primarily by English and Afrikaans-speaking homosexual men in urban communities of South Africa, and is similar in some respects to Polari in the United Kingdom, from which some lexical items have been borrowed. The equivalent language used by homosexual South African men who speak Bantu languages is called IsiNgqumo, and is based on a Nguni lexicon.

Gayle originally manifested as moffietaal (Afrikaans: literally, "homosexual language") in the drag culture of the Cape Coloured community in the 1950s. It permeated into white homosexual circles in the 1960s and became part of mainstream white gay culture through South African Airways "koffie-moffies" (Afrikaans: literally, "coffee gay men", a slang name for male flight attendants) in the 1970s.

Besides a few core words borrowed from Polari (such as the word varda meaning "to see", itself a borrowing from Lingua Franca), most of Gayle's words are alliterative formations using women's names, such as Beulah for "beauty", Priscilla, meaning "police", and Hilda for "hideous". Men, especially other homosexual men, are often referred to by female pronouns in some circles, as is the custom among many homosexual countercultures throughout the world.

Gayle arose for the same reason that most antilanguages develop in marginalised communities—to have a secret language in an oppressive society. However it also fulfilled other functions such as to "camp up" conversation, and provide entertainment in a subculture where verbal wit and repartee are highly valued.

Sample

Varda that Beulah! translates to "Look at that beautiful man!"

See also

• Lavender linguistics