by —- —–
I would like to start off by setting my intentions for this post. My intentions are to make the reader critically think about a recent issue in society and reflect on it. I want the reader to take in the information and apply it to their own knowledge on the subject and come to their own conclusions on what they believe should be done. With that being said, at the very end of the post, I will be doing the same exact thing. I will be giving my opinion on the topic and talking about how I think the problem can be remedied. I would also like to note that I will be using the term “appropriation” not in a negative or accusatory way but in the context of its definition. With all of this in mind, today I will be discussing the use of code meshing in the LGBTQ+ community and who it belongs to. Vershawn Ashanti Young, an advocate for code meshing in both academic and professional settings, defines code meshing by saying that it “blend[s] dialects, international languages, local idioms, chat-room lingo, and the rhetorical styles of various ethnic and cultural groups in both formal and informal speech acts” (114). In order to determine who deserves the right to police words that are commonplace in the LGBTQ+ community, we must examine the past, present, and future in relation to code meshing.
People say that the past is important as it is a time that we must learn and extract knowledge from, and Polari is no exception. Polari is “playful, quick and clever – a constantly evolving language of fast put-downs, ironic self-parody and theatrical exaggeration” that was often used by gay men and lesbians as a way to communicate with each other without the fear of being oppressed between the 1900s-1970s (Baker 1-2). Polari is rather unique as “…it emerged as the result of a number of converging subcultures over many decades” (Baker 19); some of those subcultures include theatre speak, Romani, Jewish languages, 1960s drug culture, prostitution, etc. (Baker 31-35). With that said, Polari became exceptionally popularized in the UK by a radio series that ran from 1964 to 1969 called Round the Horne which featured two male, “camp, out-of-work actors” (Baker 1), Julian and Sandy, who, each week, would start a new business where they would attempt to sell a service or good to the character Kenneth Horne.
During the radio series, Julian and Sandy would speak in broken Polari to Mr. Horne, a straight man (Baker 86). At the beginning of the series, Mr. Horne seems to be ignorant in regards to the language and its words, but throughout the series, he begins to pick up on the meanings of Polari’s words through his interactions with Julian and Sandy. Through the use of this secret language, the series was able to fly under the radar as homosexuality was not legalized in the UK until 1967 (“Sexuality 20th Century”). In the modern-day, Polari is practically non-existent with only those who utilized it in the 1960s speaking it from time to time. With that said, Baker claims that aspects of the (almost) dead language can still be seen in society to this day. He notes that “some of these surviving words are also used by (or initially derived from) American gay subcultures – butch, camp, cruise and trade” (124-125). Another example of a word that is still utilized to this day is the word “drag” which is extremely common in not only the LGBTQ+ community but society as a whole (Baker 173). This is likely due to the skyrocketing popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race in which drag queens compete to determine who is the best of the best. Another word that is no longer limited to the community is the use of the word “girl” as a “term of address” (Baker 176). In the LGBTQ+ community, the word would be used regardless of a person’s gender. As the word has become accepted by the larger society, however, it should be noted that cisgender heterosexual men are typically not referred to as “girl.” By taking a look at the past it can be reasoned that we have a greater understanding of the future of code meshing in the LGBTQ+ community.
The present use of code meshing in the LGBTQ+ community is what inspired this post, however, we will have to dip a little bit into the past in order to understand how we got here. As of recent, attention has been drawn onto the mass amount of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) that can be found in the LGBTQ+ community. This promotes the question as to why the LGBTQ+ community is often found appropriating AAVE. With very little research, it can be found that the majority, but not all, of the words and phrases used by the community stem from people who are queer/transgender and black. Davis claims that some of the words that have been ingrained in the LGBTQ+ community come from as far back as the Harlem Renaissance. She explains that during this time, drag balls were exceptionally popular; these balls were mostly filled with African American and Latinx members of the LGBTQ+ community where they were free to express themselves without fear of homophobia. Davis explains that this is where words such as “‘…throw shade,’ ‘read,’ ‘vogue,’ ‘dip’ and ‘slay..’” developed (15). This is not just a thing of the past though, the LGBTQ+ community continues to appropriate words from the black, transgender/queer community to this very day. This occurs through the use of “popular platforms like RuPaul’s Drag Race, Pose, Legendary, Queer Eye, and celebrities like Madonna, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and even Justin Bieber [who] have been instrumental in mainstreaming Black gay and queer language” (Davis 16). Through the use of thoroughly investigating the present, we can determine how to take action in the future.
With all of this information it raises the question of who owns these words and what should the future of code meshing in the LGBTQ+ community look like? I will first pose a few questions for the reader to think about themselves and then I will express my thoughts on the topic. To start, Polari can be considered the ultimate code mesh with words stemming from a multitude of different cultures. It also tells the story of an oppressed minority who were forced to create their own language in order to survive. With both of those things in mind, does the LGBTQ+ community have the right to police who speaks words that stem from Polari? Next, AAVE and the LGBTQ+ community is riddled with words created by black, queer/transgender folks. These words represent their unique experience of being both queer/transgender and black. It should be noted that the black, LGBTQ+ community has and still continues to face discrimination at the hands of the African American and LGBTQ+ community alike. Considering that, who owns the words and phrases created by the black, queer/transgender community? With all of these questions asked, I will now express my opinions on the matter. Language is forever evolving and changing as we as humans endure new experiences and emotions. Most (if not all) languages are just a melting pot of other languages and cultures. According to Bernoussi “roughly 30% of the English language [has] either French or Latin origins.” This doesn’t account for the countless other languages that English has stolen words from. Bernoussi goes on to list the words “wanderlust,” “detour,” “hotel,” “cookie,” and “safari” as words that many Americans are unaware of being rooted in a different language. “Cookie,” for example, is derived “…from the dutch word koekie” (Bernoussi). In theory, these same attributes can then be applied to AAVE and the LGBTQ+ community. With that said, it should also be taken into consideration that these communities are unique in that both of their languages are derived from a need to protect themselves from outsiders who wish them harm. Although at the times of creation these were necessary, the languages are now acting as barriers that, rather than protect, are dividing people. In a way, the gatekeeping of words is preventing the disintegration of negative prejudices. Now does this mean that I think that people should be allowed to say slurs that don’t apply to them or start speaking purely in a dialect that they did not grow up around or are not a part of? Absolutely not. There must be some limits out of respect for others and what they have gone through. However, I see no problem with people code meshing with the use of words from other dialects/cultures.
Based on everything that has been discussed, I have come up with a set of five rules that I believe everyone should follow when code meshing. Number one: the person must not use the word in a derogatory way with the intent of hurting/insulting the native speakers. Number two: the person must have an understanding of the origins and true definition of the word. Number three: the person must be open to feedback from the particular group where the word stems and back away if they are told that they have overstepped their bounds. Number four: people should not say slurs that do not apply to them. Number five: people should not try to completely convert the way they speak into someone else’s dialect; they should simply code mesh with their native dialect/dialect that applies to their communit(ies). If everyone were to follow these simple rules then we could create a society with stronger bonds and deeper understandings of each other. Through the use of observing the evolution of LGBTQ+ code meshing in the past and present, one is able to create their own opinions on code meshing as a whole and how it should be addressed and/or utilized in the future.
Works cited
Baker, Paul. Polari – The Lost Language of Gay Men: The Lost Language of Gay Men. Taylor and Francis, 2004. LGBTQ+ Source, Accessed 31 Oct. 2021.
Bernoussi, Driss. “English Words Borrowed from Other Languages: ICLS: International Center for Language Studies: Washington D.C.” ICLS, 17 July 2021, https://www.icls.edu/ english-words-borrowed-from-other-languages/.
Davis, Chloe O. “The Blackness of Queer Vernacular.” Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, vol. 28, no. 5, Sept. 2021, pp. 14–16. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.nuncio.cofc. edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=qth&AN=152303208&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Greene, Hugh, director. JULIAN & SANDY – Rentachap. YouTube, BBC Radio, 1965, https://youtu.be/-xKYNvI_LbY. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.
“Sexuality 20th Century.” UK Parliament, https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/ transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/overview/sexuality20thcentury/.
Young, Vershawn Ashanti. “Should Writers Use They Own English?” Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2010, pp. 110–117., https://doi.org/10.17077/2168-569x.1095.