Gayle, or Gail, is an English- and

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

-based

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

used primarily by English and Afrikaans-speaking

homosexual men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...

in urban communities of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and is similar in some respects to

Polari Polari () is a form of slang or Cant (language), cant historically used primarily in the United Kingdom by some actors, circus and fairground performers, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals and prostitutes, and particula ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, from which some lexical items have been borrowed. The equivalent language used by gay South African men who speak

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

is called ''

IsiNgqumo IsiNgqumo, or IsiGqumo, (literally "decisions" in the language itself) is an argot used by homosexuals of South Africa and Zimbabwe who speak Bantu languages, as opposed to Gayle, a language used by the homosexuals of South Africa who speak Germa ...

'', and is based on a Nguni lexicon. Gayle originally manifested as ''moffietaal'' (Afrikaans: literally, "homosexual language") in the drag culture of the

Cape Coloured Cape Coloureds () are a South African group of Coloured people who are from the Cape region in South Africa which consists of the Western Cape, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape. Their ancestry comes from the interracial mixing between th ...

community in the 1950s. It permeated into white homosexual circles in the 1960s and became part of mainstream white gay culture. Besides a few core words borrowed from Polari (such as the word ''varda'' meaning "to see", itself a borrowing from

Lingua Franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

), most of Gayle's words are alliterative formations using women's names, such as '' Beulah'' for "beauty", ''

Priscilla Priscilla is an English female given name adopted from Latin '' Prisca'', derived from ''priscus''. There is a theory that this biblical character was the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. The name first appears in the New Testament either ...

'', 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, to ensure in-group preference in diverse societies. However it also fulfilled other functions such as to "

camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

up" conversation, and provide entertainment in a subculture where verbal wit and repartee are highly valued. A comprehensive study of Gayle was undertaken by linguist Ken Cage in 2002, and his Master’s Thesis was published as “Gayle, the language of Kinks and Queens” (2003: Jacana Media). This book, although out of print now, was the first attempt to publish a history of Gayle, as well as a basic dictionary of the argot. More recently, Gayle has experienced a resurgence and increased popularity following the

Showmax Showmax is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service that launched in South Africa on 19 August 2015. Its majority owner is MultiChoice, which owns 70% of the Showmax group, while American conglomerate NBCUniversal owns 3 ...

series Beaulah: Queens Van die Kaap - a 2024 reality TV show that documents the lives and talents of prominent and upcoming drag queens from the Cape Town drag scene. Gayle has also seen some vitality on Tik Tok.

Commonly used terms

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

References

{{LGBT in South Africa LGBTQ culture in South Africa LGBTQ slang English-based argots LGBTQ argots 1950s introductions 1950s in South Africa LGBTQ history in South Africa Afrikaans-language culture

Commonly used terms

See also

References