I used to wear a black kerchief around my left wrist when I was hiking, for wiping sweat and washing face, TIL I’m a strong SM top when I’m on the trails. Not quite sure what that means but I’m willing to learn.
American queer people were like, “hankies!” and British queer people were like, “they’re going to treat us like criminals, so let’s use the secret criminal language.” And then they were like, “fuck you, we’re teaching it to everyone else.”
Well, we take the hankies out when someone catches a whiff of Lily Law or Jennifer Justice.
But for real, both are really cool means of coded communication. Hankies are definitely less of a “Gay men” thing than a leather community thing, though that’s getting into niche enough subcultural divisions that it’s not the sort of thing most people care to learn and there’s really no point for them to. But yeah the hankies partly served the same role as polari, it’s a way to communicate illegal desires in a way that requires being taught the code. It’s actually quite similar to learning drug slang, except with a higher barrier to entry back in the day.
That’s fair, I love the language (or is it a cant?), especially considering it’s the only language I know to be descended from thieves cant. The use of language for such purposes is fascinating because it’s easy to see how many people have or had some version of something like it in our own lives, just slang we use so only people we want to understand us do, especially as teenagers.
According to the handkerchief code, he’s a bottom that gives handies
I used to wear a black kerchief around my left wrist when I was hiking, for wiping sweat and washing face, TIL I’m a strong SM top when I’m on the trails. Not quite sure what that means but I’m willing to learn.
Do you need a hiking buddy? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Always! I can even carry some of your stuff, I’m quite strong and experienced!
That’s some real top energy right there
I had a yellow one sticking out… and found out about the codes that evening.
It means you’re a dom
His vest says he’s proud of fukin’ males. So, that checks out.
I think being bottom is about getting fucked.
Are you familiar with the phrase “power bottom”?
I cannot with these codes… “Cop”. “Copsucker” 😭
Man, and I thought Pokemon was complicated.
The trick is you only learn the ones you like, the hell nos, and the common ones.
Fist fuckee
Red/white gingham referencing park sex plus mosquito netting referencing outdoor sex has got me rolling
So many slight variations of red… that could get confusing with how different each one is lol.
TIL the LGBT scene is gatekeeping out the colorblind
American queer people were like, “hankies!” and British queer people were like, “they’re going to treat us like criminals, so let’s use the secret criminal language.” And then they were like, “fuck you, we’re teaching it to everyone else.”
Well, we take the hankies out when someone catches a whiff of Lily Law or Jennifer Justice.
But for real, both are really cool means of coded communication. Hankies are definitely less of a “Gay men” thing than a leather community thing, though that’s getting into niche enough subcultural divisions that it’s not the sort of thing most people care to learn and there’s really no point for them to. But yeah the hankies partly served the same role as polari, it’s a way to communicate illegal desires in a way that requires being taught the code. It’s actually quite similar to learning drug slang, except with a higher barrier to entry back in the day.
Really I just like introducing people to Polari because I think it’s cool.
That’s fair, I love the language (or is it a cant?), especially considering it’s the only language I know to be descended from thieves cant. The use of language for such purposes is fascinating because it’s easy to see how many people have or had some version of something like it in our own lives, just slang we use so only people we want to understand us do, especially as teenagers.
Damn you beat me to it lmao